Cricket: IPL sidelined 5FICA in players` salary issue: Tim May

New Delhi: Federation of International Cricketers` Association chief executive, Tim May has said that the IPL has sidelined FICA and reduced it to an advisory role in the current payment dispute between Royal Challengers Bangalore and some of its players.

May termed it as "frustrating" that the Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers managements did not reply to correspondence from FICA regarding the salaries they still owe to the players. "We try to become directly involved but we never receive any responses from the Indian Premier League, which is frustrating for all," May told `espncricinfo.Com`. He also said that the FICA had suggested players to make queries through their home boards, as it has been rendered powerless by the IPL`s stonewalling. "The reality of the situation is we`re sitting in the background advising the players on these particular issues. If they can`t get addressed, we`ll look into the matter in legal terms, how (we can) pursue these monies." May, however, claimed that even the national cricket boards` requests for status updates on the outstanding payments were also yet to be answered. Some members of the Royal Challengers 2012 squad, including Captain Daniel Vettori, are still awaiting the first instalment of their pay, while salaries are also owed to players of Deccan Chargers. Under every identical IPL contract, signed between the player, the franchise and the IPL, the players are due 15 per cent of their fee for the season by April 1 (before the IPL or very early into it), 50 per cent by May 1 (during the IPL or towards its end), 20 per cent after the Champions League and 15 per cent by December 1. The players had supposedly emailed the management after the fifth season ended in May, but did not receive any straightforward response. Royal Challengers` franchise owners, the UB group, have recently hit financial strife, with owner Vijay Mallya`s airline found to be in debt of USD 1.3b. PTI