Icon player was a status given to five players of the Indian Premier League. They were not a part of the first IPL players auction, which was held in 2008. They played for the team they were assigned to. The icon players received 15% percent more money than the highest-paid player of the team bought in the auction.[1] As of the 2010 season, the clause pertaining to icon players has been removed on account of complaints by franchises with icon players that having these players was a handicap in the player auction.[2]
It has been reported that all the franchises with icon players felt that having the icon player was a handicap in the player auction, as the money spent on the icon resulted in less room under the salary cap to purchase other players.[4] For example, the presence of Sachin Tendulkar as an icon player was cited as the main reason why Mumbai Indians could not compete with Chennai Super Kings for Mahendra Singh Dhoni.[5]
Pakistan Super League
The Icon player status was given to five players in the first season of the Pakistan Super League. The five players would be the first five to be drafted in the league so that every team would have an Icon player. The title was not exclusive to Pakistani players and three out of the five icon players were foreigners.[6]
The decision created controversy as it was reported that Pakistan's captain, Misbah-ul-Haq and highest test scoring batsman, Younus Khan were unhappy with their exclusion as icon players and threatened to skip the league if they were not given leadership roles.[7]
Bangladesh Premier League
Icon player status was given to six players of the six team in the Bangladesh Premier League. Icon player status was available only for the first season. Icon players' base prize was US$ 210,000. They were not included in the auction list, and they would receive 15% more than the highest-paid local players. Later, icon status was excluded in the next season and first category local players were categorized as Golden Category.
Again the icon category was introduced in the 2015 Bangladesh Premier League with a base price of US$ 50,000.[8]