THE GREAT ENTERTAINMENT OF CRICKET - INDIAN PREMIUM LEAGUE: 2008

I got this through an email from a friend. This post lists out the game schedules as well as the team information for Indian Premier League (IPL), a Twenty 20 Cricket league in India.
IPL Game Schedule April 19 : Delhi v Jaipur at Delhi
April 20: Mumbai v Bangalore at Mumbai;Kolkata v Hyderabad at Kolkata
April 21: Jaipur v Mohali at Jaipur
April 22: Hyderabad v Delhi at Hyderabad
April 23: Chennai v Mumbai at Chennai
April 24: Hyderabad v Jaipur at Hyderabad
April 25: Mohali v Mumbai at Mohali
April 26: Bangalore v Jaipur at Bangalore; Chennai v Kolkata at Chennai
April 27: Mumbai v Hyderabad at Mumbai;Mohali v Delhi at Mohali
April 28: Bangalore v Chennai at Bangalore
April 29: Kolkata v Mumbai at Kolkata
April 30: Delhi v Bangalore at Delhi.
May 1: Hyderabad v Mohali at Hyderabad; Jaipur v Kolkata at Jaipur
May 2: Chennai v Delhi at Chennai.
May 3: Hyderabad at Bangalore at Hyderabad; Mohali v Kolkata at Mohali
May 4: Mumbai v Delhi at Mumbai; Jaipur v Chennai at Jaipur
May 5: Bangalore v Mohali at Bangalore
May 6: Chennai v Hyderabad at Chennai
May 7: Mumbai v Jaipur at Mumbai
May 8: Delhi v Chennai at Delhi; Kolkata v Bangalore at Kolkata
May 9: Jaipur v Hyderabad at Jaipur
May 10: Bangalore v Mumbai at Bangalore; Chennai v Mohali at Chennai
May 11: Hyderabad v Kolkata at Hyderabad; Jaipur v Delhi at Jaipur
May 12: Mohali v Bangalore at Mohali
May 13: Kolkata v Delhi at Kolkata
May 14: Mumbai v Chennai at Mumbai;Mohali v Jaipur at Mohali
May 15: Delhi v Hyderabad at Delhi
May 16: Mumbai v Kolkata at Mumbai
May 17: Delhi v Mohali at Delhi; Jaipur v Bangalore at Jaipur
May 18: Hyderabad v Mumbai at Hyderabad; Kolkata v Chenna at Kolkata
May 19: Bangalore v Delhi at Bangalore
May 20: Kolkata v Jaipur at Kolkata
May 21: Mumbai v Mohali at Mumbai; Chennai v Bangalore at Chennai
May 22: Delhi v Kolkata at Delhi
May 23: Mohali v Hyderabad at Mohali.
May 24: Delhi v Mumbai at Delhi; Chennai v Jaipur at Chennai
May 25: Bangalore v Hyderabad at Bangalore; Kolkata v Mohali at Kolkata
May 26: Jaipur v Mumbai at Jaipur
May 27: Hyderabad v Chennai at Hyderabad
May 28 and 29: Rest days
May 30: First semi-final at Mumbai
May 31: Second semi-final at Mumbai
June 1: Final at Mumbai

Friday, April 11, 2008

IPL MOHALI TEAM:PUNJAB KINGS

· Yuvraj Singh

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Slow left-arm orthodox
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian
· Irfan Pathan

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Left-arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian
· Brett Lee

Specialisation: Right arm fast bowler, Right hand batsman
Availability: Not in 2008 Nationality: Australian
· Kumar Sangakkara

Specialisation: Left-hand batsman, wicketkeeper
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Sri Lankan
· S Sreesanth

Specialisation: Right arm fast medium, Right hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian
· Mahela Jayawardene

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Sri Lankan
· Piyush Chawla

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Leg break googly
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian
· Ramesh Powar

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Off break
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian
· Ramnaresh Sarwan

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: Until May 16
Nationality: West Indian
· Simon Katich

Specialisation: Left hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Australian
· James Hopes

Specialisation: Right arm fast medium, Right hand batsman Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Australian
· Kyle Mills

Specialisation: Right arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: New Zealander
· Tanmay Srivastava

Specialisation: Left hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian
· Ajitesh Argal

Specialisation: Right arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

IPL JAIPUR TEAM::RAJASTHAN ROYALS

· Md Kaif

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Off break
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian
· Graeme Smith

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Off break Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: South African
· Yusuf Pathan

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, off-break
Availability: Whole Tournament Nationality: Indian
· Shane Warne

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Leg break Googly
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Australian
· Munaf Patel

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm fast
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian
· Younis Khan

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: From April 27
Nationality: Pakistani
· Kamran Akmal

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Wicket keeper
Availability: From April 27
Nationality: Pakistani
· Justin Langer

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Right medium
Availability: Not in 2008
Nationality: Australian
· Dmitri Mascarenhas

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm fast medium
Availability: -
Nationality: England
· Shane Watson

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm fast medium
Availability: Not in 2008
Nationality: Australian
· Sohail Tanvir

Specialisation: Left hand batsman
Availability: Full Tournament
Nationality: Pakistani
· Morne Morkel

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm fast medium Availability: Full Tournament
Nationality: South African
· Ravindra Jadeja

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Slow left-arm orthodox
Availability: Full Tournament
Nationality: Indian
· Taruvar Kohli

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: Full Tournament
Nationality: Indian

Kollywood stars to endorse Chennai Super Kings

Two of the most popular actors in Kollywood, Vijay and Nayanthara, have been signed up to be the brand ambassadors for the Indian Premier League’s Chennai team, Chennai Super Kings, run by India Cements Limited. The team has the logo of a roaring lion and and their tagline goes: Fearless entertainers who will play to win.

Vijay and Nayanthara will add glamour to IPL's Twenty: 20 matches. Both of them will endorse Chennai Super Kings, appear on hoardings and in television ads, and will turn up at the matches (played in Chennai, Mohali, Kolkata and Mumbai) to cheer for Dhoni and his team.

Both the stars are riding a wave and are extremely popular in south India. India Cements Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, TNCA President and BCCI Treasurer N Srinivasan, the franchisee owner of Chennai Super Kings has pulled off a coup by getting two of the hottest stars in south to endorse for them.

The market buzz is that Vijay and Nayanthara who have never endorsed before (though Vijay has featured in a Coke commercial before he became a superstar) have been paid a bomb to endorse for Chennai Super Kings.

Akshay Kumar to endorse Delhi Daredevils

New Delhi: Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar was on Monday roped in as brand ambassador of the Indian Premier League's 'Delhi Daredevils' team.

Akshay, born and brought up in the capital's Chandni Chowk area, surprised a packed room at a five star hotel when he emerged in dim light making a batting gesture with helmets and a willow in Daredevils' red and black shirt.

"My heart beats for Delhi. I consider myself a pucca Dilliwalah. I would like to thank the GMR Group (team owners) for choosing me as the first fan of Delhi Daredevils. I hope I become a lucky mascot for the team," the actor said with his trademark mischievous smile.

The actor, who gave two big hits recently, advised probing journalists not to think of his involvement in IPL as taking on fellow actor Shah Rukh Khan and think of him as a Delhiite, who wish to bring success to the team.

"Please keep such things aside. Why do you think of such things? I am sportsman also. Let us talk about cricket. I want to commit myself on some things which are very dear to me, that is why I am here."

"I have endorsed very few products in my 18-year film career - Coca Cola and Grasim. This (becoming brand ambassador of Delhi IPL team) is very dear to me since I am Delhiite in my heart," Akshay said.

He laughed at a suggestion that actors are involving in cricket because of Bollywood's diminishing entertaining value to the people. "When we are invited in many cricket functions, do they mean that cricket is reaching out to Bollywood to attract people," he countered.

Akhsay praised Daredevils captain Virender Sehwag for scoring a triple century in India's first Test against South Africa in Chennai and also welcomed Pakistani stars Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Asif to the team.

McGrath looking forward to playing against Tendulkar

New Delhi: Former Australian pacer Glenn McGrath on Thursday said there are few players of Sachin Tendulkar's calibre in the international arena and he is looking forward to play against him during the IPL.

Speaking at a press conference here after a practice session of the Delhi Daredevils, McGrath said, ''playing against Sachin Tendulkar is always fascinating for me. He is a class act. Whether it is Test or One-Day he is genius. But in the T20 format he can be destructive because the game is tilted towards the favour of batsmen,'' he added.

he 38 year-old, who retired from international cricket last year, arrived in Delhi on Tuesday night and attended fielding drills on Wednesday morning with the Delhi Daredevils, the franchise that bought him for 350,000 dollars.

McGrath, who has gained some weight after retiring from international cricket remarked, ''I am excited about this new format of the game.

''Coming back to India for such a fascinating tournament is really great. Playing in IPL will be totally different experience,'' he said.

Praising Chennai triple centurian and his captain in the event, Virender Sehwag, McGrath said playing with and under him will be really very challenging.

''Sehwag on his day can destroy any attack. He is very destructive and class player. We are lucky that he is with us,'' he said.

Replying to a question that according to a survey, 45 per cent of the Australian players wants to take retirement for playing in the cash-rich IPL, McGrath said, ''It is surprising that Australian players are so fascinate to play in the IPL. But I will be disappoint if they join IPL before playing any international cricket.

Referring to Indian hospitality and there love for cricket, McGrath said that the public here will receive Symonds in a cordial manner.

''Inspite of all the controversies and bad blood during India's Tour down under, auction shows that what Indian think about Symonds,'' he added.

IPL HYDERABAD TEAM::DECCAN CHARGERS

· Andrew Symonds

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Off-break
Availability: Not in 2008
Nationality: Australian

· RP Singh

Specialisation: Left-arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament<>br Nationality: Indian

· Rohit Sharma

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian
· Adam Gilchrist

Specialisation: Left-hand batsman, wicketkeeper
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Australian
· Shahid Afridi

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Leg break googly
Availability: From April 27
Nationality: Pakistani
· Herschelle Gibbs

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: South African
· VVS Laxman

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian
· Chaminda Vaas

Specialisation: Left-arm fast medium, left hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Sri Lankan
· Scott Styris

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right-arm medium fast
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: New Zealander
· Nuwan Zoysa

Specialisation: Left-arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Sri Lankan
· Chamara Silva

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Sri Lankan

Shah Rukh, Ganguly unveil Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata: Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan and former India captain Sourav Ganguly Tuesday unveiled Kolkata Knight Riders, the Kolkata team of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL), at a glittering ceremony here.

As the team's theme song "Korbo, Lorbo, Jitbo" (We will do it, fight it and win it) blared and the Bollywood king raised his hands with team captain Sourav Ganguly, coach John Buchanan and actor Juhi Chawla, a glamorous chapter of cricket was written inside ITC Sonar Bangla hotel here.

The black and gold team jersey was also unveiled.

Full coverage: Indian Premier League

"Black is the colour of goddess Kali (a symbol of Kolkata) and we aim for gold," Shah Rukh Khan said.

The team's owner is Shahrukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment in partnership with Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta. Sourav Ganguly is the icon player and will lead the Kolkata franchise. (By a Sify Correspondent)

Katrina, Deepika to groove with Dravid

Just as the euphoria and excitement surrounding King Khan's video for his IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders seems to be subsiding, there comes the news that the Bangalore Royal Challengers IPL team would also be soon unveiling their ad and promotional video.

For those who came in late, the Bangalore Royal Challengers IPL team is owned by none other than liquor baron Vijay Mallya, and local boy Rahul Dravid is the captain. Mallya, who is known for doing things in style, has roped in director Sanjay Gupta to direct the sporty and racy ad while action director Allan Amin would be in charge of the action.

Read: Sanjay Gupta to direct Mallya's IPL ad film

What's more, Mallya would also be coming out with a promotional music video, an anthem for his team for which music composer Sandeep Chowta has been roped in. However, what is considered the real high point is that this video will have Rahul Dravid in the company of two sizzling hot beauties—Katrina Kaif and Bangalore girl Deepika Padukone.

Well, with Bollywood beauties grooving with our Men in Blue, cricket fever seems to have reached an all time high this summer.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

IPL Teams - Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians will be representative of the city of Mumbai in the Indian Premier League. The team will be led by Sachin Tendulkar, also the Icon Player for the team and coached by Lalchand Rajput, the former Manager of the Indian Cricket Team.

Reliance Industries Limited through its subsidiary Reliance Retail Ltd purchased the rights for the Mumbai franchise of Indian Premier league for a total of $111.9 million during the auction on January 24, 2008. The RIL bid has made the Mumbai Indians the most expensive franchise in IPL.

The team logo has the Sudarshan Chakra with the team’s name engraved in it. The team’s colour will be blue. The choice of the name “Indians” for a regional competition is widely regarded as a blunder.

The mascot is still unknown.
Players

Sachin Tendulkar is the designated icon player and also captain for Mumbai Indians. During the player auction Mumbai Indians successfully bid for 7 players, including two of the heroes of Indian Twenty-20 world cup side in Harbhajan Singh and Robin Uthappa. Sanath Jayasuriya was also another prized catch, along with South African legend Shaun Pollock. The team also added the Sri Lankan speedster Lasith Malinga.

Outside of the player auction, the franchise has also signed up Ajinkya Rahane and Abhishek Nayar (from Mumbai), Yogesh Takawale (from Maharashtra) and Pinal Shah (from Baroda)
Name - Age - Country - Position

Batsmen
Sachin Tendulkar (Captain) - 35 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Robin Uthappa - 22 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Loots Botsman - 30 - South Africa - Right-handed Batsman
Ashley Prince - 30 - South Africa - Left-handed Batsman
Manish Pandey - 18 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Saurabh Tiwari - 18 - India - Left-handed Batsman

Wicket Keepers
Yogesh Takawale - 23 - India - Right-handed Batsman - Wicket keeper
Pinal Shah - 20 - India - Right-handed Batsman - Wicket keeper

All Rounders
Sanath Jayasuriya - 37 - Sri Lanka - Slow left-arm orthodox spin
Shaun Pollock - 35 - South Africa - Right-arm medium-fast
Ajinkya Rahane - 19 - India - Right-arm medium

Bowlers
Harbhajan Singh - 27 - India - Right-arm off-break
Lasith Malinga - 24 - Sri Lanka - Right-arm fast
Dilhara Fernando - 29 - Sri Lanka - Right-arm fast-medium
Abhishek Nayar - 24 - India - Right-arm medium-fast
Ashish Nehra - 28 - India - Left-arm fast-medium

Administration and Coaching staffFront Office:

Owner - Reliance Industries Limited
CEO - R Balachandran
President - Mukesh Ambani

Coaches:
Head Coach - Lalchand Rajput
Assistant Head Coach - TBA
Physiotherapist - TBA

IPL Teams - Bangalore Royal Challengers

Bangalore Royal Challengers is the team that is going to represent the city of Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, the inaugural Twenty20 cricket tournament to be held in India. The team is owned by the liquor magnate Vijay Mallya, the chairman of UB Group. Charu Sharma is the CEO of the team and Rahul Dravid, the captain of the team is the Icon Player. Martin Crowe, the former New Zealand captain, has also been signed as a member of the management team. Venkatesh Prasad, the former Indian fast bowler and the present bowling coach of India has been declared the coach for the team.

Bangalore team was won by Vijay Mallya, who paid US$111.6 million for it. This was the second highest bid for a team in the IPL, next only to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries’ bid of $111.9 million for the Mumbai team.

Indian actresses Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif were signed as the brand ambassadors of the franchise.

Vijay Mallya wanted to associate one of his top-selling liquor brands, either ‘No. 1 McDowell’s’ or ‘Royal Challenge’ with the team. Ultimately, ‘Royal Challenge’ was chosen, and hence the team was given the name ‘Bangalore Royal Challengers’. The jersey colours of the team are red and golden yellow, and the logo consists of the RC emblem with ‘Bangalore Royal Challengers’ in standard format.

Players

The players in the team (except for Rahul Dravid, who was the Icon Player), were selected in an auction conducted by BCCI on 20 February 2008. South Africa’s Jacques Kallis at $900,000 became the costliest player to be selected to play for the Royal Challengers. This meant that Rahul Dravid, being the Icon Player would be paid $1,035,000 (15% more than the highest bid player in the team). Other players selected included the Indian Test cricket captain Anil Kumble along with his team-mates Praveen Kumar and Zaheer Khan, West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Aussies Nathan Bracken and Cameron White, South Africa’s Mark Boucher (Wicket Keeper) and Dale Steyn.
Name - Age - Country - Position

Batsmen
Rahul Dravid (Captain/Icon Player) - 35 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Shivnarine Chanderpaul - 33 - West Indies - Left-handed Batsman
Wasim Jaffer - 30 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Misbah-ul-Haq - 33 - Pakistan - Right-handed Batsman
Ross Taylor - 24 - New Zealand - Right-handed Batsman
Arun Kumar J. - 33 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Appanna K. P. - 19 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Bharat Chipli - 25 - India - Right-handed Batsman

Wicket Keepers
Mark Boucher - 31 - South Africa - Right-handed Batsman / Wicket keeper
Shreevats Goswami - 18 - India - Left-hand Batsman / Wicket keeper
Devraj Patil - 23 - India - Right-handed Batsman / Wicket keeper

Allrounders
Jacques Kallis - 32 - South Africa - Right-arm fast-medium
Cameron White - 24 - Australia - Right-handed Leg-break googly
Sunil Joshi - 37 - India - Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox spin
Akhil B. - 30 - India - Right-arm medium-fast
Virat Kohli - 19 - India - Right-arm medium

Bowlers
Anil Kumble - 37 - India - Right-arm leg-break googly
Zaheer Khan - 29 - India - Left-arm medium-fast
Nathan Bracken - 30 - Australia - Left-arm fast-medium
Dale Steyn - 24 - South Africa - Right-arm fast
Praveen Kumar - 21 - India - Right-arm medium-fast
Abdur Razzak - 25 - Bangladesh - Slow left-arm orthodox
Vinay Kumar R. - 24 - India - Right-arm medium-fast

Administration and coaching staff

Front Office:
Owner- Vijay Mallya
CEO - Charu Sharma
Adviser - Martin Crowe

Coaches:
Head Coach - Venkatesh Prasad
Assistant Head Coach - TBA
Physiotherapist - TBA

IPL Teams - Chennai Super Kings

Chennai Super Kings is the Chennai franchise for the Indian Premier League. The team will be led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the highest-paid IPL Player, and coached by Kepler Wessels. There is no Icon Player for the team.

Chennai Super Kings are a part of the eight club Indian Premier League. The franchise is owned by India Cements, who paid $91 million to acquire the rights of the franchise for the next 10 years. Former India test player Kris Srikkanth is the brand ambassador for the franchise, and another former Indian opener V. B. Chandrasekhar will be the chief selector. The brand ambasssadors for the team will be South Indian actor, Vijay and actress, Nayantara.

The M.A.Chidambaram stadium (often referred to as Chepauk, the place where the stadium is located) will be the home ground of the IPL team. The theme song of Chennai Super Kings, penned by Vairamuthu, is presently being composed by G V Prakash Kumar.

The name “Super Kings” is to honor the rulers of the golden era of Tamil culture, the team logo has a Lion to reflect the King of the Jungle. In addition the word “Super” is colloquially used in the state of Tamil Nadu to reflect all things thrilling and exciting and is a word of the lips of almost every one in Tamil Nadu. Incidentally the Chennai team playing in the ICL (the rebel league) is named as “Chennai Superstars”.

Players

Chennai Super Kings are one of the three franchises with no icon player. The lack of an icon player benefited the Super Kings during the bidding as they managed to bid successfully on two (Dhoni & Muralitharan) of the six A listed players.

The team plans to have twenty three players on its roster. Besides the list of players already acquired, the team will pick the remaining members from the three catchment areas - Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Railways - that have been allocated to it.
Name - Age - Country - Position

Batsmen
Matthew Hayden - 36 - Australia - Left-handed Batsman
Stephen Fleming - 35 - New Zealand - Left-handed Batsman
Suresh Raina - 21 - India - Left-handed Batsman
Michael Hussey - 32 - Australia - Left-handed Batsman
Anirudha Srikkanth - 21 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Subramaniam Badrinath - 28 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Napoleon Einstein - 18 - India - Right-handed Batsman

Wicketkeepers
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain) - 26 - India - Right-handed Wicket keeper
Parthiv Patel - 22 - India - Left-handed Wicket keeper

All Rounders
Jacob Oram - 28 - New Zealand - Left-handed Batsman/Right-arm medium-fast
Albie Morkel - 28 - South Africa - Left-handed Batsman/Right-arm fast-medium
Shadab Jakati - 27 - India - Slow left-arm orthodox spin
Abhinav Mukund - 18 - India - Left-handed Batsman/Right-arm leg-break
Viraj Kadbe - 18 - India - Right-arm leg-break

Bowlers
Muttiah Muralitharan - 35 - Sri Lanka - Right-arm off-break
Joginder Sharma - 24 - India - Right-arm fast-medium
Makhaya Ntini - 30 - South Africa - Right-arm fast
R. Ashwin - 21 - India - Right-arm off-break
Sudeep Tyagi - 20 - India - Right-arm fast-medium
Lakshmipathy Balaji - 26 - India - Right-arm fast-medium

Administration and Coaching Staff
Owner - India Cement Ltd.
CEO - TBA
Ambassador - Kris Srikkanth, film stars Joseph Vijay and Nayantara
Chief Selector - V. B. Chandrasekhar

Coaches:
Head Coach - Kepler Wessels
Assistant Coach - TBA
Physiotherapist - Tommy Simsek
Physical Trainer - Gregory King

Monday, March 3, 2008

IPL Mumbai: Four Youngsters Signed Up

IPL Mumbai team will have four new players. Reliance Group who are the owners of the IPL Mumbai team for the next 10 years have signed up Baroda wicket-keeper Pinal Shah. Other player who were signed up are Abhishek Nayar, Ajinkya Rahane from Mumbai and Maharashtra’s Yogesh Takawale.
These four will feature in the inagural edition of the IPL which will kick off on Apr 18 with a match between Bangalore and Kolkata at Bangalore.

IPL Is Bigger Than Kerry Packer Revolution

Ali Bacher the man who brought South Africa back into the cricketing fold and successfully helped them participate in the 1992 World Cup and has been guiding South African cricket for a long time has this to say on the IPL. It is bigger than the Kerry Packer Revolution and its popularity and the kind of money being poured by the franchisees who are all hard-headed businessmen only proves how big it is going to be.
India is now the new power center of cricket. It’s good that cricketers are getting paid good sums of money.

IPL Kolkata: Akash Chopra To Play For Shah Rukh’s Team

Akash Chopra, the Delhi opening batsman is all set to play for the IPL Kolkata Team. The batsman who is in great form and has scored tons of runs in the domestic tournaments narrowly missed selection to the Indian squad as his captain Sehwag with international experience was chosen.
But Chopra is undeterred. He has just taken it in his stride and continued scoring runs in both forms of cricket and has been signed up by the Kolkata team. Akash is happy and is coach is sure that Chopra will surely shine in the shortest form of cricket.

IPL Players - Cricketers Will Earn Like The EPL Football Players

Lalit Modi has said in a few years time the IPL players will earn amounts that will be greater than or same as what the English premier league players are presently earning. Due to the cap of 5 million dollars on the spending limit for the city teams the salaries did not sky rocket.
But in the next few years this limit will go and when free market economics take over the IPL players will earn sums that will match any football player in England. Cricket will no longer be the poor cousin.
When the issue of India dominating world circket was raised - Modi said for over a 100 years India has been at the receiving end of the world and now if the time has come for India to unleash her potential so be it. We are not shying away from our new status

ICL: The Rebel Series Starts In 8 days time

‘ICL 20s Grand Championship’ will be the name of next edition of the ICL set to kick off in 7 days from now. The Tournament promises 30-days of non-stop pulsating cricket with major stars from around the world taking part. Some of the prize players playing in ICL include Brian Lara, Inzaman-ul-Haq, Chris Cairns and many others from Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and West Indies.

IPL: Hero Honda Joins IPL As Co-Sponsor

Hero Honda jumped on the IPL bandwagon becoming the co-sponsor for the event. Hero Honda is the largest manufacturer of two-wheelers in the world for the past 7 years and always had a strong association with Indian Cricket.

After, the successful IPL auction that saw over 35 million dollars being spent to acquire players this is another feather in the cap of IPL.

The twenty20 format of cricket which has caught the fancy of players, public and the officials alike is set to scale greater heights when the inaugural event kicks off on Apr 18th.

IPL: Michael Clarke Puts his Father Before IPL

Michael Clarke will one of the few high-profile Aussies not playing in the IPL. The reason - his father who is battling Cancer. Clarke would like spend time with his ill father as he is recovering from chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Clarke has said he might take part in the future editions of the tournament but right now his family - mother, sister and father were his priority.
He fully supported the IPL and wished it all the success. He hoped the people of India would understand his decision to stay out

IPL: Michael Johnson

By deciding to stay out of the IPL the fast bowler from Australia has lost an estimated $500,000 according to reports.

Johnson with his fast bowling skills could have easily gone for lot more than that has his skills would have been sought after by the franchisees. Bret Lee was instance went for $900,000. Ishant Sharma the rookie bowler went for a similar amount and Johnson definitely would have been in that range.

But Johnson wants to concentrate on his International career and save him for that rather than wear himself out by playing in intense tournaments like IPL. For the present his goal is to play good quality test and one-day cricket.

IPL: Rs.160 cr ad spend planned

A huge campaign to popularize IPL in the country is being planned. Across the country starting next month television channels, newspapers and the Internet will become the target of ads by both the IPL and the franchisees. The focus will on regional channels and newspapers as they want local loyalty for the local cities. Hold on tightly as the tidal wave advertising is set to hit next month.

The ads will run first in India and then globally. WSG and BCCI have roped top advertising agencies for these ads and they plan to be creative and fun and aim to make IPL a prime entertainment and sports brand.

ICC rankings:Twenty20

Rank Country Points

1 India 102
2 Australia 100
3 Bangladesh 98
4 England 90
5 South Africa 87
6 Sri Lanka 56
7 New Zealand 55
8 Pakistan 40
9 Zimbabwe 35
10 West Indies 30

IPL Jaipur: Is Rajasthan Royals fro m now.

IPL Jaipur will be known as Rajasthan Royals from now on. This announcement was made by IPL Jaipur Owner Emerging Media’s CEO Fraser Castellino.

IPL Jaipur : The Rajasthan Royals Announces Coach and Captain

Shane Warne the legendary spinner and prize catch of Team Jaipur now known as Rajasthan Royals will be the captain and coach of the team

Shane who has ton of experience in international cricket, a born winner and competitor will lead the team with distinction said the CEO of Emerging Media who own the Jaipur franchise.

Shane Warne was the highest wicket taker in cricket until Muralitharan overtook him recently. Shane is an extraordinary player and was one of the mainstay’s of Australian team for a long time. After retirement he was playing English County Cricket.

John Gloster till recently the Team India physio will join IPL Jaipur as support staff - Director of coaching and Team Manager.

Shane Warne said he was happy to be leading the team and was happy with the players he got. He would mould the team into a winning combination said Warne. He was looking forward to playing in IPL he said.

IPL Chennai Picks Keppler Wessels As Coach.

The IPL Chennai team will pick Kepler Wessels as the coach of the chennai supreme kings. Kepler Wessels is a former captain of the South African team and also played for Australia for a short time before South Africa was admitted back to World Cricket.

Kepler Wessels is a commentator and has also coached the South Africa A side. Wesssels will be a welcome addition to the Chennai Super Kings think tank.

Who Am I

Hello Friends,

i am happy to see your response to my blog.

when the new club IPL has been introduced, my friend and myself are excited about the starting prize posted by business mans which includes mukesh am bani,SR,pretiy zinta and so on.

i have decided to keep track it. thats how! this blog has been created.

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IPL Kolkata: Jagmohan Dalmiya Throws A Spanner In The Works

The tussle that began inoccently enough with an email by the Cricket Association of Bengal(CAB) Chairman to Lalit Modi raising the issue of the 80:20 ratio for ticket allocation between Red Chillies Entertainment the owner of the Kolkata IPL franchise and CAB has been steadily snowballing. The associates and partners and other affiliates who used to get large portions of the Eden Garden tickets are now fighting for a bigger share saying 20 percent is not enough.

Lalit Modi initially had taken a tough stand saying take or leave it. If you don’t want to host the matches, we are fine with it. We will just go to another city that is willing and ready to host the matches. It looked like the CAB had backed down after the tough stance.

But at the meeting of all the stakeholders - the old warhorse and former chairman of the BCCI and ICC Jagmohan Dalmiya jumped into the fray and became the pointsman for all the opposing factions. Now, Dalmiya is spearheading the move demanding atleast 50 percent of the seats.

Shah Rukh Khan has said a firm NO. We won’t compromise on this. We were promised 80 percent of the seats and we will not budge on that. It is for the BCCI to work out the details with the CAB. We are not directly involved in the issue. So, the ball is firmly back in the court of the BCCI.

Bangalore team

Royal Challenger (Bangalore)
Players	Specialisation	Availability	Nationality
Rahul Dravid	Right hand batsman, Off break	Whole Tournament	Indian
Jacques Kallis	Right hand batsman, Right arm fast medium	Whole Tournament	South African
Anil Kumble	Right hand batsman, Leg break Googly	Whole Tournament	Indian
Cameron White	Right hand batsman, Leg break Googly	Whole Tournament	Australian
Zaheer Khan	Right hand batsman, Left arm fast medium	Whole Tournament	Indian
Mark Boucher	Right hand batsman, Wicket keeper	Whole Tournament	South African
Wasim Jaffer	Right hand batsman, Off break	Whole Tournament	Indian
Dale Steyn	Right hand batsman, Right arm fast bowler	Whole Tournament	South African
S Chanderpaul	Left hand batsman	Until May 16	West Indian

Mohali Team

MOHALI
Players	Specialisation	Availability	Nationality
Yuvraj Singh	Left hand batsman, Slow left-arm orthodox, Left-arm medium	Whole Tournament	Indian
Irfan Pathan	Left hand batsman, Left-arm fast medium	Whole Tournament	Indian
Brett Lee	Right hand batsman, Right arm fast bowler	Not in 2008	Australian
Kumar Sangakkara	Left hand batsman, Off break	Whole Tournament	Sri Lankan
S Sreesanth	Right hand batsman, Right arm fast medium	Whole Tournament	Indian
Mahela Jayawardene	Right hand batsman, Right medium	Whole Tournament	Sri Lankan
Piyush Chawla	Left hand batsman, Leg break Googly	Whole Tournament	Indian
Ramesh Powar	Right hand batsman, Off break	Whole Tournament	Indian
Ramnaresh Sarwan	Right hand batsman	Until May 16	West Indian
Simon Katich	Left hand batsman	Whole Tournament	Australia

jaipur Team

Rajasthan Royals (Jaipur)
Players	Specialisation	Availability	Nationality
Md Kaif	Right hand batsman, Off break	Whole Tournament	Indian
Graeme Smith	Left hand batsman, Off break	Whole Tournament	South African
Yusuf Pathan	Right hand batsman	Whole Tournament	Indian
Shane Warne	Right hand batsman, Leg break Googly	Whole Tournament	Australian
Munaf Patel	Right hand batsman, Right arm fast	Whole Tournament	Indian
Younis Khan	Right hand batsman	From April 27	Pakistani
Kamran Akmal	Right hand batsman, Wicket keeper	From April 27	Pakistani
Justin Langer	Left hand batsman, Right medium	Not in 2008	Australian

Hyderabad Team

Hyderabad
Players	Specialisation	Availability	Nationality
Andrew Symonds	Right hand batsman, Off break	Not in 2008	Australian
RP Singh	Right hand batsman, Right arm medium fast	Whole Tournament	Indian
Rohit Sharma	Right hand batsman, Off break	Whole Tournament	Indian
Adam Gilchrist	Left hand batsman, Wicket keeper	Whole Tournament	Australian
Shahid Afridi	Right hand batsman, Leg break googly	From April 27	Pakistani
Herschelle Gibbs	Right hand batsman	Whole Tournament	South African
VVS Laxman	Right hand batsman, Off break	Whole Tournament	Indian
Chaminda Vaas	Left hand batsman, Left arm fast medium	Whole Tournament	Sri Lankan
Scott Styris	Right hand batsman, Right arm fast medium	Whole Tournament	New Zealander
Nuwan Zoysa	Left hand batsman, Left arm fast medium	Whole Tournament	Sri Lankan
Chamara Silva	Right hand batsman	Whole Tournament	Sri Lankan

Happy about IPL, playing for Mohali--Kumar Sangakkara

The IPL auctions last week confirmed the arrival of a new era in cricket. Like the Packer revolution of the 1970s that ushered in modern one-day cricket and breathed much-needed life into the game, the Indian Premier League in April and May this year means that world cricket will never be the same again. There are cynics who fear the fabric of the game may be under threat, but I'm convinced that the IPL will be a huge success.

I think we were all surprised by the vast sums paid for players in Mumbai. We knew the IPL was big business and we knew there was a chance of our minimum guarantees being surpassed. But with all the rules and complexity surrounding the auction, it was difficult to predict what would happen. However, when the news of the early bidding started to filter through to us we were astonished.

But clearly a great deal of thought went into the buying strategies of the different franchises. The high price tag on all-rounders and multi-skilled cricketers made sense, as did the stampede for India's more marketable players. Fortunately, wicket-keeper batsmen were also in demand so I managed to get a decent fee. The franchise interest in non-international guys like Cameron White, who are proven T20 performers, was also smart

IPL to adjust future scheduling with England in mind

MUMBAI, India (Reuters) - The Indian Premier League (IPL) will look to reschedule its calendar in future to accommodate England players in the multi-million dollar Twenty20 tournament.

English players do not feature in the 44-day inaugural event which gets underway on April 18.

The dates clash with New Zealand's tour and the start of the English county championship season.

"We are working towards that in the coming years," IPL chairman Lalit Modi told Reuters on Friday. "It cannot happen overnight.

"They (English players) were interested (this year), but we could not accommodate them because of their commitments," he added.

Seventy-five leading international names were snapped up by the eight IPL franchises at a players' auction earlier this month with annual pay cheques starting at six-figures.

Three New Zealand players who have been signed up by IPL teams -- captain Daniel Vettori, Jacob Oram and Brendon McCullum -- are in talks with their board about arriving in England just 10 days before the first test on May 15 to allow them to play six IPL matches.

The international cricket community is already asking the game's governing body to set aside a clear slot for the league to avoid a clash of interest for players on national duty.

Time to spice up 50-over game to head off Twenty20

BE SCARED. Be very scared. The 50-over game has been superseded by its demanding infant brother, and the more exciting Twenty20 circus is making the 50-over game look tired and old.

But there's still time for the "traditional" one-day game to fight back. We need to spice it up.

First and foremost, we need to tackle the predictability of the overs between 20 and 40. Too often, batting teams look to keep wickets in hand and punch through the gaps for ones and twos, which is easy with five men on the boundary. So this period known as the "Tavare Zone"* has fewer boundaries, fewer wickets and less entertainment.

Let's bring in some rules to make those middle overs less robotic and get the fun ledger tilting back 50-over cricket's way.

BATTING TEAM TO CALL ONE FIVE-OVER POWERPLAY

Since power plays were introduced to one-day internationals, teams have generally used them consecutively in the first 20 overs. Essentially, all this rule has really done is extend the traditional fielding restrictions from the 15th over to the 20th over. Boooooring.

Let's get the International Cricket Council to take a leaf from our own domestic 50-over competition, where after the first compulsory 10-over powerplay, the bowling team and batting team each can call one five-over powerplay.

We have seen in the past couple of years that the bowling team will take its powerplay somewhere between overs 10 and 20.

However, batting teams have been using it at the compulsory ball change after the 35th over and we have seen teams score up to 60 runs in that period.

This rule allows for more attacking cricket. Batsmen are more inclined to play bigger shots to maximise the rule that only three men can be outside the 30-metre circle. The batsmen see the opportunity for boundaries, and as a result, the chance for wickets increases. With batsmen looking to attack more the chances of seeing boundaries increases, but for the fielding team, chances of wickets increases.

Suddenly, varying tactics and intrigue come in to play.

RESTRICTIONS RELAXED TO ALLOW UP TO THREE BOUNCERS AN OVER

A job description for modern fast bowlers could read: Optimistic young men required to bowl 10 overs in one-day internationals. Must play the supporting role to the batsmen, who are the major stars in ODIs. Must be prepared to bowl a predictable speed, line and length. Need to possess the unflappable temperament of a Buddhist monk and the personality of a mute sheep. Must not be afraid of public humiliation. Must be prepared to travel a long way, like the cricket balls you bowl after the batsmen connect.

It's time to even up the ledger. Let's face it — restrictions on short-pitched bowling were initially brought in to stop the mighty West Indian bowling battery of the 1980s bouncing hell at every sorry batsman. The rule is outdated — there are no attacks like that these days.

By relaxing the bouncer restrictions, it provides more options for faster bowlers and makes the game less predictable for batsmen, who now know the ball is going to pitch in the "Corridor of Certainty" — on a good length around off stump. It's time to turn that Corridor of Certainty into the "Avenue of Apprehension" by allowing more bouncers. It's a win-win.

From a bowler's perspective, a subtly quicker bouncer can unsettle the batsman or dismiss him altogether — a mistimed pull shot will often fly to a fielder.

From a batsman's perspective, a badly executed bouncer is manna from heaven for someone such as Ricky Ponting, who is proficient square of the wicket, and can cut, pull and hook with reckless abandon. Again — more entertainment for the crowd in those flat middle overs.