Oct 06 2009
News
Mithun Chakraborty to take on Shahrukh Khan’s Knight Riders
Two Bollywood superstars are all set for a new battle. Actor Mithun Chakraborty has bought the ICL Kolkata Tigers team for an undisclosed amount. Better known as Disco King Mithun da is very excited on having clinched the deal. Once the formalities are over he is planning to change the team name, logo and come up with a more appealing slogan as well. He said that since he was himself an entertainer and the T 20 is a fantastic form of entertainment it would form an ideal combination. Mithun has been an ardent sports lover especially Football but it’s the business aspects which prompted him to try his luck in the ICL. Well it seems Shahrukh has found a strong competitor and only time will tell how the two Bollywood icons take on each other.
Red Chillies-CAB strike ticket-sharing deal
Shahruh Khan must be having a sigh of relief after the Bengal Cricket Association(CAB) and Red Chillies reached a compromise over the ticket sharing issue. The King Khan owns the Kolkata Knight Riders Team. The controversary began after the CAB refused to accept the 80 % of the tickets for the franchise and 20% tickets for the host association. As per the deal Shahrukh Khan company has agreed to give the CAB over 1000 high-value tickets for the club house, instead of the 650 allotted earlier. And the CAB, in return, will give up 8000 of the 17,000 tickets that they would have got under the 80-20 formula. CAB members will also get general tickets at a discount.
Hattangadi quits ICL, joins IPL
The switch over time has begun and guess what it’s the ICL now at the receiving end. After the two-cricket leagues, IPL and ICL ensured that they have the best available players, ICL now may face the heat. Former Mumbai opener Shishir Hattangadi has quit the rebel Indian Cricket League and joined the Hyderabad franchise team Deccan Chargers. He will work as the manager of the team. Deccan Chargers President and CEO J Krishnan said “We are absolutely delighted to have him as our team manger”. Hattangadi had obtained the NOC prior to joining the IPL League. The move may come as a breather for other cricketers who opted to play for the rebel ICL.
Brabourne Stadium not to hold IPL matches
Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium, which hosted the Twenty20 international between India and Australia in 2007, the only Twenty20 international to have been played so far in the country, will not be hosting any of the matches of the Indian Premier League after the league and Reliance Industries, owners of the city franchise, found unacceptable the conditions imposed by the Cricket Club of India (CCI), to whom the stadium belongs. The CCI’s executive committee decision to offer the ground did not figure the clubhouse and the club members’ children’s enclosure, which was unacceptable to Reliance Industries. Now with Brabourne stadium out of the contention the DY Patil Stadium or the Wankhede Stadium is likely to host the IPL matches.
Balaji to play for Chennai Super Kings
L Balaji the right arm fast bowler is gearing up to make his come back in competitive cricket. He has been out of action since his stress fracture. The stylish bowler will make his comeback through Chennai Super Kings team. Balaji last played an international game in August 2005 against Sri Lanka and is happy to have been part of the Super Kings squad. He has also been picked in the Tamil Nadu squad for the Vijay Hazare Trophy, an all-India knockout one-day tournament.
Preity ropes Sajid-Wajid to record music video
Well if Shahrukh can do it why not the dimpled beauty Preity Zinta. The Bollywood actress has roped in Sajid-Wajid to record a song for her Mohali team. The promotional song will be sung by none other than Punjab da Puttar Daler Mehndi. The lyricist is Jalees Sherwani. Meanwhile Neil Maxwell has been appointed as the CEO of the Mohali IPL team. Neil brings in his marketing and communication expertise to the franchise.
Deepika and Katrina to feature in Vijay Mallya’s team music video
Vijay Mallya believes in ‘If you have it flaunt it’. He is known to do things in a glamorous way whether it is his Calendar shooting or cocktail parties. It seems the IPL is going completely the Bollywood way, as two sizzling beauty Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif will feature in Bangalore Royal Challengers’s promotional video music. Sanjay Gupta will be directing the video. Meanwhile cricketers have also been roped for the music video.
Mumbai Indians sign Luke Ronchi
There is one thing about the Mumbai Indians that stands out from other IPL teams. The team led by Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar had no Australian players in the side. Few debated that it was a planned strategy while others said it be a deliberate attempt. But now the team has signed exciting big-hitting Western Australia wicketkeeper-batsman Luke Ronchi for three years. He has to his credit a 56-ball century, a domestic record. He is excited to be a part of IPL and can’t wait to bat with the living legend Sachin Tendulkar.
Kingfisher Airlines to be official umpire partner
Its raining money for the BCCI owned IPL. The sponsorship is swelling even before the game has begun. The prominent feather to the list is Kingfisher Airlines, run by Vijay Mallya, the Bangalore franchise owner. It has signed a five-year deal with IPL for $26.5 million as the official umpire partner, taking the total sponsorship pool to approximately $111.5 million. As per the deal Kingfisher Airlines will get branding rights on umpires’ uniforms, including shirts and hats during the IPL, along with several other activation opportunities around the property.
Crowds will love Symonds: Laxman
The racial slur controversary involving Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh made cricketing headlines across the world. Symonds has been signed by the Deccan Chargers for a whooping amount of Rs. 5.4 Crore. VVS Laxman, who is leading the side said that spectators would love Symonds. He said that the Australian all rounder was thorough professional and if he plays match winning knocks then people would certainly love him. It is important to note that Symonds had spate with several Indian players including Ishant Sharma. Laxman said that he expects few instance of sledging on the field. Only time will tell how people react to Symonds given that he has been like a villain in India post Australian tour.
Asif participation in IPL under jeopardy
Pakistan sensational fast bowler Mohammad Asif received a setback, when he was ruled out of next month’s one-day series against Bangladesh. It is learnt that Asif hadn’t completed his rehabilitation from an elbow surgery he underwent in Sydney last December. Asif’s elbow problem kept him out of international cricket since October 2007. The Delhi Daredevils IPL team has signed Mohammad Asif for US$650,000, and the recent development puts his participation in to jeopardy. According to reports PCB is unwilling to give Asif a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) to play in IPL. The board is concerned that he may suffer a recurrence of the elbow problem. The IPL requires all players to have a NOC from their national boards to participate in the league.
England Players want to play IPL
The Indian IPL is wooing players across all the cricket playing nations. New to the list is England. There had been a lot of speculations over the participation of England players in IPL. IPL chairman Lalit Modi said that there are several English players who are keen to play in IPL. On the other hand, ECB Chief
Giles Clarke said “Hampshire are taking a serious risk, which they acknowledge, that [Dimitri] Mascarenhas might get injured while playing in the IPL and be out for the whole English summer”
The Indian Premier League has leading England players in its sights, according to its chairman, Lalit Modi, and is prepared to look at its future dates to accommodate them.
Speaking to the BBC, Modi said: “I know a lot of them are interested but we don’t want to conflict with the English season. If that means we have to move our matches a few weeks in advance, we would be happy to do that to accommodate the English players. We would like to see a lot of the English players in the IPL but I cannot commit to them until the ECB actually finds a window and clears them.”
Modi has said several times over the past month that English players were interested, and his latest comments seem to be a response to Giles Clarke, the England board (ECB) chairman, who said at the weekend that no English-qualified players could be poached by the IPL. “We have a contract with the BCCI [Indian board] … in that contract, they’re not allowed to take any English players of any kind to play in IPL if there is no No Objection Certificate. The IPL will not play any player who has not received an NOC.”
Modi has maintained that the IPL will work with the England board, although earlier this month he suggested that the ECB might “move their season back by a few weeks … then we can have a window. It would be a win-win situation for everybody.”
IPL will help mend cricket relations: Gilchrist
The recently concluded Australian tour saw huge reaction from the cricket fans over the manner and field tactics applied by the Australian players. The Indian public and hungry media typecasted them as Bad Boys of the game. The Deccan Chargers’s vice captain Adam Gilchrist too shared the view that things went too far during the series. However the former wicketkeeper and aggressive batsman believed that IPL would act as a platform to mend their differences and hard feelings. Gilly feels that IPL will let the international cricketers to forge good relations. Well thought Gilly, but wait and watch until that noble idea is realized. “I think the situation this summer has got out of hand somewhat,” he said.
Warne agrees to having the weakest team
Leg spin wizard Shane Warne after having officially launched the Rajasthan Royals Team said that his side was weak in comparison to other team. He said that he would have loved to have Sachin Tendulkar in his side. Warne however feels that his side is a balanced outfit and it’s only a matter of extracting best out of the available players. The Spin king expressed hope that ICC would accommodate IPL in its international calendar. The Leggie was quite keen and happy to be donning in the hats of coach and captain for the team.
Lord’s and The Oval may host IPL exhibition games
Two of England’s leading international grounds, Lord’s and The Oval, are considering offers to stage exhibition games involving teams from the Indian Premier League, according to a report in The Times.
Although the venues for the initial games have already been allocated in India, there seems an increasing likelihood that other international venues will be also be used, as a way to promote the tournament around the world as much as provide world-class facilities. As it stands, however, the London venues will only host exhibition matches.
Herschelle Gibbs does it again, arrested for drunken driving
Before the IPL mania kicks off, few developments can create concern for the IPL franchisees. South African opening batsman Herschelle Gibbs was arrested in the early hours this morning for drinking and driving in Cape Town on 28 March. He was later released on 500 rand ($62) bail, and would appear in Cape Town magistrates’ court on June 27.
Gibbs was recently signed up to play for the Hyderabad IPL team Deccan Chargers in the inaugural Indian Premier League, a multi-million dollar Twenty20 in a deal worth $575,000. Gibbs had also been fined earlier after he was alleged to have drugs on the 2001 West Indies tour.
Five NZ players will arrive late for England tour
In a significant move five New Zealand players are likely to arrive late for the England tour. Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum, Jacob Oram, Ross Taylor and Kyle Mills have signed with the Indian Premier League and will appear in more lucrative Twenty20 games. In such case they will miss the one-day warm-up against MCC on April 27 and the three-day fixture with Kent. Justin Vaughan, the NZC chief executive termed the decision to be fair and said that their participation in the high standard of international cricket in India will do good to the cricketers in terms of preparation.
Sri Lanka’s tour must not clash with IPL - Mendis
Before the IPL game kicks off the cricket playing body wants to ensure that it does not clash with its cricket calendar. After Australia opted to pull out from the Pakistan tour Sri Lanka Cricket agreed to a one-day series in Pakistan. However the SLC is worried that their schedule might clash with the IPL matches. Duleep Mendis, the chief executive of the SLC said that SLC was keen to help Pakistan only if it does not clash with the tour. Cricketers from Pakistan and Sri Lanka have signed with the IPL.
Malinga a doubftul starter for IPL
Lasith Malinga, the Sri Lankan fast bowler, says he is struggling to be fit for the start of next month’s Indian Premier League (IPL).
A niggling knee injury ruled Malinga out of Sri Lanka’s Test and ODI series in the West Indies but he hoped to be a part of the Mumbai Indians’ squad.
“I’ve had this injury in Australia and played with it,” Malinga said. “However as it got worse I couldn’t tour the West Indies too. I would have loved to be with the team and enjoy its success. I am still under treatment and working hard.
“It is tough at this stage to be sure about IPL, but I am very hopeful I can make it.”
Malinga, 24, was bought by Mumbai for US$350,000 in the Twenty20 competition that starts on April 18 and finishes on June 1. Mumbai - who have two other Sri Lankans in Sanath Jayasuriya and Dilhara Fernando - kick off their IPL campaign the against Bangalore Royal Challengers on April 20.
Knee surgery puts Bracken in doubt for IPL
Nathan Bracken, the Australian fast bowler, has revealed how close a knee injury came to ending his international career. Bracken, 30, underwent surgery in Melbourne recently after a scan showed his cartilage was dangerously close to snapping and he has been advised between four to ten weeks of rehabilitation.
“I was doing more damage to the ligament every time I walked or moved,” Bracken told the Sun-Herald. “It was serious. It could have ended my career if it went on, for sure.”
The recovery seriously threatens his participation in the Indian Premier League, but he hopes to be fit for the one-day component of the West Indies tour, which starts on June 24. Bracken has signed with Bangalore in the Twenty20 competition that starts on April 18 and finishes on June 1.
Bracken went into the season aware of a problem, but he continued after he was diagnosed with severe bruising. He took 21 wickets in the CB Series, which earned him the Man-of-the-Series award.
Nehra for Mumbai Indians
Ashish Nehra, the left-arm fast bowler, has signed up with the Indian Premier League’s Mumbai franchise. Nehra, who last played for India in September 2005, didn’t play for Delhi in this season’s Ranji Trophy after suffering an ankle injury and, though reportedly fit for the Ranji one-day tournament, which began in February, didn’t feature in any of the matches.
He joins a fast-bowling attack that already has Shaun Pollock, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando and Mumbai’s Abhishek Nayar. Nehra will be expected to play a key role for Mumbai Indians, given that only four overseas players can feature in the playing XI.
Nehra will always be remembered for his heroic bowling performance against England in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa. On a dew laden pitch, he scalped 6 wickets for 23 runs inspite of an injured ankle.
