IPL 2011-Season 4

[mallufan]

Cochin Bruisers ennakum

Ithonnum venda..
Cochin coconuts or Cochin kothus mathi..

[PULSE]

cochin tigers

[mallufan]

Logokku ente suggestions ithanu

1) logo-il oru thenginte padam venam like the west indies' logo.
2)ennittu athil thengakalkku pakaram cricket balls kulachu nilkkanam

Eppadi??

[kiran]

kollam nannayirikkum

[kiran]

[mallufan]

ithu original aano??? bruise ennal chathavu. appo chathanja team aavumo??

[kiran]

Confirm aayittilla

[kiran]

It is not just cricket. The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a business cutting across various sectors. It extends from the companies that bid for the team or telecast rights (DLF, Reliance, GMR, Deccan Chronicle, India Cement, UB group, Sony Entertainment) to the advertisers, to glamorous new cricket team owners (Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Jeh Wadia) to the 24X7 television channels desperate for ‘breaking news’ and, of course, the entire industry of cricket commentators, trainers and other experts that form part of the cricketing entourage. What does this mean? Quite frankly, the rules of this game are a little different and one must take everything that one reads and sees with a pinch of salt. Here are a few questions and observations about the first two-week cricket tamasha.

• Television viewer ratings should ideally look for extraordinary events and steady following. But TAM ratings for IPL were released within the first two days to proclaim its mega success (although the eight-point rating is half that of Kaun Banega Crorepati in its hey days). Was this to suck in more advertising over the remaining weeks of the first tournament?
• The ratings, we are told, remained high for the next two weeks too, and why not? There were significant additions to the audience in the form of the Mumbai Police, who were checking if the attire and actions of the cheerleaders were obscene; and also the whole moral brigade out to see whether the cheerleaders could be dragged to court on charges of obscenity a la the Shilpa Shetty-Richard Gere episode.
• Significantly, Shiv Sena and the Raj Thackarey faction didn’t find anything un-Indian about the cheesy cheerleaders, but they find Valentine’s Day celebrations seriously objectionable. Does this smack of a financial angle?
• Revealing clothes and dancing is apparently fine, if you are a cheerleader or a film star and your gyrations are beamed to the world but bar dancers who eke out a sad living by twirling for private, paying customers are dubbed amoral! Surely, Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil deserves an award for monumental hypocrisy. But, of course, Sharad Pawar, India’s minister for cricket, is his party leader.
• If all this media fodder weren’t enough, Harbhajan Singh ensured worldwide interest (especially Down Under) by helpfully slapping his Indian team mate Sreesanth. It could cost him his IPL career (with a 11-match ban); but, who knows, he may end up a TV star like the other hot-tempered sardar, Navjot Singh Sidhu, who is therapeutically judging laughter shows and laughing all the way to the bank.
• Believe it or not, there are plenty of people who attribute the near washout of the Mumbai Indians (owned by Mukesh Ambani) to the rivalry with brother Anil. Even the implications of such a claim boggle the mind and would tarnish several pristine reputations, but you find cricket fans swearing it is true.
• The next round of action will happen if some team-owners decide to sell their teams and cash-in before the hoopla dies down. After all, IPL has a long way to go before people assimilate different teams and colours or attract loyal fan following (Kolkata, with Shah Rukh and Sourav may be an exception).

[kiran]

The much-awaited Indian Premier League players' auction will be held in Bangalore on January 8 and 9 and will see over 400 players going under the hammer, according to sources.

"The auction is to be held in Bangalore and a total of 416 playes would go under the auctioner's hammer," IPL sources said.

Under the IPL Player Regulations, each of the founding franchises could retain up to four players (of which only three could be Indian) in advance of the player auction - against fixed deductions from the USD 9 million salary cap.

Only Chennai Super Kings, the 2010 champions, and runners-up Mumbai Indians have retained the full compliment of players.

CSK have retained captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay and South African all-rounder Albie Morkel.

MI held on to batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Sri Lanka's sling-arm pacer Lasith Malinga and West Indian powerhouse Kieron Pollard.

By retaining four players, MI and CSK are each left with only USD 4.5m to spend either in the auction or in buying Ranji players outside the auction.

Delhi Daredevils retained swashbuckling opener Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli was retained by Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals decided to keep their two Australian stars Shane Warne and Shane Watson.

Rajasthan Royals will have USD 5.9 mn available to spend while Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore will each have a balance of USD 7.2mn available. The remaining franchises have the full USD 9mn available to spend.

This is the second time in four years that the T20 franchise-based League's players' auction is being held outside Mumbai where the inaugural one took place in 2008.

Goa was the venue of the second players' auction in February 2009.

[kiran]

Apart from the possibility of 10 teams participating in the player auction ahead of the Indian Premier League's (IPL) fourth edition, the two-day exercise will see another first. Uncapped players - those who haven't played international cricket, will go under the hammer. The IPL governing council had earlier decided that uncapped players who had featured in 75 per cent of their teams' IPL matches would be eligible to be auctioned at Bangalore on January 8-9.


However, it was recently decided that the pool would be much larger. Of the 416 players short-listed, as on December 17, almost one-third are uncapped.
It was confirmed on Tuesday that all the players, including those who haven't featured either in an IPL or international match, would figure in the auction. "Uncapped players will be a part of the auction," Sundar Raman, IPL's chief operation officer, told HT.
In a communication to all teams on December 17, a copy of which is in possession of HT, the IPL has asked the teams to shortlist players from the eligible list of 416 whom they would like to bid for. It is expected that the step will result in auction pool shrinking to around 250 players.
During the previous three auctions, players who had featured in at least one international match were eligible to be sold. The change seems to have gone down well with the franchises. "This will enable us to have a larger pool to select from," a top team official, preferring anonymity, said.
However, the franchises are unhappy with the decision to bar overseas player signings before the event.
Though the December 17 document has asked the franchises to inform the IPL about signings of domestic players before the auction, it was learnt that in a separate communication, the franchises have been barred from signing players from the list of short-listed names.
"There is not much to choose from the domestic players," a team official said.
"It's better if they allow us to start signing from the pool of rejected players even before the auction."