Explained: BBL's salary cap and contract rules changes to fight against other T20 leagues

In order to remain one of the most sought-after and popular T20 league in the world, Big Bash League’s (BBL) contracting rules received some major changes on Wednesday by Cricket Australia. The biggest change is the increase in player payments which could help BBL to attract more top talent to the T20 competition. The reason for the changes is the proliferation of other T20 leagues like the SA20 and UAE’s ILT20. Both SA20 and ILt20’s schedules earlier this year clashed with BBL. Changes The highest-paid overseas players will now command AUS$420,000 (US$280,000) in the BBL draft, up 23.5 percent, as part of a raft of new measures for the 13th edition of the men’s competition. Australia’s domestic women’s T20 tournament, the WBBL, has also reconfigured its contracting system. Each of the eight franchises in the men’s BBL must have at least six “marquee” players earning AUS$200,000 or more a season. The BBL clubs will now each have total player payment pools of AUS$3 million, up from AUS$1.9 million. “With top international players able to earn more in the Big Bash Leagues than ever before, there’s no doubt clubs will have a high-calibre group of players to choose from,” said Alistair Dobson, Cricket Australia’s general manager of Big Bash Leagues. “The new player contracting rules and uplift in total payment pools will allow both the WBBL and BBL to remain internationally competitive in an increasingly dynamic market.” Many of the top T20 players in the world are currently competing in the hugely lucrative Indian Premier League, which this year also added a women’s tournament. With AFP inputs Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.