Shah Rukh Khan christened Kolkata team ‘Knight Riders’INDIATIMES CRICKET
NEW DELHI, March 11: Superstar Shah Rukh Khan has christened his Kolkata team Knight Riders. Unveiling the team’s mascot Hoog Lee, the actor said Hoog Lee is neither Bruce Lee nor Bret Lee and is better than all the Lees. Hoog Lee will the 17th member of the Kolkata Knight Riders. John Buchanan, former Australia coach will be the coach for the Kolkata team.
SRK also released the anthem of the team, “Karbo, Larbo, Jeetbo Re” in a glittering ceremony which was witnessed by former India skipper Saurav Gangaly, Cricket Association of Bengal, Prasun Mukherjee, team coach John Buchanan and Bollywood actress Juhi Chawla.
According to top sources in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the actor has registered both the titles for his team. “He wants to be doubly sure that he gets the title he wants,” a BCCI official familiar with the development said.
The IPL’s 44-day cricket bonanza will have a total of 59 T20 matches beginning from April 18.

Rajasthan Royals have upper hand

MUMBAI, March 10: With $2.05 million of unspent money in their pocket, the Jaipur franchise will have the upper hand in the second phase of Indian Premier League auctions to be held on Tuesday.

The Rajasthan Royals will be eyeing to buy the best of the 18 players, including Australians Shane Watson and James Hopes, who would be up for grabs in the auction. Besides, 16 Under-19 players will be decided by draft pick.

The Royals appear confident in their approach as far as Tuesday's auction is concerned and presence of Shane Warne, who is the captain-cum-coach of the side, indicates that the Jaipur outfit would try for the spin wizard's Hampshire team-mate Watson.

But Aussie cricket Brad Hodge may not feature in the auction even though his name appears on the list because his county side Lancashire expect him to play for them from next month.

Following is the amount other IPL franchises have:

Bangalore - $374,000
Chennai - $23,750
Delhi - $71,250
Hyderabad - $262,500
Kolkata - $107,500
Mohali - $292,250
Mumbai - $53,750

IPL launches new logo
NEW DELHI, March 10: The Indian Premier League launched its new logo on Monday.

The new logo for the League constitutes title sponsor DLF's corporate logo with the graphic of a batsman playing an attractive cricketing shot. The graphic and words for the Indian Premier League are in blue in-line with Team India's colours.

"The DLF Indian Premier League is here to stay and is set to carve out a distinct niche for itself in the international cricketing calendar."

"I am happy that India's largest real estate company, DLF will play an integral part in it into a truly world-class cricketing league," IPL Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi said.

IPL to conduct 2nd players' auction

MUMBAI, March 10: The Cricket Board-floated Indian Premier League is to conduct a second players' auction here on Tuesday to help the team franchises to finalise their playing squads at least thirty days prior to the start of the Twenty20 event on April 18.

A fresh set of 25 players , who have already been centrally contracted to the BCCI, will also form part of the auction process which will see Pakistan players Misbah-ul-Haq, Salman Butt, Mohammed Yousuf and Yasir Hameed go under the hammer along with seven New Zealand cricketers, a media release said on Monday.

The list of Kiwi players includes pacemen Kyle Mills, James Franklin and Chris Martin, spinner Jeetan Patel and batsmen Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton and Jamie How.

All the 16 members of the under-19 World Cup winning Indian squad plus another under-19 player to be nominated by the IPL Governing Council, would be allocated to the franchisees on a "draft" format.

These colts can be signed at a fixed player fee of $30,000 and the list includes victorius captain Virat Kohli, Saurabh Tiwary, Srivats Goswami and Taruvar Kohli.

As per the "draft" format, franchise owners would be made to pick up numbers 1-8. The franchise which draws number 1 in the draft will get the first choice to pick the best player that they perceive from the list. The same franchise will also get the 16th pick in the draft.

The franchise which picks number two will get the second and 15th choice and so on and so forth, the release said.

The first players’ auction saw 77 players being auctioned off for sums ranging from $1.5 million to $400,000.

Cuddapah: From cleaning lorries to getting a berth on the Indian Premier League (IPL) Hyderabad team, P Vijaykumar has come a long way from his remote village in Cuddapah district in Andhra Pradesh.
A resident of Paidikaalva village of Cuddapah district, the 21-year-old Vijaykumar is an unlikely star.
But over the last two years, he has carved out a dream for himself - playing Ranji Trophy and now he is set to hit the national scene with an IPL berth that’s left him clean bowled.
“I didn’t even know what IPL was when I got selected. Just a few days ago, my seniors explained to me what IPL is all about. I didn’t even tell anyone at home that I got selected. When I was playing for Ranji, my only goal was to play well and get maximum wickets,” says Vijaykumar.
Vijaykumar studied up to the ninth standard in the local government school, where he also doubled up as the cook who made the mid-day meals.
After school, it was time to indulge in his love for cricket and the pace bowler drew a lot of flak from home for it.
His father, David, a construction labourer and mother Sarawathi, a small time vegetable vendor, would yell at him to pull up his socks.
“When my son used to play cricket I used to scold him saying, how will you survive if you keep playing games? How will we eat if you just go to school and play cricket and cook in the school? I used to ask him all this,” Saraswathi says.
But with Rs 60 lakh in his kitty and a three-year contract with the IPL, the family’s fortunes seem set to change because of Vijaykumar’s hard work and passion.
“He’s done not just our village, but the entire district proud,” Saraswathi says.
For a person who didn’t even dream of playing beyond the Ranji, Vijaykumar will now rub shoulders with international stars like Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist and Chaminda Vaas.
And a place in the Indian team, too, doesn’t seem too far away
SOURCE : IBN LIVE

Finally, the most expensive team in IPL - the IPL mumbai team has a name - Mumbai Indians. This was announced today at a promo event to announce the name and unveil the logo. The logo incidentally is a Sudarshan chakra and team colors are blue.
Sachin Tendulkar was present at the function and said he would enjoy opening with Sanath Jayasuriya.
What do you think about the name Reliance Industries has come up with for its team?

IPL Mumbai franchise owner Reliance has said that with the right marketing large crowds will fill the stands in the IPL tournament. All said and done the IPL is a domestic tournament with 8 cities in India participating. So, when the long established Duleep and Ranji trophies hardly get a few hundred specators will more come for IPL?
The Reliance Retail Chief R. Balanchandran, said with all due respect when was the last time any thing done to promote these domestic tournaments. Not one bit. So, how can you expect crowds. But the IPL will be a compressed calendar cricket tournament featuring top talent from every part of the world and you can expect a whirlwind of promotion from all stake holders and the crowds will pack the stands particularly after the recent success of the Indian team in major tournaments - tri-series in Australia and under-19 world cup.

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.

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.
Let’s see how things work out.

As already reported in these pages, Shah Rukh Khan has roped in Ganesh Hegde to do a music video for the IPL Kolkata team. Ganesh will choreograph and direct the video. No guesses for who will be in the video egging his team on. Yes, King Khan will be the star attraction of the video.
Vishal-Shekar have composed the music for the video.

David Hussey who has been bought by the IPL Kolkata team for $625,000 dollars has got the all clear to play for the IPL team. He was already contracted with Nottinghamshire - the English county team.
By playing in IPL David will be missing out on 5 matches thatreaNottinghamshire team will be playing during that time. But, both Hussey and the county have reached an amicable settlement that allows Hussey to take part in the IPL without any hassle.

With the Great Indian victory down under, cricket is surely the flavor of the season. While India’s next series is the three Test series against the South Africans at home, fans are actually looking forward to the grand launch of probably cricket’s biggest event, the prestigious IPL (Indian Premiere League) which kicks off from April 18th.
Adding glamour to the cricketing action would be the presence of Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta who own the franchise of the Kolkata and Mohali teams respectively. Needless to say both Khan and Zinta are leaving no stone unturned to get maximum publicity for their teams.
The latest news doing the rounds is that SRK has roped in good friend Ganesh Hegde to choreograph and direct a music video for his Kolkata team. A source, close to Hegde, confirmed the news, “Yes, Ganesh is doing the music video for SRK. We can’t reveal much about the video.” When asked if it would feature King Khan, the source remained tight-lipped but later hinted, “Aggar unka video hai to woh to honge hi na…” For those who came in late, music director duo Vishal-Shekhar who composed the music for SRK’s hit film Om Shanti Om have apparently composed the music for this video.
Meanwhile, the buzz is that Preity Zinta has apparently signed music director duo Sajid-Wajid to compose a song for her Mohali team. The song has been recorded by Bhangra King Daler Mehndi.
Well with such big names getting involved in the inaugural edition of the IPL, things are only gonna get hotter in the days to come.
SOURCE : BOLLYWOOD HUNGAMA

Pakistan batting mainstay Younis Khan feels the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises have made a big mistake by not spending more on Pakistani players.
Younis said he was surprised that not many Pakistani players were snapped up by the IPL franchises in the bidding held in Mumbai last month.
The teams brought only seven Pakistani players including Younis with flamboyant allrounder, Shahid Afridi fetching the highest bid price of USD 675,000.
Prolific batsman Misbah-ul-Haq was later brought by Shahrukh Khan’s Kolkata team for USD 180,000.
Younis said the teams should have depended more on Indian and Pakistani players specially since they are more well versed in playing the Twenty20 version of the game.
“I just think it’s all a big mistake. You look at the performances of the Indian and Pakistani players in the T20 World Cup. Our players should have been brought for more money and in bigger numbers,” he said.
Younis said he was confident that next year the franchises would realise their mistake and Pakistani players would be in more demand.
On the captaincy issue, Younis said he was firm and right in not accepting the leadership of the Pakistan team.
“I took this decision because I am more happy playing as a ordinary member of the team. I just think that I am a bit aggressive and given the different influences in the team at times my nature would have created problems,” he said.
“I did the right thing in not accepting the Pakistan captaincy because it will help me prolong my career. I remain pro-active on the field even as a ordinary player and give my advice where necessary and when asked for,” he added.
On the upcoming home series against Australian which is in doubt due to the world champions’ security concerns, Younis said tour didn’t go ahead as per schedule in March-April.
“Even we as players like to compete against the best and do well. And even our people want to see the best players in action in their own grounds. I think they would love to see Ricky Pointing in action in Pakistan,” he said.
SOURCE : HINDUSTANTIMES

Videos - Enjoy and Send Videos. If it is passed then we will put in our site, your name and city name will be written. So, guys send...Try to send orginal cricket video and even send photographs too - but all orginal not from net.

T20 world cup cricket 2007 finals India Vs Pakistan - Pl

T20 world cup cricket 2007 finals India Vs Pakistan - P2

T20 world cup cricket 2007 finals India Vs Pakistan - P3

Yuvraj Singh Six Sixes T 20 - 6 6 6 6 6 6

Rajasthan Royals

Owner Emerging Media group Head Coach Shane Warne CEO Fraser Castellino Captian Shane Warne Founded 2008 Icon Player None Home Ground None Team Value US$67 million Capacity None

Name	Age	Nationality	Playing role	Bidding Price
Shane Warne	38	Australia	Bowler	US$ 450,000
Graeme Smith	27	South Africa	All Rounder	US$ 475,000
Yusuf Pathan	25	India	All Rounder	US$ 475,000
Kamran Akmal	26	Pakistan	Batsman	US$ 150,000
Mohammad Kaif	27	India	Batsman	US$ 675,000
Munaf Patel	24	India	Bowler	US$ 275,000
Justin Langer	38	Australia	Batsman	US$ 200,000
Younis Khan	31	Pakistan	Batsman	US$ 225,000
Pankaj Singh	22	India	Bowler	None
Anoop Revandkar	21	India		None

Mumbai

Owner Reliance Industries Limited Head Coach None CEO None Captian None Founded 2008 Icon Player Sachin Tendulkar Home Ground None Team Value US$111.9 million Capacity None

Name	Age	Nationality	Playing role	Bidding Price
Sachin Tendulkar	34	India	All Rounder	Icon Player
Harbhajan Singh	27	India	Bowler	US$ 850,000
Sanath Jayasuriya	37	Sri Lanka	All Rounder	US$ 975,000
Shaun Pollock	35	South Africa	All Rounder	US$ 550,000
Robin Uthappa	22	India	Batsman	US$ 800,000
Lasith Malinga	24	Sri Lanka	Bowler	US$ 350,000
Dilhara Fernando	29	Sri Lanka	Bowler	US$ 150,000
Loots Bosman	30	South Africa	Batsman	US$ 175,000
Ajinkya Rahanec	19	India	All Rounder	None
Abhishek Nayar	24	India	Bowler	None
Yogesh Takawale	23	India	Batsman / WK	None
Pinal Shahc	20	India	Batsman / WK	None

Mohali

Owner Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia Head Coach Tom Moody CEO None Captian Yuvraj Singh Founded 2008 Icon Player Yuvraj Singh Home Ground Punjab Cricket Stadium Team Value US$76 million Capacity 61,500

Name	Age	Nationality	Playing role	Bidding Price
Yuvraj Singh	26	India	Batsman	Icon Player
Mahela Jayawardene	30	Sri Lanka	Batsman	US$ 475,000
Kumar Sangakkara	30	Sri Lanka	Batsman / WK	US$ 850,000
Brett Lee	31	Australia	Bowler	US$ 900,000
Irfan Pathan	23	India	Bowler	US$ 925,000
Sreesanth	25	India	Bowler	US$ 625,000
Piyush Chawla	19	India		US$ 400,000
Ramesh Powar	29	India		US$ 170,000
Ramnaresh Sarwan	27	West Indies	Batsman	US$ 225,000
Simon Katich	32	Australia	Batsman	US$ 200,000
VRV Singh	23	India		None
Uday Kaul	20	India	Batsman / WK	None
Karan Goel	21	India		None

Kolkata

Owner Red Chillies Entertainment Head Coach John Buchanan CEO None Captian Sourav Ganguly Founded 2008 Icon Player Sourav Ganguly Home Ground Eden Gardens Team Value US$75.09 million Capacity 88,000

Name	Age	Nationality	Playing role	Bidding Price
Sourav Ganguly	35	India	All Rounder	Icon Player
Ishant Sharma	19	India	Bowler	US$ 950,000
Chris Gayle	28	West Indies	All Rounder	US$ 950,000
Brendon McCullum	26	Australia	Batsman / WK	US$ 700,000
David Hussey	30	Australia	Batsman	US$ 675,000
Shoaib Akhtar	32	Pakistan	Bowler	US$ 450,000
Murali Kartik	31	India	Bowler	US$ 425,000
Ricky Ponting	33	Australia	Batsman	US$ 400,000
Ajit Agarkar	30	India	All Rounder	US$ 350,000
Umar Gul	24	Pakistan	Bowler	US$ 150,000
Tatenda Taibu	24	Zimbadwe	Batsman / WK	US$ 125,000
Misbah-ul-Haq	33	Pakistan	Batsman	US$ 180,000

Hyderabad

Owner Deccan Chronicle Head Coach Greg Shipperd CEO J Krishnan Captian VVS Laxman Founded 2008 Icon Player None Home Ground Rajiv Gandhi Stadium Team Value US$107 million Capacity 55,000

Franchise History
The IPL Hyderabad franchise is owned by Deccan Chronicle, the media group acquired the franchise for $107 million.

Name	Age	Nationality	Playing role	Bidding Price
V. V. S. Laxman	33	India	Batsman	$375,000
Andrew Symonds	32	Australia	All Rounder	$1,350,000
R. P. Singh	22	India	Bowler	$875,000
Rohit Sharma	20	India	Batsman	$750,000
Adam Gilchrist	36	Australia	Batsman / WK	$700,000
Shahid Afridi	27	Pakistan	All Rounder	$675,000
Herschelle Gibbs	33	South Africa	Batsman	$575,000
Chaminda Vaas	34	Sri Lanka	Bowler	$200,000
Scott Styris	32	New Zealand	All Rounder	$175,000
Nuwan Zoysa	30	Sri Lanka	Bowler	$110,000
Chamara Silva	28	Sri Lanka	Batsman	$100,000
Venugopal Rao	25	India	Batsman	None
Arjun Yadav	26	India		None
Pragyan Ojha	21	India	Bowler	None
P Vijay Kumar	21	India		None
D Ravi Teja	20	India		None
D Kalyan Krishna		India		None
N Sarveesh Kumar		India		None
Halhadar Das	21	India	Batsman / WK	None

Delhi DareDevils

Owner GMR Group Head Coach Greg Shipperd CEO none Captian Virender Sehwag Founded 2008 Icon Player Virender Sehwag Home Ground Feroz Shah Kotla Team Value US$84 million Capacity 60,000

Franchise History
During the franchise auction for the Indian Premier League teams GMR group acquired the rights for the Delhi franchise for $84 million. The team will be captained by Virender Sehwag, who is also the designated icon player for the franchise.

Name	Age	Nationality	Playing role	Bidding Price
Virender Sehwag	29	India	All Rounder	Icon Player
Daniel Vettori	29	New Zealand	All Rounder	US$ 625,000
Mohammad Asif	25	Pakistan	Bowler	US$ 650,000
Shoaib Malik	26	Pakistan	All Rounder	US$ 500,000
Dinesh Karthik	23	India	Batsman / WK	US$ 525,000
AB de Villiers	24	South Africa	Batsman / WK	US$ 300,000
Farveez Maharoof	23	Sri Lanka	All Rounder	US$ 225,000
Tillakaratne Dilshan	31	Sri Lanka	Batsman	US$ 250,000
Gautam Gambhir	26	India	Batsman	US$ 725,000
Manoj Tiwary	22	India	Batsman	US$ 675,000
Glenn McGrath	37	Australia	Bowler	US$ 350,000
Rajat Bhatia	28	India	All Rounder	None
Shikhar Dhawan	22	India	Batsman	None
Mithun Manhas	28	India	All Rounder	None
Mayank Tehlan	21	India	All Rounder	None

Chennai Super Kings

Owner India Cement Head Coach Kepler Wessels CEO none Captian MS Dhoni Founded 2008 Icon Player none Home Ground MA Chidambaram Stadium Team Value US$91 million Capacity 50,000

Franchise History
The Chennai Super Kings franchise is owned by Indian 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 city of Chennai, formerly Madras boasts of India's most knowledgeable and sportive cricketing crowd. The standing ovation given to the visiting Pakistani team after a thrilling test match win over India are a testament to the sporting culture of this coastal metropolis.

The MAC (M.A.Chidambaram) as it is affectionately called by cricket lovers in the city will be their home ground.

Name	Age	Nationality	Playing role	Bidding Price
MS Dhoni	26	India	Batsman / WK	US$ 1,500,000
Muttiah Muralitharan	35	Sri Lanka	Bowler	US$ 600,000
Matthew Hayden	36	Australia	Batsman	US$ 375,000
Jacob Oram	28	New Zealand	All Rounder	US$ 675,000
Stephen Fleming	35	New Zealand	Batsman	US$ 350,000
Parthiv Patel	22	India	Batsman / WK	US$ 325,000
Albie Morkel	28	South Africa	All Rounder	US$ 675,000
Joginder Sharma	24	India	Bowler	US$ 225,000
Suresh Raina	21	India	Batsman	US$ 650,000
Makhaya Ntini	30	South Africa	Bowler	US$ 200,000
Michael Hussey	32	Australia	Batsman	US$ 350,000
Ashwin R	21	India	Bowler	None
Anirudha Srikkanth	21	India	Batsman	None
Sudeep Tyagi	20	India	Bowler	None
Subramaniam Badrinath	28	India	Batsman	None

Bangalore Royal Challengers

Owner Vijay Mallya Head Coach Venkatesh Prasad CEO Charu Sharma Captian Rahul Dravid Founded 2008 Icon Player Rahul Dravid Home Ground M. Chinnaswamy Stadium Team Value US$111.6 million Capacity 55,000

Name	Age	Nationality	Playing role	Bidding Price
Rahul Dravid	35	India	Batsman	Icon Player
Jacques Kallis	32	South Africa	All Rounder	US$ 900,000
Anil Kumble	37	India	Bowler	US$ 500,000
Cameron White	24	Australia	Batsman	US$ 500,000
Zaheer Khan	29	India	Batsman	US$ 450,000
Mark Boucher	31	South Africa	Batsman / WK	US$ 450,000
Nathan Bracken	30	Australia	Bowler	US$ 325,000
Dale Steyn	24	South Africa	Bowler	US$ 325,000
Shivnarine Chanderpaul	33	West Indies	Batsman	US$ 200,000
Wasim Jaffer	30	India	Bowler	US$ 100,000
Vinay Kumar	21	India	Batsman	None
Jagadeesh Arunkumar	30	India	Bowler	None
Balachandra Akhil	30	India	Batsman	None
KP Appanna	19	India	Bowler	None
Devraj Patil	23	India	Batsman	None
Sunil Joshi	37	India	All Rounder	None
Bharat Chipli	25	India	Bowler	None

Dhoni fetches the highest price

India's ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni fetched the highest price in round one of the players' auction of the Indian Premier League in Mumbai on Wendesday.

Dhoni was bought by Indian Cements, owner of the Chennai franchise, for a whopping 1.5 million US dollars, approximately Rs six crore.

The bidding process began around 1130 IST at the Hilton Hotel in Mumbai and was attended by all the franchise owners barring Mumbai's Mukesh Ambani.

Kolkata franchise owner Shah Rukh Khan arrived an hour late with wife Gauri and missed the first round.

Former India captains Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly were also present at the bidding.

After Dhoni, the next highest bid was for Australia's wicketkeeping ace Adam Gilchrist, who was bought by Deccan Chronicle's Hyderabad franchise for US $7,00,000 (around Rs 2.8 crore). His former team mate and spin legend Shane Warne [Images] was purchased by Emerging Media's Jaipur franchise form US $4,50,000 (Rs 1.8 crore).

It was not surprising that the Sri Lankan duo of Muttiah Muralitharan and Mahela Jayawardene also fetched high prices.

Muralitharan was the second player bought by Chennai for US $6,00,000. Considering his wife also hails from that region he was one of their top priorities.

Sri Lankan captain Jayawardene was bought by Preity Zinta's Mohali franchise for US $4,75, 000.

Pakistan's troubled speedster Shoaib Akhtar went to Shah Rukh's Kolkata franchise for US $4,25,000.

source - rediff.com

Sports broadcaster Sony Max and sports rights company World Sport Group have jointly paid US$1.026bn for the rights to the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket championship.

The deal gives the partnership shared rights to the series for 10 years, and brings with it a change of direction for Sony Max parent Sony Entertainment Television (SET), which previously backed the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup.

The change of heart follows the Indian cricket team’s early exit from last year’s ICC World Cup, which resulted in a significant financial loss for SET. Reports put SET’s accumulated debts as high as US$100m.

And as a result of advertiser uncertainly over the prowess of the Indian cricket squad, coupled with the rising cost of ICC rights, SET has now turned to the IPL for its future cricket coverage.

The new arrangement gives World Sport Group the international media rights for internet, mobile and radio, with Sony Max bagging the South Asian TV rights to the competition, which begins on April 18.

Kunal Dasgupta, CEO of SET India, said: “We officially broadcast the ICC events for seven years, from 2000 to 2007. We are not interested in the next ICC events because it is becoming a little expensive. We have decided to go for the shorter version of 20:20 matches.”

Indian Premier League Facts

The league is scheduled to start in April 2008 and will last for 44 days, involving 59 matches. The prize money for the league will be around Rs 13 crore (US $3million). Each team will have a pool of 16 players, of whom eight can be international and four from the Under-22 level or from the catchment area where the team is based.

The governing council consists of Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi, Sunil Gavaskar, MAK Pataudi and Ravi Shastri, Rajiv Shukla, Chirayu Amin, Inderjit Singh Bindra and Arun Jaitley. Although it is going to be a franchise system, some foreign players have already been contracted by the BCCI to play in the IPL.

Prize Money Comparison

• The BCCI’s Indian Premier League will feature eight teams / franchises in its inaugural year, who will compete for $3m in prize money, the world’s richest domestic cricket event.
  
  
• The 2006 Stanford 20/20 Cricket Tournament in the Caribbean had offered prize money of $1m to the winning team half of the total prize money pool.
  
  
• "England’s Twenty20 Cup winner receives 42,000 pounds (approx. US$84,000), South Africa’s Pro20 champions R350,000 (approx. US$47,000) and Australia’s KFC Twenty20 Big Bash winner gets A$32,000 (approx. US$29,000)."
  
  
• Barring the Stanford 20/ 20, the Twenty20 Leagues in other countries, are not privately owned, they are merely existing county/ state and provincial teams re-packaged by their governing bodies and are funded by domestic cricket bodies in Australia, England and South Africa.

BCCI unveils Indian Premier League

NEW DELHI: (14th September 2007)
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday launched the Indian Premier League (IPL) on the lines of football’s English Premier League and the National Basketball League (NBA) of the U.S.

In an apparent reaction to Essel Group’s Indian Cricket League (ICL) that has generated much debate, the BCCI paraded Australia bowling great Glenn McGrath and former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming in the Capital to support the IPL. India’s captain Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble were also part of the glittering launch attended by the President of the International Cricket Council (ICC), Ray Mali, and chiefs of various cricket boards.

Big prize money

On the occasion, the BCCI and the ICC also unveiled a $5 million prize money Champions Twenty20 League. The added incentive of being part of the IPL will be the chance to play in the Champions Twenty20 League to be organised by the ICC.

Just as in the UEFA Champions League, the winner and runner-up team of the IPL will qualify for the Champions League, to be played in October 2008. For a start, domestic Twenty20 leagues would be conducted by the cricket boards of Australia, South Africa and England, to have an eight-team Champions League.

The IPL, India’s domestic Twenty20 league will debut in April 2008 with 59 matches spread over 44 days. The IPL will primarily be played under lights with play beginning at 5 p.m. Two matches will be scheduled each day.

Masterstroke

The BCCI’s masterstroke was surely the presence of McGrath and Fleming, the two cricketers who had been rumoured to be in talks with the ICL. Also supporting the IPL was Aussie spin wizard Shane Warne, who sent a video message to express his willingness to be part of the initiative.

The IPL will initially start with eight teams and will offer $3 million in prize money, making it the richest tournament in domestic cricket.

The IPL will be a franchise-model wherein corporates and sponsors will be allowed to buy and run teams. Player buy-outs will be an added feature, something that cricket is not accustomed to.

Under the franchise model, a sponsor wanting to have its team will pay a stipulated fee to the BCCI to get ownership. The franchisee will also have to share revenues with the cricket board, details of which were still being worked out.

The franchisee will, however, collect the gate money and the income from in-stadia advertisements, and at a later stage can list the team on the stock exchange and trade.

The teams will comprise minimum 16 players, but the number of foreign players, titled designated players, is yet to be determined. There will, however, be no cap on the salary being offered to the designated players and the teams can make buy-outs of any player just like in the professional football.

“The revenue generated from the IPL will be pooled back into developing better infrastructure and facilities for cricket fans at the venues,” said BCCI President, Sharad Pawar.

Independent of BCCL

The BCCI, at its Working Committee meeting, set up a governing council to run the IPL as a virtual company. The IPL governing council will have five-year term and will run, operate and manage the league independently of the BCCI.

The council comprises former BCCI President I. S. Bindra, Vice-Presidents Rajiv Shukla, Chirayu Amin and Lalit Modi, Arun Jaitley, and former cricketers Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri. While the BCCI officials will be honorary members, Pataudi, Gavaskar and Shastri will be paid for their services.

Elaborating on the composition of the teams, Mr. Modi said that each team would have a minimum of 16 players with the condition that at least four players are from the region. Also four under-21 players will have to be included in the teams “to give fair chance to the youth to show their calibre”.

Dravid’s take

Welcoming the launch of IPL, Dravid said that if football had done well on such a platform, cricket would surely succeed. “Cricket has been crying out for something like this and I am sure this is just the beginning,” the Indian skipper said.

McGrath was also ecstatic saying “the concept of having franchise is potentially a mind-blowing idea.” At the end of the World Cup in the West Indies, McGrath said he never thought that he would be getting associated with such a venture when he announced his retirement.

“To me potential is huge and I am for it,” said McGrath. Kiwi Fleming also echoed the same sentiments and hoped to work closely with the IPL