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.

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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.

Player signings

Franchise Player Age Country Cost (USD)
Bangalore Royal Challengers

Coach: Venkatesh Prasad Rahul Dravid ♠ (c) 35 India $1,035,000 ♠ Jacques Kallis 32 South Africa $900,000 Anil Kumble 37 India $500,000 Cameron White 24 Australia $500,000 Zaheer Khan 29 India $450,000 Mark Boucher 31 South Africa $450,000 Nathan Bracken 30 Australia $325,000 Dale Steyn 24 South Africa $325,000 Shivnarine Chanderpaul 33 West Indies $200,000 Wasim Jaffer 30 India $150,000 Total purchase price

$4,835,000
Chennai Super Kings

Coach: Kepler Wessels Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c) 26 India $1,500,000 Jacob Oram 28 New Zealand $675,000 Suresh Raina 21 India $650,000 Albie Morkel 28 South Africa $675,000 Muttiah Muralitharan 35 Sri Lanka $600,000 Matthew Hayden 36 Australia $375,000 Michael Hussey 32 Australia $350,000 Stephen Fleming 35 New Zealand $350,000 Parthiv Patel 22 India $325,000 Joginder Sharma 29 India $225,000 Makhaya Ntini 30 South Africa $200,000 Total purchase price

$5,925,000
Delhi DareDevils

Coach: Greg Shipperd Virender Sehwag ♠ (c) 29 India $833,750 ♠ Gautam Gambhir 26 India $725,000 Manoj Tiwary 22 India $675,000 Mohammad Asif 25 Pakistan $650,000 Daniel Vettori 29 New Zealand $625,000 Dinesh Karthik 22 India $525,000 Shoaib Malik 26 Pakistan $500,000 Glenn McGrath 38 Australia $350,000 AB de Villiers 24 South Africa $300,000 Tillakaratne Dilshan 31 Sri Lanka $250,000 Farveez Maharoof 23 Sri Lanka $225,000 Total purchase price

$5,572,500
IPL Hyderabad

Coach: Robin Singh Andrew Symonds 32 Australia $1,350,000 R. P. Singh 22 India $875,000 Rohit Sharma 20 India $750,000 Adam Gilchrist 36 Australia $700,000 Shahid Afridi 27 Pakistan $675,000 Herschelle Gibbs 33 South Africa $575,000 V. V. S. Laxman (c) 33 India $375,000 Chaminda Vaas 34 Sri Lanka $200,000 Scott Styris 32 New Zealand $175,000 Nuwan Zoysa 30 Sri Lanka $110,000 Chamara Silva 28 Sri Lanka $100,000 Total purchase price

$5,885,000
Rajasthan Royals

Coach: Shane Warne Shane Warne (c) 38 Australia $450,000 Yusuf Pathan 25 India $475,000 Graeme Smith 27 South Africa $475,000 Mohammad Kaif 27 India $675,000 Munaf Patel 24 India $275,000 Younis Khan 32 Pakistan $225,000 Justin Langer 38 Australia $200,000 Kamran Akmal 26 Pakistan $150,000 Total purchase price

$2,925,000
IPL Kolkata

Coach: John Buchanan Sourav Ganguly ♠ (c) 35 India $1,092,500 ♠ Ishant Sharma 19 India $950,000 Chris Gayle 28 West Indies $800,000 Brendon McCullum 26 New Zealand $700,000 David Hussey 30 Australia $625,000 Shoaib Akhtar 32 Pakistan $425,000 Murali Kartik 31 India $425,000 Ricky Ponting 33 Australia $400,000 Ajit Agarkar 30 India $330,000 Umar Gul 24 Pakistan $150,000 Tatenda Taibu 24 Zimbabwe $125,000 Total purchase price

$6,022,500
IPL Mohali

Coach: Tom Moody Yuvraj Singh ♠ (c) 26 India $1,063,750 ♠ Irfan Pathan 23 India $925,000 Brett Lee 31 Australia $900,000 Kumar Sangakkara 30 Sri Lanka $700,000 Sreesanth 25 India $625,000 Mahela Jayawardene 30 Sri Lanka $475,000 Piyush Chawla 19 India $400,000 Ramnaresh Sarwan 27 West Indies $225,000 Simon Katich 32 Australia $200,000 Ramesh Powar 30 India $170,000 Total purchase price

$5,683,750
IPL Mumbai Sachin Tendulkar ♠ 34 India $1,121,250 ♠ Sanath Jayasuriya 38 Sri Lanka $975,000 Harbhajan Singh 27 India $850,000 Robin Uthappa 22 India $800,000 Shaun Pollock 34 South Africa $550,000 Lasith Malinga 24 Sri Lanka $350,000 Loots Bosman 30 South Africa $175,000 Dilhara Fernando 29 Sri Lanka $150,000 Total purchase price

$4,971,250