Indian Premier League Cricket

The IPL Tour Opener will be hosted by Hyderabad. Initially it was decided to shift the venue considering the tense situation in Hyd due to the ongoing Telegana agitation. But after getting the required assurances from the Police it has been decided to move it back to Hyd

YouTube will be airing live IPL season 3. The deal was struck between Google and IPL’s Lalit Modi and was announced yesterday.

So, you can catch all the IPL action this season where ever you are in the world.

The revenues from the ads will be shared equally by the two.

All the IPL franchisees steered clear of Pakistani players for IPL season 3.

The snubbed Pakistani players including the star performer Afridi say that this was a huge insult to their country.  We agree to a certain extent. If they were not going to be included then why where they at all in the auction pool? That could have been avoided.

But the franchise owners position has to be understood too. They are purely in this for money and if they don’t get their money’s worth then they are not going to do it.  Including Pakistani players and attracting unwanted attention from the likes of  Shiv Sena, MNS and their cohorts will need extra security which they need to pay for. Then there is so much uncertainity with regard to visas, Indo-Pak relations and continued terrorist threats from across the border.

Nita Ambani bought Keiron Pollard for $750,000, His base price was $200,ooo.

Md Kaif was bought by Zinta for th Kings XI team for $250,000.

Shane Bond went to the Kolkata Knight Riders for $750,000.

Sadly, none of the Pakistani players found any takers this season. Given the tense situation between the two countries it was perhaps expected.

But, there was this tiny hope that they will play and contribute to the bettering of the relations between the two countries. Anyway we hope they will next time around.

Yet another year, yet another edition of IPL and yet another auction. The fireworks before the actual fireworks starts in IPL 3 will be provided by the players auction set for today.

Who will the hottest draws, who will be biggest losers find out. The fate of Pakistani players hang in balance yet again. The team owners have to take a calculated risk on whether to bid for the players from Pakistan. There are so many other factors that will determine whether they will play in the tournament makes it a big question mark.

But, with out them the tournament will lack that sparkle. They are current T20 champions as Afridi rightly pointed out. So, here’s hoping that we will see our Pakistani brethren play in this season of IPL.

Apart from them there are several stars who will fates will be keenly watched at today’s auction. Shane Bond the prodigal son who returns from Indian Cricket League to Indian Premier League and many other players will see some keen action on the auction table.

As per the notification issued by the IPL, it has received nearly 100 entries from international players, of which the following eight franchisees had short listed to 60 players for the auction on 19th January, 2010.

Chennai Super Kings
Deccan Chargers
Delhi Daredevils
Kings XI Punjab
Kolkata Knight Riders
Mumbai Indians
Rajasthan Royals
Royal Challengers Bangalore

Out of the 61 players short listed by franchisees for auction, IPL management has cleared only 51. The remaining 49 will be cleared on receipt of NOCs from the respective home boards.

The 51 cleared foreign players include the one each from Holland and Canada. The players of these countries will be participating in IPL for the first time if procured any of the above eight teams.

The auction will be held in Mumbai on 19th January 2010.

As per the guidelines set by the IPL governing council, each franchisee will have a fresh purse of $750,000 to buy players.

The final list of 51 players available for the auction are from:

Australians – 11 players
Doug Bollinger, Brad Haddin, Phillip Hughes, Ashley Noffke, Jason Krejza, Ben Laughlin, Graham Manou, Damien Martyn, Clint McKay, Peter Siddle, Adam Voges.

Bangladesh – 1 players
Shakib Al Hasan.

Canada – 1 players
Rizwan Cheema.

Holland – 1 players
Ryan ten Doeschate.

New Zealand – 4 players
Shane Bond, Grant Elliot, Nathan McCullum, Lou Vincent.

Pakistanis – 7 players
Mohammad Aamer, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Akmal, Rana Naved Ul Hasan, Imran Nazir, Abdul Razzaq.

South Africans – 9 players
Yusuf Abdulla, Zander de Bruyn, Justin Kemp, Rory Kleinveldt, Wayne Parnell Vernon Philander, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Johan van der Wath, Vaughn van Jaarsveld.

Sri Lankans – 8 players
Thilina Kandamby, Nuwan Kulasekera, Thisara Perera, Chamara Silva, Upul Tharanga, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Chanaka Welegedara, Nuwan Zoysa.

West Indians – 8 players
Sulieman Benn, Darren Bravo, Daren Ganga Wavell Hinds, Kieron Pollard, Kemar Roach, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lendl Simmons.

Zimbabwe – 1. players
Murray Goodwin.

As per the present rule each franchise cannot exceed 10 foreign players in a team. In the first season of the IPL the restriction for maximum foreign Players was eight players

Last year they were at the bottom of the table. This year they are right at the top! Yes, Deccan Chargers are the Champs this season. They beat a spirited Royal Challengers team who also ended at the bottom of the table last year to keep Chargers company. What a swift turn around for both the teams.

Chennai Super Kings could not dig deep enough to find the right answers. Royal Challengers and Manish in particular found the momentun to keep going into the finals.

What a sizzling performance from the master batsman Adam Gilchrist. With his bat firing away like Sehwag and co were left licking their wounds. Gilly blasted 50 off 17 balls and set up a victory for the Hyderbadis. His final score was 85. He snatched away a victory from the undefeated Daredevils who had score a respectable 153. After the loss of two wickets for 0 runs the delhi team looked to be on a sticky wicket. But they recovered – Sehwag and Dilshan did a good job too. But everything was reduced to nought with the blitzkrieg that Gilchrist unleashed on the hapless Daredevils bowlers. No guesses for who won the man of the match award. It was Gilchrist’s show all the way.

Almost ending the dreams of a semi-final berth for the Mohali team. Chasing a very modest total of 119, Yuvaraj and co could manage only 92 for the loss of 8 wickets. The Chennai team is assured of a semi-final berth. Delhi are already through to the semis. Rajasthan Royals, Mumbai Indians are also out of the semis along with Kolkata Knight Riders.

Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers still have a game left and depending on who wins the final line up will be known. The Mohali team still have a slight hope of scraping through to the semis.