Deccan Chargers v Mumbai Indians, IPL, Hyderabad

Bravo seals Mumbai's sixth straight win





Mumbai Indians 178 for 7 (Nayar 38, Jayasuriya 36, Bravo 30, RP Singh 3-35) beat Deccan Chargers 153 for 7 (Rao 57, Bravo 3-24) by 25 runs


Mumbai Indians' last meeting with the Deccan Chargers ended in a fourth straight defeat but the return game provided plenty of cheer, producing their sixth successive win, the best run in the tournament so far. Dwayne Bravo signed off from the IPL with a fine all-round effort, giving Mumbai a great chance of making the semi-finals.

Mumbai relied on a combined performance rather than individual brilliance: Sanath Jayasuriya's early blast set the tone before a counterattacking 54-run stand between Bravo and Abhishek Nayar boosted the total.

Deccan didn't have much of a chance at 20 for 3 and even Venugopal Rao's valiant 57 couldn't make much of a difference. With their ninth defeat [including all five at home], Deccan's chances of making the semi-finals are over - even remote mathematical chances won't be spoken of anymore.

Like many of their earlier defeats, Deccan weren't completely outclassed. Unlike the Bangalore Royal Challengers, they haven't appeared listless but they haven't managed to seize the big moments.

Deccan's decision to field appeared to have backfired when Jayasuriya thundered a 15-ball 36, including laying into his fellow countryman Nuwan Zoysa for 19 off his first over, but Shahid Afridi, full of energy and verve, gave them a chance.

He's had a relatively quiet tournament so far but was full of energy here: snapping up Sachin Tendulkar and Dominic Thornely and clinging on to a sensational catch, to dismiss Robin Uthappa, inches within the boundary line. But, with Mumbai wobbling at 96 for 4, the Deccan bowlers couldn't put the foot down on the pedal.

Lot of the credit must go to Nayar and Bravo, who showed the value of good footwork: Nayar regularly sashayed down the track to loft the spinners through the on side while Bravo simply shuffled across smartly before lifting the ball with quicksilver wrists. They finally broke the shackles against Afridi - whose first three overs cost just nine - spanking him for 14 in the 16th over, surging the run-rate to eight an over. Nayar took on Zoysa soon after and Mumbai were on their way to a competitive score.

Mumbai's bowling was characterised by canny medium-pace and outstanding catching. In Shaun Pollock's absence, Bravo led the way with the ball too. Afridi's fine day didn't continue with the bat, though: he attempted to thump the first ball he faced over the covers for six but could only marvel at Thornely running back from point to snaffle a sharp catch.

Adam Gilchrist struggled against a probing Ashish Nehra, who varied both his length and pace wonderfully, while getting the ball to move away off the track. He ended wicketless but played a big part in piling on the pressure. Dilhara Fernando was to reap the rewards soon: he surprised Gilchrist with a short one that was sliced to third man before Rohit Sharma missed a well-disguised slower one that rapped him plumb in front. With two wickets in two balls, he had pretty much sealed the match.

Venugopal, who surprisingly picked up two wickets with his part-time offspin, continued his habit of coming up with a fighting knock in a lost cause. Like he's done in the two previous games, he was like a boy on a burning deck, smashing three sixes and four fours against a mounting asking-rate. Ravi Teja partnered him in a 74-run stand but it would have required something miraculous for the duo to pull it off. Bravo dismissed both within three balls and rounded off a memorable game - four days before facing Australia in the first Test in Kingston.

Kolkata Knight Riders v Chennai Super Kings, IPL, Kolkata

Chennai clinch rain-reduced game



Chennai Super Kings 55 for 0 in eight overs (Fleming 32*) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 149 for 5 (Butt 73, Ntini 4-21) by three runs (D/L method)
For the second successive day, the weather played spoilsport and forced Duckworth-Lewis to decide what was shaping into a fascinating contest. This time, Chennai Super Kings were on the right end of the result, as their total of 55 without loss after eight overs, chasing 150, was three runs ahead of the par score when a severe dust storm descended upon the Eden Gardens, and the rains that followed ensured there was no chance for the match to resume. The two points to Chennai moves them up to 14, while Kolkata Knight Riders are stuck on ten points from 11 games.

The weather marred the contest, but through 28 overs the crowd witnessed a couple of fine performances. At the same ground where he had announced his arrival in international cricket, Salman Butt played another gem, scoring a classy 73 off 54 balls, to lift an otherwise subdued performance from Kolkata. Chennai had their own man for the moment, as Makhaya Ntini took the third hat-trick of the IPL, dismissing Sourav Ganguly in his third over, and then returning 11 overs later to bowl Debabrata Das - who had been involved in an 86-run stand with Butt - and David Hussey off successive balls.

That stand gave Kolkata's bowlers something to defend, but the most crucial moment of the match came three deliveries before the interruption. Their defence of the total had got off to a poor start as Shoaib Akhtar struggled with what seemed an injured ankle. Stephen Fleming, at last showing the form and fluency of old, and Parthiv Patel had eased to a half-century stand when Parthiv top-edged a pull, but Ashok Dinda put down the skier, and in the process allowed a single. Had that chance been taken, Chennai would have ended level with the par score, and with no further play possible, Kolkata would have gone away with one point.

The only positive for Kolkata was that their batting put together a reasonable performance after their abysmal display against Mumbai Indians, when they had been bundled out for 67. Butt's knock wasn't the fastest by Twenty20 standards, but considering the context - a pitch lacking in pace, and a batting line-up lacking in confidence - it was just what Kolkata would have wanted.

Their start was poor yet again, as Ntini struck twice in his first three overs - Mohammad Hafeez flicked to fine leg and Sourav Ganguly attempted an ungainly heave and found his middle stump knocked back.

At 28 for 2 after five overs, Chennai had taken the early honours, before Butt found a partner who was ready to play the support act. Das, drafted into the side in place of Aakash Chopra, creamed a couple of audacious straight sixes off Muttiah Muralitharan - who had a day to forget - but for the most part he was content to play second fiddle to the classy Butt, who played an outstanding knock.

As is his wont, Butt was all silken grace through the off side, either making room to cream drives through the covers, or getting behind the line to pepper the point and cover boundaries off the back foot. Manpreet Gony was crisply hit through the covers in his first over, while Ntini, who otherwise gave little away, leaked successive fours off two exceptional shots, as Butt moved away and lofted one through the covers, and then square-drove the next ball through point. Muralitharan was not spared either, as Butt slog-swept a six over midwicket, and then carved three successive fours through midwicket and third man in his last over, as Muralitharan finished with unflattering figures of none for 41.

Apart from that partnership, there wasn't much cheer for Kolkata. Ntini, bowling a full length and attacking the stumps, bowled both Das and Hussey to complete his hat-trick and ended with excellent figures of 4 for 21. Gony's control was exceptional as well, landing the ball on a length and allowing the batsmen no room. The fielding wasn't as impressive - S Vidyut was guilty of sloppy misfielding and a missed catch off Butt, while Gony dropped one late in the innings - as Kolkata managed to reach a competitive target. With Shoaib in the attack, there was plenty of hope for the home crowd, but his limp performance, followed by the rain, means Kolkata have plenty of catching up to do to win a semi-final berth.

Mumbai Indians v Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL, Mumbai

Mumbai Indians v Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL, Mumbai



Match facts

Friday, May 16, 2008
Start time 20.00 (local), 14.30 (GMT)



The Big Picture

If the marquee names play to form this could be an intense contest. The key battle will be between the Kolkata Knight Riders' new-ball pair of Shoaib Akhtar and Ishant Sharma and the Mumbai Indians' opening pair of Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya - sheer pace and movement against mammoth experience.

Shoaib remains the key after making a resounding Indian Premier League (IPL) debut. Bowling at optimum pace, he demolished the Delhi Daredevils, though he was helped by a couple of Delhi batsmen who decided to match him with aggression rather than remain patient. But Tendulkar and Jayasuriya have faced him often enough in others forms of the game, and at times tamed him with their repertoire of shots.

Mumbai are likely to zero in on Kolkata's weakness - batting. Sourav Ganguly and David Hussey are the only Kolkata batsmen to come to grips with building and finishing an innings. The absence of a quality opener like Brad Hodge is a further headache for Ganguly, who prefers opening to coming down the order. But he has had to adjust and adopt a safety-first policy.

If Mumbai win, it will be their fifth in a row, giving them further confidence in their bid for a semi-final spot. Their streak started at Eden Gardens and Kolkata, on a winning run themselves, will be looking for revenge after being humbled by Shaun Pollock and Jayasuriya with the ball in that match. As both captains agreed, it will be a "close contest".


Tournament position

Mumbai Indians: P8, W4, L4, NRR -0.056
Kolkata Knight Riders: P9, W5, L4, NRR +0.619


Form (last five matches, most recent first)

Mumbai Indians: WWWWL
Kolkata Knight Riders: WWWLL


Watch out for ...

Shoaib and Ishant against Jayasuriya and Tendulkar. If a pumped-up Shoaib presses on the accelerator to gain maximum speed, the wiry Ishant will test the batsmen with his bounce and movement. Tendulkar said he never "entertained" the argument that Twenty20 is a young man's game but it will be a true test of reflexes for Mumbai's experienced duo.


Sourav Ganguly. Despite a partisan Mumbai crowd, 'dada' (as Ganguly is widely known) still has his own bunch of die-hards everywhere he goes. He might have been slow off the Twenty20 blocks but he has caught up in recent games, scoring a 57-ball 91 in the away game against the Deccan Chargers.


Shahrukh Khan, owner of the Kolkata franchise. Eden Gardens might have become his second home but Mumbai will always remain first love for the Bollywood superstar, who will be out once again egging on Kolkata.




Team news

Mumbai would hate to disrupt their winning rhythm so they might stick to the same XI that beat the Chennai Super Kings.

Mumbai Indians (probable): 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Sachin Tendulkar (capt), 3 Robin Uthappa, 4 Dominic Thornely, 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6 Shaun Pollock, 7 Abhishek Nayar, 8 Yogesh Takawale (wk), 9 Dhawal Kulkarni, 10 Rohan Raje, 11 Ashish Nehra.

Despite opener Aakash Chopra's trouble adapting to the Twenty20 format, Ganguly said it was not a matter of concern as the team had won three matches in a row. Pakistan's Mohammad Hafeez might get the nod for his all-round skills ahead of Tatenda Taibu and Mumbai local Iqbal Abdulla might make way for fellow left-arm spinner Murali Kartik, who has some fond memories of the Wankhede, including his match-winning 6 for 27 in the final game of the ODI series against Australia last year.

Kolkata Knight Riders (probable): 1 Salman Butt, 2 Aakash Chopra, 3 1 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 4 David Hussey, 5 Mohammad Hafeez, 6 Laxmi Ratan Shukla, 7 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 8 Shoaib Akhtar, 9 Ishant Sharma 10 Murali Kartik 11 Ashok Dinda.


Stats and trivia

Kolkata have conceded the most number of extras in the tournament - 120 from nine matches.


Shaun Pollock is the only Mumbai bowler with an economy-rate under 7.25.


Shoaib bowled just nine balls in the nets on the eve of his IPL debut, against Delhi. On Thursday he bowled four.


Quotes

"Both Shoaib and Ishant are quality bowlers. That doesn't mean we don't have quality batsmen. It's just not one mini-contest. It's the 40 overs we need to be on top of. I know it will be a close match."
Sachin Tendulkar states the importance of the clash against Kolkata.

"Get Sachin, get Jayasuriya, get Robin [Uthappa] and finish with a five-for."
Sourav Ganguly's message to his premier bowler.

Magical Mishra bowls Delhi to victory

Magical Mishra bowls Delhi to victory



A dramatic final-over hat-trick by Amit Mishra, when Deccan Chargers needed a gettable 15, helped Delhi Daredevils over the finish line and halt a four-match losing streak with a tense 12-run win against Deccan Chargers. Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan set it up with attacking half-centuries to post 194 before Mishra came up with timely wicket bursts in two phases of the chase to halt Deccan’s charge first and then seal the win.

Delhi’s early victories were fashioned by the combined efforts of their miserly new-ball pair and an in-form top order. Today, it didn’t matter that the bowlers didn’t have the best day at the office. Gambhir and Dhawan hunted as a pair, made the best out of what the benign pitch had to offer, and the score of 194 was just sufficient to guarantee a victory, despite a spirited effort by Venugopal Rao at the end.

Desperate for a win to keep their chance of staying alive in the tournament, Deccan changed their strategy to counter the threat of Glenn McGrath and Mohammad Asif by promoting Shahid Afridi. Suddenly, both bowlers, used to bowling miserly spells, were suddenly in unfamiliar territory as Deccan rocketed to 44 in the first four overs. In the midst of the blaze, Delhi pulled back with the wicket of Gilchrist, caught brilliantly by Dilshan at mid-off, but it didn’t stop Afridi from going over the top.

With Gibbs for company, the pair wrecked Asif and McGrath for 34 off two successive overs, which included scoops over extra cover and pulls over deep backward square leg. Both generated tremendous bat speed and a result, shots cleared the boundary ropes by huge margins, some landing several rows back.

At the end of the Powerplay, Deccan progressed at nearly 12 an over but from then on, fortunes turned. Sehwag tossed the ball to the legspinner Mishra he struck first ball, as Afridi mis-hit one that really stopped on him. He cleaned up Gibbs’ middle stump in his next over to temporarily halt Deccan’s assault.

Rohit Sharma then redressed the balance for Deccan, dominating a stand of 39 for the fourth wicket with Styris. Rajat Bhatia, the medium pacer, came in for some harsh treatment as Rohit bludgeoned him for 19 off a single over, sending a low full toss over long-on before pulling a short ball over deep square leg.

However, a timely bowling change swung the tide in Delhi’s favour. Maharoof returned in the 13th over and cleaned up Rohit’s offstump as he attempted a paddle sweep and as a result of that, the momentum slipped and the asking rate started to climb. Scott Styris couldn’t quite push on, managing only two boundaries in his 29. That increased the pressure on Rao, and for the second time in as many matches, fought a lone battle. The home side felt the pinch when Rao carted Maharoof for two sixes in an over, backing away and picking up the slower deliveries.

He perished in the penultimate over, when Deccan needed 25 at the start of it, skying one to AB de Villiers at long-on. A sliced six over backward point by Ravi Teja suddenly turned the script and Deccan needed 15 off the last over. Sehwag turned to his best bowler of the evening, Mishra, for the final over. Teja, Pragyan Ojha and RP Singh all failed in their attempt to clear the ropes and Mishra picked up the second hat-trick of the tournament.

The high-scoring contest contradicted early predictions about the grassy pitch assisting the seamers. After losing Sehwag to a wild slash, the Delhi innings gained momentum in the fourth over when Gambhir took on RP. He adjusted brilliantly to a short delivery aimed at his face and slapped him over backward square leg, then stepped down and pulled the next over deep midwicket and followed it up with a slice past backward point to take 20 off the over.

Dhawan came into his own once the support seamers - Sarvesh Kumar and Styris - operated, punishing anything full on the pads and finding the gaps. The spinners were not spared either. After reverse-sweeping Rao for four, he smashed Afridi out of the attack with successive fours, smashing the first over his head and the next over extra cover to bring up his fifty.

Gambhir too carted Afridi for a huge six over deep midwicket shortly after reaching his half-century and in the process went past the 400-run mark in the tournament. Pragyan Ojha, the left-arm spinner who was kept out till the 15th over, struck with his second ball, firing one down the legside after seeing Gambhir give him the charge.

Lusty blows by the two Sri Lankans - Farveez Maharoof and Dilshan - took Delhi close to the 200-mark though Deccan played into their own hands with some ordinary displays in the field. That proved crucial in the end and Delhi can take heart from the fact that the architects of the victory were largely the local players and not the overseas recruits.

IPL relaxes media restrictions

IPL relaxes media restrictions



The standoff between the Indian Premier League and the media over controversial guidelines to cover the inaugural tournament looks set to ease as the IPL governing body has issued relaxed guidelines for media to cover the Twenty20 extravaganza.

The IPL has toned down some of its earlier restrictions, especially benefiting the print media and their respective websites. However, the websites having no print association would not be able to cover the matches from the ground. The IPL ban on news agencies supplying images to the websites stays. The fresh guidelines have been issued after a meeting with media representatives and IPL governing body members on Tuesday.

The new guidelines, which have been reduced to two pages, allowed website reporters to the venue a day before the match and for post match press conferences only. No online use or publication or syndication of any photograph clicked by accredited photographers is allowed except for the website of the publication.

The media gallery of a website can have up to any six pictures per match beyond whatever else is carried in the newspaper’s various editions.

The rules however warned the photographers for supplying pictures to any third party, including web portals and syndicates.

Earlier, IPL chairman and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) vice-president Lalit Modi agreed to relax rules to benefit the print media after discussing the matter with the Sports Journalists’ Federation of India (SJFI) and sports editors of mainline dailies on Monday.

Last week, the IPL had announced the media guidelines for accreditation, which a large section of the media houses found unacceptable.

The SJFI, on behalf of sports journalists and photographers, requested the BCCI President Sharad Pawar to resolve the contentious clauses.

The contentious norms arose from IPL’s terms and conditions, in which BCCI attempted to appropriate intellectual property rights on photographs shot by media organizations. IPL had banned websites from the event and demanded that agencies and print media houses upload, at their own cost, the pictures shot by them on IPL’s website for unrestricted use. Media organizations were irked by these guidelines, which amounted to restricting the use of images in any other publication even if it belonged to the same media house.

That BCCI was under some pressure was evident - the link to the media guidelines on the official tournament’s website was deactivated soon after the controversy broke.

IPL Teams - Chennai Super Kings

IPL Teams - Chennai Super Kings



Chennai Super Kings is the Chennai franchise for the Indian Premier League. The team will be led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the highest-paid IPL Player, and coached by Kepler Wessels. There is no Icon Player for the team.

Chennai Super Kings are a part of the eight club Indian Premier League. The franchise is owned by India 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 brand ambasssadors for the team will be South Indian actor, Vijay and actress, Nayantara.

The M.A.Chidambaram stadium (often referred to as Chepauk, the place where the stadium is located) will be the home ground of the IPL team. The theme song of Chennai Super Kings, penned by Vairamuthu, is presently being composed by G V Prakash Kumar.

The name “Super Kings” is to honor the rulers of the golden era of Tamil culture, the team logo has a Lion to reflect the King of the Jungle. In addition the word “Super” is colloquially used in the state of Tamil Nadu to reflect all things thrilling and exciting and is a word of the lips of almost every one in Tamil Nadu. Incidentally the Chennai team playing in the ICL (the rebel league) is named as “Chennai Superstars”.

Players
Chennai Super Kings are one of the three franchises with no icon player. The lack of an icon player benefited the Super Kings during the bidding as they managed to bid successfully on two (Dhoni & Muralitharan) of the six A listed players.

The team plans to have twenty three players on its roster. Besides the list of players already acquired, the team will pick the remaining members from the three catchment areas - Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Railways - that have been allocated to it.

Name - Age - Country - Position
Batsmen

Matthew Hayden - 36 - Australia - Left-handed Batsman
Stephen Fleming - 35 - New Zealand - Left-handed Batsman
Suresh Raina - 21 - India - Left-handed Batsman
Michael Hussey - 32 - Australia - Left-handed Batsman
Anirudha Srikkanth - 21 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Subramaniam Badrinath - 28 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Napoleon Einstein - 18 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Wicketkeepers

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain) - 26 - India - Right-handed Wicket keeper
Parthiv Patel - 22 - India - Left-handed Wicket keeper
All Rounders

Jacob Oram - 28 - New Zealand - Left-handed Batsman/Right-arm medium-fast
Albie Morkel - 28 - South Africa - Left-handed Batsman/Right-arm fast-medium
Shadab Jakati - 27 - India - Slow left-arm orthodox spin
Abhinav Mukund - 18 - India - Left-handed Batsman/Right-arm leg-break
Viraj Kadbe - 18 - India - Right-arm leg-break
Bowlers

Muttiah Muralitharan - 35 - Sri Lanka - Right-arm off-break
Joginder Sharma - 24 - India - Right-arm fast-medium
Makhaya Ntini - 30 - South Africa - Right-arm fast
R. Ashwin - 21 - India - Right-arm off-break
Sudeep Tyagi - 20 - India - Right-arm fast-medium
Lakshmipathy Balaji - 26 - India - Right-arm fast-medium

Administration and Coaching Staff

Owner - India Cement Ltd.
CEO - TBA
Ambassador - Kris Srikkanth, film stars Joseph Vijay and Nayantara
Chief Selector - V. B. Chandrasekhar
Coaches:

Head Coach - Kepler Wessels
Assistant Coach - TBA
Physiotherapist - Tommy Simsek
Physical Trainer - Gregory King

IPL Teams - Bangalore Royal Challengers

IPL Teams - Bangalore Royal Challengers



Bangalore Royal Challengers is the team that is going to represent the city of Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, the inaugural Twenty20 cricket tournament to be held in India. The team is owned by the liquor magnate Vijay Mallya, the chairman of UB Group. Charu Sharma is the CEO of the team and Rahul Dravid, the captain of the team is the Icon Player. Martin Crowe, the former New Zealand captain, has also been signed as a member of the management team. Venkatesh Prasad, the former Indian fast bowler and the present bowling coach of India has been declared the coach for the team.

Bangalore team was won by Vijay Mallya, who paid US$111.6 million for it. This was the second highest bid for a team in the IPL, next only to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries’ bid of $111.9 million for the Mumbai team.

Indian actresses Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif were signed as the brand ambassadors of the franchise.

Vijay Mallya wanted to associate one of his top-selling liquor brands, either ‘No. 1 McDowell’s’ or ‘Royal Challenge’ with the team. Ultimately, ‘Royal Challenge’ was chosen, and hence the team was given the name ‘Bangalore Royal Challengers’. The jersey colours of the team are red and golden yellow, and the logo consists of the RC emblem with ‘Bangalore Royal Challengers’ in standard format.


Players
The players in the team (except for Rahul Dravid, who was the Icon Player), were selected in an auction conducted by BCCI on 20 February 2008. South Africa’s Jacques Kallis at $900,000 became the costliest player to be selected to play for the Royal Challengers. This meant that Rahul Dravid, being the Icon Player would be paid $1,035,000 (15% more than the highest bid player in the team). Other players selected included the Indian Test cricket captain Anil Kumble along with his team-mates Praveen Kumar and Zaheer Khan, West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Aussies Nathan Bracken and Cameron White, South Africa’s Mark Boucher (Wicket Keeper) and Dale Steyn.

Name - Age - Country - Position
Batsmen

Rahul Dravid (Captain/Icon Player) - 35 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Shivnarine Chanderpaul - 33 - West Indies - Left-handed Batsman
Wasim Jaffer - 30 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Misbah-ul-Haq - 33 - Pakistan - Right-handed Batsman
Ross Taylor - 24 - New Zealand - Right-handed Batsman
Arun Kumar J. - 33 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Appanna K. P. - 19 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Bharat Chipli - 25 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Wicket Keepers

Mark Boucher - 31 - South Africa - Right-handed Batsman / Wicket keeper
Shreevats Goswami - 18 - India - Left-hand Batsman / Wicket keeper
Devraj Patil - 23 - India - Right-handed Batsman / Wicket keeper
Allrounders

Jacques Kallis - 32 - South Africa - Right-arm fast-medium
Cameron White - 24 - Australia - Right-handed Leg-break googly
Sunil Joshi - 37 - India - Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox spin
Akhil B. - 30 - India - Right-arm medium-fast
Virat Kohli - 19 - India - Right-arm medium
Bowlers

Anil Kumble - 37 - India - Right-arm leg-break googly
Zaheer Khan - 29 - India - Left-arm medium-fast
Nathan Bracken - 30 - Australia - Left-arm fast-medium
Dale Steyn - 24 - South Africa - Right-arm fast
Praveen Kumar - 21 - India - Right-arm medium-fast
Abdur Razzak - 25 - Bangladesh - Slow left-arm orthodox
Vinay Kumar R. - 24 - India - Right-arm medium-fast
Administration and coaching staff

Front Office:

Owner- Vijay Mallya
CEO - Charu Sharma
Adviser - Martin Crowe
Coaches:

Head Coach - Venkatesh Prasad
Assistant Head Coach - TBA
Physiotherapist - TBA

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians




Mumbai Indians will be representative of the city of Mumbai in the Indian Premier League. The team will be led by Sachin Tendulkar, also the Icon Player for the team and coached by Lalchand Rajput, the former Manager of the Indian Cricket Team.

Reliance Industries Limited through its subsidiary Reliance Retail Ltd purchased the rights for the Mumbai franchise of Indian Premier league for a total of $111.9 million during the auction on January 24, 2008. The RIL bid has made the Mumbai Indians the most expensive franchise in IPL.

The team logo has the Sudarshan Chakra with the team’s name engraved in it. The team’s colour will be blue. The choice of the name “Indians” for a regional competition is widely regarded as a blunder.

The mascot is still unknown.

Players
Sachin Tendulkar is the designated icon player and also captain for Mumbai Indians. During the player auction Mumbai Indians successfully bid for 7 players, including two of the heroes of Indian Twenty-20 world cup side in Harbhajan Singh and Robin Uthappa. Sanath Jayasuriya was also another prized catch, along with South African legend Shaun Pollock. The team also added the Sri Lankan speedster Lasith Malinga.

Outside of the player auction, the franchise has also signed up Ajinkya Rahane and Abhishek Nayar (from Mumbai), Yogesh Takawale (from Maharashtra) and Pinal Shah (from Baroda)

Name - Age - Country - Position
Batsmen

Sachin Tendulkar (Captain) - 35 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Robin Uthappa - 22 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Loots Botsman - 30 - South Africa - Right-handed Batsman
Ashley Prince - 30 - South Africa - Left-handed Batsman
Manish Pandey - 18 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Saurabh Tiwari - 18 - India - Left-handed Batsman
Wicket Keepers

Yogesh Takawale - 23 - India - Right-handed Batsman - Wicket keeper
Pinal Shah - 20 - India - Right-handed Batsman - Wicket keeper
All Rounders

Sanath Jayasuriya - 37 - Sri Lanka - Slow left-arm orthodox spin
Shaun Pollock - 35 - South Africa - Right-arm medium-fast
Ajinkya Rahane - 19 - India - Right-arm medium
Bowlers

Harbhajan Singh - 27 - India - Right-arm off-break
Lasith Malinga - 24 - Sri Lanka - Right-arm fast
Dilhara Fernando - 29 - Sri Lanka - Right-arm fast-medium
Abhishek Nayar - 24 - India - Right-arm medium-fast
Ashish Nehra - 28 - India - Left-arm fast-medium

Administration and Coaching staffFront Office:


Owner - Reliance Industries Limited
CEO - R Balachandran
President - Mukesh Ambani
Coaches:

Head Coach - Lalchand Rajput
Assistant Head Coach - TBA
Physiotherapist - TBA

Posted by sarath at 6:03 AM 0 comments

Punjab Kings

Punjab Kings




Coach: Tom Moody

Player Age Country Cost (USD)
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 29 India $170,000
James Hopes 29 Australia $324,000[12]
Luke Pomersbach 23 Australia $50,000
Ajitesh Argal 19 India
Karan Goel 21 India
Uday Kaul 20 India
Kyle Mills 28 New Zealand $150,000
VRV Singh 23 India
Tanmay Srivastava 18 India
Total purchase price $5,733,750

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians





Coach: Lalchand Rajput

Player Age Country Cost (USD)
Sachin Tendulkar ♠ (c) 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
Ashwell Prince 30 South Africa $175,000
Dilhara Fernando 28 Sri Lanka $150,000
Abhishek Nayar 24 India
Manish Pandey 18 India
Ajinkya Rahane 19 India
Pinal Shah 20 India
Yogesh Vijay Takawale 23 India
Saurabh Tiwary 18 India
Ashish Nehra 29 India

Total purchase price $5,146,250

Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata Knight Riders




Coach: John Buchanan

Player Age Country Cost (USD)
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 23 Pakistan $150,000
Tatenda Taibu 24 Zimbabwe $125,000
Siddarth Kaul 17 India
Iqbal Abdulla 18 India
Mohammad Hafeez 27 Pakistan
Salman Butt 23 Pakistan Total purchase price $6,022,500

Rajasthan Royals

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 30 Pakistan $225,000
Justin Langer 37 Australia $200,000
Kamran Akmal 26 Pakistan $150,000
Shane Watson 27 Australia $125,000
Dimitri Mascarenhas 30 England $100,000
Morne Morkel 23 South Africa $60,000
Ravindra Jadeja 19 India
Taruwar Kohli 19 India



Pankaj Singh 22 India
Anup Revandkar 20 India



Sohail Tanvir 23 Pakistan
Total purchase price $3,210,000

Deccan Chargers

Deccan Chargers





Coach: Robin Singh

Player Age Country Cost (USD)

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 34 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 29 Sri Lanka $110,000
Chamara Silva 28 Sri Lanka $100,000
Halhadar Das 21 India
Doddapaneni Kalyankrishna 24 India
Pragyan Ojha 21 India
Dwaraka Ravi Teja 20 India
Venugopal Rao 26 India $25,000
Paidikalva Vijaykumar 21 India
Arjun Yadav 26 India
Total purchase price $5,885,000

Delhi DareDevils

Delhi DareDevils


Coach: Greg Shipperd
Player Age Country Cost (USD)
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
Rajat Bhatia 28 India
Shikhar Dhawan 22 India
Brett Geeves 25 Australia $50,000
Yo Mahesh 20 India
Mithun Manhas 28 India
Pradeep Sangwan 17 India
Mayank Tehlan 21 India
Total purchase price $5,622,500

Chennai Super Kings

Chennai Super Kings


Coach: Kepler Wessels

Player Age Country Cost (USD)
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 24 India $225,000
Makhaya Ntini 30 South Africa $200,000
Sudeep Tyagi 20 India
Srikkanth Anirudha 20 India
R Ashwin 21 India
Subramaniam Badrinath 27 India
Napoleon Einstein 18 India
Shadab Jakati 27 India
Abhinav Mukund 18 India
Lakshmipathy Balaji 26 India
Total purchase price $5,925,000

Bangalore Royal Challengers

Bangalore Royal Challengers






Coach: Venkatesh Prasad
Player Age Country Cost (USD)
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
Praveen Kumar 22 India $300,000
Shivnarine Chanderpaul 33 West Indies $200,000
Wasim Jaffer 30 India $150,000
Misbah-ul-Haq 33 Pakistan $125,000
Ross Taylor 24 New Zealand $100,000
Abdur Razzak 25 Bangladesh $50,000
Balachandra Akhil 30 India
KP Appanna 19 India
Jagadeesh Arunkumar 33 India
Sunil Joshi 37 India
Virat Kohli 19 India
Devraj Patil 23 India
Bharat Chipli 25 India
Shreevats Goswami 18 India
Vinay Kumar 24 India
Total purchase price $5,410,000

Mumbai to host 10 Indian Premier League matches

Mumbai to host 10 Indian Premier League matches





Mumbai will play host to ten matches in the April 18-June 1 Indian Premier League, which commences with the Bangalore-Kolkata match in Bangalore.

Mumbai plays seven home matches, like all other franchises, besides hosting the semi-finals (May 30 and 31) and June 1 final.

IPL's complete schedule:
April 18: Bangalore v Kolkata at Bangalore
April 19: Mohali v Chennai at Mohali and Delhi v Jaipur at Delhi
April 20: Mumbai v Bangalore at Mumbai; Kolkata v Hyderabad at Kolkata
April 21: Jaipur v Mohali at Jaipur
April 22: Hyderabad v Delhi at Hyderabad
April 23: Chennai v Mumbai at Chennai
April 24: Hyderabad v Jaipur at Hyderabad
April 25: Mohali v Mumbai at Mohali
April 26: Bangalore v Jaipur at Bangalore; Chennai v Kolkata at Chennai
April 27: Mumbai v Hyderabad at Mumbai; Mohali v Delhi at Mohali
April 28: Bangalore v Chennai at Bangalore
April 29: Kolkata v Mumbai at Kolkata
April 30: Delhi v Bangalore at Delhi.
May 1: Hyderabad v Mohali at Hyderabad; Jaipur v Kolkata at Jaipur
May 2: Chennai v Delhi at Chennai.
May 3: Hyderabad at Bangalore at Hyderabad; Mohali v Kolkata at Mohali
May 4: Mumbai v Delhi at Mumbai; Jaipur v Chennai at Jaipur
May 5: Bangalore v Mohali at Bangalore
May 6: Chennai v Hyderabad at Chennai
May 7: Mumbai v Jaipur at Mumbai
May 8: Delhi v Chennai at Delhi; Kolkata v Bangalore at Kolkata
May 9: Jaipur v Hyderabad at Jaipur
May 10: Bangalore v Mumbai at Bangalore; Chennai v Mohali at Chennai
May 11: Hyderabad v Kolkata at Hyderabad; Jaipur v Delhi at Jaipur
May 12: Mohali v Bangalore at Mohali
May 13: Kolkata v Delhi at Kolkata
May 14: Mumbai v Chennai at Mumbai; Mohali v Jaipur at Mohali
May 15: Delhi v Hyderabad at Delhi
May 16: Mumbai v Kolkata at Mumbai
May 17: Delhi v Mohali at Delhi; Jaipur v Bangalore at Jaipur
May 18: Hyderabad v Mumbai at Hyderabad; Kolkata v Chenna at Kolkata
May 19: Bangalore v Delhi at Bangalore
May 20: Kolkata v Jaipur at Kolkata
May 21: Mumbai v Mohali at Mumbai; Chennai v Bangalore at Chennai
May 22: Delhi v Kolkata at Delhi
May 23: Mohali v Hyderabad at Mohali.
May 24: Delhi v Mumbai at Delhi; Chennai v Jaipur at Chennai
May 25: Bangalore v Hyderabad at Bangalore; Kolkata v Mohali at Kolkata
May 26: Jaipur v Mumbai at Jaipur
May 27: Hyderabad v Chennai at Hyderabad
May 28 and 29: Rest days
May 30: First semi-final at Mumbai
May 31: Second semi-final at Mumbai
June 1: Final at Mumbai

Top player purchases at IPL auction

Top player purchases at IPL auction




Following are the 21 most expensive players purchased by the Indian Premier League's eight franchises at an auction on Wednesday.

The teams will pay the winning bid to the player annually. The contracts are for a three-year period and are guaranteed by the Indian cricket board.

The inaugural 44-day, Twenty20 tournament gets underway on April 18. India's one-day captain Mahendra Dhoni is the costliest player at $1.5 million per year for three years.



1. Mahendra Dhoni (India) $1.5m to Chennai
2. Andrew Symonds (Australia) $1.35m to Hyderabad
3. Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka) $975,000 to Mumbai
4. Ishant Sharma (India) $950,000 to Kolkata
5. Irfan Pathan (India) $925,000 to Mohali
6. Brett Lee (Australia) $900,000 to Mohali
6. Jacques Kallis (South Africa) $900,000 to Bangalore
8. RP Singh (India) $875,000 to Hyderabad
9. Harbhajan Singh (India) $850,000 to Mumbai
10. Chris Gayle (West Indies) $800,000 to Kolkata
10. Robin Uthappa (India) $800,000 to Mumbai
12. Rohit Sharma (India) $750,000 to Hyderabad
13. Gautam Gambhir (India) $725,000 to Delhi
14. Brendon McCullum (New Zealand) $700,000 to Kolkata
14. Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) $700,000 to Mohali
14. Adam Gilchrist (Australia) $700,000 to Hyderabad
17. Shahid Afridi (Pakistan) $675,000 to Hyderabad
17. Jacob Oram (New Zealand) $675,000 to Chennai
17. Albie Morkel (South Africa) $675,000 to Chennai
17. Mohammad Kaif (India) $675,000 to Jaipur
17. Manoj Tiwary (India) $675,000 to Delhi

The Great Indian Cricket Auction

The Great Indian Cricket Auction




Franchise owners spent lavishly in a player auction Wednesday for the new Indian Premier League, with India's Mahendra Singh Dhoni topping bids on a day that demonstrated the enormous financial power of the Twenty20 competition.

Spending on players nearly touched US$42 million. Already, US$1.026 billion had been paid for the initial television rights and $723.6 million for franchise ownership.

Chennai trumped Mumbai in the race for India's ODI captain Dhoni, with all team owners cheering the breaking of the US$1 million mark as the southern Indian team landed him on a three-year contract worth US$1.5 million per season.

Dhoni, currently in Australia for the limited-overs tri-series, was relaxed about being the most sought player for the league which begins April 18.

''I heard about it from my manager soon after the bid was held. The sum seems to be good and I'm happy, but I was never in any sort of tension about it, nor was I losing sleep over it,'' Dhoni was quoted as saying.

"In all 75 players were sold. We withdrew Mohammad Yousuf (Pakistan) and Ashwell Prince (South Africa)," IPL chairman Lalit Modi said at the end of the closed-door auction that lasted for over eight hours.

Virender Sehwag was moved up to the 'icon' category. An 'icon' will get 15 per cent over the side's highest paid player.

A ringside view of the great Indian cricket auction, team by high-spending team.

Franchises

Franchises



The winning bidders for the eight franchises were announced on January 24, 2008.[9] While the total base price for auction was US$400 million, the auction fetched US$723.59 million.[10] The official list of franchise owners announced and the winning bids were as follows.

Franchise Owner(s) Price (USD)
Mumbai Indians
Mukesh Ambani and Reliance Industries Limited $111.9 million
Bangalore Royal Challengers Dr. Vijay Mallya and UB group $111.6 million
Deccan Chargers
Deccan Chronicle $107 million
Chennai Super Kings India Cements and N Srinivasan $91 million
Delhi DareDevils GMR Holdings $84 million
Punjab Kings
Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia, Karan Paul (Apeejay Surendera Group) and Mohit Burman (Dabur) $76 million
Kolkata Knight Riders
Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla Mehta and Jai Mehta $75.09 million
Rajasthan Royals Emerging Media: (Manoj Badale, Lachlan Murdoch, Suresh Chellaram)

IPL :Billion Dollar Baby

IPL :Billion Dollar Baby





If you thought cricket was big, wait for this. The IPL promises to be bigger than anything India has ever seen. We give the inside-out of this billion-dollar baby…

What is the Indian Premier League?

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) launched the Indian Premier League (IPL) on September 14, 2007. Based on the lines of the English Premier League (EPL) and the National Basketball League (NBA), the IPL is said to be the brainchild of BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi. The idea was first floated in 1996 but was shot down as the board felt it would go against the zonal system of domestic cricket. The project moved into top gear when the Zee group launched a rival Indian Cricket League on similar lines in April 2007.

Who are the franchisees?

The franchisees will own the eight teams in the fray. They can run them in their own styles, bring their own sponsors and even name the team according to their choice. They will even be free to list their teams on the stock exchange.

How is it different from the football and hockey leagues in India?

The IPL, in a way, is not very different in its format vis-a-vis the PHL or the I-League in football. It is, however, totally different in its concept as the teams have been offered to franchisees (individuals or corporates) through a bidding process that culminated on Thursday. The BCCI has already signed up 80 international players who will also be put for auction soon.

When will the IPL matches be played and where?

Under lights, on a home and away basis, in the cities that have formed the teams. The league opens on April 18 and will see 59 matches spread over 44 days

What kind of money is involved in IPL?

The overall prize money will be US $5 million, with the winners taking home $2 million. The remaining will be up for grabs in different forms, like man of the match awards and cash prizes. By contrast, the winners of the 2007 ICC World Cup
in the Caribbean took home $1 million; the Indian team that won the World Twenty20 got half of that. TV rights have already gone for over $1 billion. Franchisees have already committed close to US $723 million. Top players are expected to earn minimum 1-2 crores per season.

What is already in place for IPL?

With the league scheduled for April 2008, the IPL has so far sold the eight teams to corporate houses and signed leading players. Indian stars like Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly will be called “icon players” and can play only for their respective cities. They will be the highest paid players and will not be auctioned. The bidding will take place next month.

Who owns the IPL TV rights?

Sony Entertainment, a division of Japan’s Sony Corp, and the Asia-based World Sports Group (WSG) won the broadcast rights for ten years, worth more than a whopping US $1 billion. TV rights are worth $918 million, with $100 million set aside for promotion.
Who will run the IPL?

BCCI has formed an IPL council that comprises former BCCI president IS Bindra, vice-presidents Rajiv Shukla, Chirayu Amin, Lalit Modi and Arun Jaitley, and former cricketers Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri. While the BCCI officials are honorary members, Pataudi, Gavaskar and Shastri will be paid for their services. The IPL governing council will have a five-year term and will run, operate and manage the league independently of the BCCI.

BCCI launches international Twenty20 league

BCCI launches international Twenty20 league




The Indian board launched a new international Twenty20 competition called the BCCI Indian Premier League. Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne have confirmed their association with the league and BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi was named as its convenor.

The tournament is scheduled to start in April 2008 and will last for 44 days involving 59 matches. The total prize-money for the league is around $3 million. The matches will be played on a home-and-away basis.

Glenn McGrath, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Sourav Ganguly and Stephen Fleming were among those present at the press conference held at Delhi.

The governing council comprises former Indian captains Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar, MAK Pataudi, and BCCI office-bearers Rajiv Shulka and Chirayu Amin, Punjab Cricket Association president IS Bindra and Delhi and Districts Cricket Association president Arun Jaitley. It will operate initially on a five-year term.

The announcements were made following a BCCI meeting attended by representatives of all Test-playing nations.