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  • IPL 7 auction: The big winners

    IPL 7 auction: The big winners

    MUMBAI: More than Rs 465 crore were spent during the IPL player auctions as the eight franchises gear up for the seventh season of the cash rich tourney – but bargain buys were hardly the headline makers this time around. While that can still change – money was clearly splashed on the big names in Twenty20 cricket. Here’s a list of the players who were bought for a high price in this year’s auction.

     

    Yuvraj Singh (Rs 14 crore to RCB): The naysayers will say that the Punjab lad has gone for a buck too many, but Vijay Mallya seems ecstatic about the inclusion of another marquee T20 player who will add to the firepower of Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, Ravi Rampaul and AB de Villiers. The key contributer to the World Cup and World T20 winning Team India will add more all-round ability to the team – however, the price tag may prove to be a burden if he fails.

     

    Dinesh Karthik (Rs 12.5 crore to DD): The darkhorse in the auction and clearly being rewarded handsomely for his consistency with the long handle in the middle overs and his daredevilry behind the stumps. It was slightly startling that Mumbai Indians didn’t retain him and Mitchell Johnson or used their ‘Right to Match card – but Karthik is certainly laughing all the way to the bank. With 1,741 runs in 92 IPL games, he may be worth all the moolah.

     

    Kevin Pietersen (Rs 9 crore to DD): KP is cricket’s latest ‘lone ranger’ and he doesn’t have to care about the international calendar anymore. His mere presence in the middle will be unsettling enough for bowlers – but now they’ll have to contend with a fit Pietersen for the whole season.

     

    Mitchell Johnson (Rs 6.5 crore to KXIP): The aussie is out to prove a point, but he lets his pace and swing do the talking for him. Johnson is fast, fearsome and in insane form and is very handy with the bat as well. He will certainly add some stability to a fairly young KXIP squad.

     

    Glenn Maxwell (Rs 6 crore to KXIP): The million dollar man from season 6 continues to be a favourite among the franchises. Though he didn’t get much opportunities in the MI camp last season, his poor showing didn’t deter Kings XI from coughing up the cash. He would certainly want to prove a point and justify his worth. And being an all-rounder will help the franchise.

     

    Jacques Kallis (Rs 5.5 crore to KKR): The old man of cricket is certainly worth every penny paid for his services. He’s 38 but will be the knight in a shining armor for the KKR, hopefully once again. He has a staggering 2,276 runs in 90 IPL matches and a strike-rate of above 100. Complimenting his contribution with the bat are the 61 scalps under his belt.

     

    David Warner (Rs 5.5 crore to SRH): Last year’s surprise package – Sunrisers Hyderabad – has added loose-cannon Warner to their side. They’ll be happy to see that side of him on the pitch though, rather than off it. When he’s in the mood, he can devour the opposition bowlers. Also, he had a cracking IPL 6 – scoring 410 runs in 16 matches. His strike-rate was 126.93.

     

    Robin Uthappa (KKR), Murali Vijay (DD), Michael Hussey (MI) and Mitchell Starc (RCB) – Rs 5 crore each: Uthappa’s value has come down a bit but he’s still handy with that bat and a reliable customer. Vijay’s permanent place in the Indian team guarantees quality and Huseey aka Mr Dependable is never a bad pick. As for Starc, a good fast bowler will always cost good money.

  • ICC U19 Cricket WC gets underway today in UAE

    ICC U19 Cricket WC gets underway today in UAE

    MUMBAI: The tenth edition of the tournament will be staged across seven venues in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 14 February to 1 March, and the International Cricket Council’s (ICC’s) global broadcast partner Star Sports is stepping up its production, as it gets set to make history.

     

    More cricket fans than ever before will be able to enjoy watching the most far-reaching and comprehensive coverage of an ICC U19 Cricket World Cup (ICC U19 CWC).

     

    Following up on its world-class production of the ICC Champions Trophy 2013, Star Sports will produce 11 matches in High Definition (HD) – the most matches ever at an ICC U19 CWC.

     

    Star Sports business head sports Nitin Kukreja said, “The ICC U19 Cricket World Cup is a premier tournament which showcases cricket’s future super stars. We have mounted an unprecedented production and broadcast effort to take cricket aficionados even closer to the action than ever before. We are confident that cricket fans will enjoy introduction of LED stumps for the very first time in an ICC tournament which will further enhance the broadcast experience.”

     

    The event is set to reach an estimated audience of 1.3 billion, with broadcast agreements secured by Star Sports. This includes the continued coverage by ICC broadcast partners, Fox Sports in Australia, Sky Sports in the United Kingdom, OSN across Middle East and North Africa, ESPN in North America and the Caribbean and Sky NZ in New Zealand.

     

    The Dubai International Cricket Stadium will be the main TV venue for the tournament while one match from the Sharjah Cricket Stadium will also be broadcast live. All televised matches will be covered using 14 cameras, including ball tracking and virtual graphics provided by Hawk-Eye.

     

    ICC chief executive David Richardson said: “The expanded broadcast and digital reach of this edition of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup will ensure that more fans globally now have an opportunity to see the sport’s future stars in action.”

     

    For the first-time in an ICC event, LED stumps will be used to provide the television viewers and spectators at the venue an enhanced experience.  The stumps and bails illuminate when the bails are dislodged, giving the broadcaster and the crowd a true indication of when a batsman is out. They will be used for the semi-finals and final only.

     

    The live broadcast will be complimented by a world-class commentary team, which includes Harsha Bhogle, Sanjay Manjrekar, Damien Martyn, Danny Morrison, Jonty Rhodes, Wasim Akram and Alan Wilkins.

                                                                                

    The TV broadcast of the event will be a truly interactive one for fans, who can stay engaged through polls on the event website www.icc-cricket.com and via the social media using the hashtag #futurestars and #u19cwc.

     

    Fans can also stay updated on the event via the event website www.icc-cricket.com which will feature live scores of all the matches and video clips of the key moments from the televised matches. 

  • IPL 7 auction ends; 154 players sold including 50 international

    IPL 7 auction ends; 154 players sold including 50 international

    MUMBAI: The two-day auction for the Indian Premiere League (IPL) finally came to an end. The auctions turned out to be much like the earlier six seasons – a heady mix of surprises, shocks, set-backs and happiness.

     

    The happiest of the lot was obviously Yuvraj Singh, who came aboard Royal Challengers Banglore for a hefty sum of Rs 14 crore. Even Delhi Daredevils coughed up Rs 12.5 crore to pick up Dinesh Karthik and Rs 9 crore for Kevin Pietersen using its right to match card.

     

    The right to match or the joker card worked wonders for the franchises this time as they managed to reclaim some of their ‘priced possessions’. Most of the teams used up their right to match card on day one of the auction itself, being aware that day two was consisted of the uncapped players.

     

    Out of the 154 players sold, 80 are capped and 74 are uncapped; again proving the purpose of the IPL – to nurture young and raw talent and provide them an international stage to play alongside and learn from the best in the business.

     

    The auction started on Wednesday morning with 514 players going under the hammer in two days. The sad part: nearly 70 per cent of the players went unsold.

     

    The dark side came to the fore when nobody bid for players like Mahela Jayawardena, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Angelo Mathews, Marlon Samuels, Brett Lee, Cameron White, Luke Wright, David Hussey, Praveen Kumar, RP Singh, Darren Bravo, Dirk Nannes and among others. While the reasons to it would be best known to the franchises, it just brought out the ugly side of the game.

     

    Now all that remains to be seen is whether the season 7 of the IPL can overshadow the dark history of the controversies that plagued season 6.

     

    With the biggest pool of players to have gone under the hammer in all the seasons so far, IPL 7 is all set to keep you hooked to your television sets for a roller coaster ride once again beginning from April.

     

    We will get you all the happenings of the Indian Premiere League season 7. Do continue reading this space for latest updates.

  • IPL 7 auction Day 2: Karan Sharma gets Rs 3.75 cr, Rishi Dhawan Rs 3 cr

    IPL 7 auction Day 2: Karan Sharma gets Rs 3.75 cr, Rishi Dhawan Rs 3 cr

    MUMBAI: The second day in the office for auctioneer Richard Hadley is certainly proving to be more tiring, with bids flying from all parts of the room to buy players for the seventh season of Indian Premier League. There have been some interesting names that have been picked up for a fairly higher price.

    Karan Sharma was bought by Sun Risers Hyderabad for the highest price of Rs 3.75 crore on the second day so far, after some frantic bidding by King’s XI Punjab as well.

    The second top bid was for Rishi Dhavan at Rs 3 crore by King’s XI Punjab. Other top bids were for Kedar Jadhav at Rs 2 crore, Beuran Hendricks at Rs 1.8 crore and Rajat Bhatia at Rs 1.7 crore.

    The next round of the auction will feature the remaining uncapped players, but the franchises have been asked to give a list of 10 players each – wicket keepers and batsmen together, bowlers together and all-rounders clubbed together –  in sets of shortlisted players based on their expertise.

    Watch this space for more updates.

  • IPL 7 auctions: Day 2 begins with uncapped Indian players

    IPL 7 auctions: Day 2 begins with uncapped Indian players

    MUMBAI: After all the action on day one of player auctions for season 7 of the Indian Premiere League (IPL), the day two began with the uncapped Indian cricketers going under the hammer for the first time.

     

    The day 2 will see players with base prices ranging between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 30 lakh being auctioned, with only Michael Klinger (batsman) and Ryan Ten Doeschate (all-rounder) at a base price of Rs 1 crore.

     

    The second day of auctions will also witness the unsold players from yesterday going under the hammer once again in the afternoon session. There are a few names from the unsold lot who would certainly give the franchises some exercise after lunch.

     

    On day one of auctions, nearly 90 odd players were sold to the eight franchises of IPL. The second day may not spring any surprises like on the first day but it will certainly be interesting to see how the franchises go about using their remaining resources to the fullest.

     

    At the time of writing this, Ryan Ten Doeschate was sold at his base price of Rs 1 crore to KKR and the uncapped Indian player to benefit the most was Rishi Dhawan who went to King’s XI Punjab for Rs 3 crore with a base price of Rs 20 lakh. Another Indian player, Kedar Jadhav was bagged for Rs 2 crore by Delhi Daredevils, which used its right to match card against Sun Risers Hyderabad’s bid.

     

    Keep watching this space for more updates.

  • IPL 7 auction: Day 1 – The haves and the have-nots…

    IPL 7 auction: Day 1 – The haves and the have-nots…

    MUMBAI: It was a long and tiring first day of auctions of players for the Indian Premiere League (IPL) season 7. There was a lot of action prior to the lunch break but mostly fizzled out after it resumed for the afternoon session.

     

    Two of the highest bids for the day were made by Delhi Daredevils as they had the deepest pocket – the entire Rs 60 crore – having decided not to retain any of their players from the previous edition.

     

    Delhi Daredevils were the most aggressive making the day’s both the big strategic acquisitions.

     

    Firstly Delhi Daredevils waited for the hammer to come down on Kevin Pietersen and then reclaimed him from Chennai Super Kings at a high price of Rs 9 crore. This was the first ‘Joker Card’ that was used at the auction.

     

    The swords were drawn when Yuvraj’s name came under the hammer, after some frantic bidding and almost being sold in a state of chaos, the final fight was between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Royal Challengers Banglore. Vijay Mallya had the final say with the highest bid of Rs 14 crore on day one and bag the Punjab boy to play alongside Virat Kohli.

     

    The other overseas player who was sold for a high price was Mitchel Johnson for Rs 6.5 crore to King’s XI Punjab, and Mumbai Indians declined to use its right to match card for the Aussie fast bowler.

     

    The biggest surprise of the day was Delhi Daredevil’s big bet on Dinesh Karthik at a whopping Rs 12.5 crore. The move would have certainly been made on the back of his stupendous showing in the 2013 season. Here again the Mumbai camp declined to use its right to match card.

     

    On day one, a lot of players who went under the hammer saw themselves moving to new teams. A lot of players still went unsold because of either dearth of funds or in anticipation of bagging bigger players on day two. Any which ways, the players who remained unsold today will again go under the hammer tomorrow.

     

    Teams at the end of Day 1 of Pepsi IPL Player auctions:

     

    Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Smith, Ashish Nehra, Mohit Sharma, Samuel Badree, Ben Hilfenhaus, Matt Henry.

     

    Budget left: Rs2.9 crore. Squad Strength: 13. Overseas Players: 7.

     

    Delhi Daredevils: M Vijay, Kevin Pietersen, Dinesh Karthik, JP Duminy, Manoj Tiwary, Quinton de Kock, Mohammad Shami, Rahul Sharma, Saurabh Tiwary, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jaydev Unadkat, James Neesham.

     

    Budget left: Rs8.6 crore. Squad Strength: 13. Overseas Players: 5.

     

    Kings XI Punjab: David Miller, Manan Vohra, Virender Sehwag, Mitchell Johnson, George Bailey, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shaun Marsh, Wriddhaman Saha, Thisara Perera, Glenn Maxwell, L Balaji, Parvinder Awan.

     

    Budget left: Rs14.2 crore. Squad Strength: 12. Overseas Players: 6.

     

    Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir, Sunil Narine, Jacques Kallis, Robin Uthappa, Yusuf Pathan, Shakib Al Hasan, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Morne Morkel, Piyush Chawla.

     

    Budget left: Rs9 crore. Squad Strength: 10. Overseas Players: 4.

     

    Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard, Harbhajan Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Michael Hussey, Zaheer Khan, Pragyan Ojha, Corey Anderson, Josh Hazlewood.

     

    Budget left: Rs5.15 crore. Squad Strength: 10. Overseas Players: 5.

     

    Rajasthan Royals: Shane Watson, Ajinkya Rahane, James Faulkner, Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson, Brad Hodge, Steve Smith, Abhishek Nayar, Ben Cutting, Kane Richardson, Tim Southee.

     

    Budget left: Rs12.1 crore. Squad Strength: 11. Overseas Players: 7.

     

    Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Yuvraj Singh, Parthiv Patel, Albie Morkel, Mitchell Starc, Ashok Dinda, Ravi Rampaul, Muttiah Muralitharan, Nic Maddinson, Varun Aaron.

     

    Budget left: Rs1.8 crore. Squad Strength: 12. Overseas Players: 7.

     

    Sunrisers Hyderabad: Shikhar Dhawan, Dale Steyn, David Warner, Darren Sammy, Amit Mishra, Aaron Finch, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Brendan Taylor, Moises Henriques, Venugopal Rao, Jason Holder.

     

    Budget left: Rs8.4 crore. Squad Strength: 13. Overseas Players: 7.

     

  • IPL season 7 auction kicks off with a bang

    IPL season 7 auction kicks off with a bang

    MUMBAI: The stage is set for history to be rewritten. This time around the maximum number of players will be going under the hammer with 514 players in the pool – 219 capped players (169 Indians / 50 overseas) and 292 uncapped players (255 Indians / 37 overseas).

     

    IPL’s official auctioneer Richard Madley says: “The first IPL auction in Mumbai which was held just six years ago but feels like it was held 600 years ago, no one knew what would go down on that day at the Oberoi hotel; it was a historic day for cricket and in my point of view an historic day for auctioning. Today is going to be no different in Bengaluru”

     

    This year’s auction witnessed a full house of the regulars from the franchises. The likes of Ness Wadia and Priety Zinta from the Kings XI Punjab camp; Tom Moody, VVS Laxman and Krishnamachari Srikkanth from Sunrisers Hyderabad; Kolkata Knight Riders is present in full strength with CEO Venky Mysore, Jay Mehta and Juhi Chawla.

     

    Royal Challengers Banglore owner Vijay Mallya was seen sporting a cool Mohawk hairstyle and was beaming after getting Yuvraj Singh for his team for a whopping Rs 14 crore, the highest bid in the morning session.

     

    Mumbai Indians is represented by Nita Ambani and Anil Kumble, Rajhastan Royals has Rahul Dravid at the table along with the team management.

     

    The ones missing from the auction this time are Rajasthan Royals’ Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty and CSK’s Gurunath Meiyappan after being in the news for all the wrong reasons.

     

    This is the first time uncapped Indian players have earned a spot on the auction list. Also, until last year, auctions were done in dollars. Beginning this year until 2017, all auctions will be carried out in Indian rupees. The cap on players’ cumulative salary has got reduced to Rs 60 crore this year from Rs 75 crore. Though the highest base price of players will continue to be at Rs 2 crore ($400,000 last year).

     

    This year’s auction also witnesses franchises exercise the right to match a bid, or use the joker card. Under this provision, a franchise can bid for a player who was in its squad in 2013, but wasn’t retained subsequently. The number of joker cards available with the team depends on the number of players retained – if a team doesn’t retain a single player, it can exercise the right to match three times. If a team retains five players, it can exercise it just once.

     

    Delhi Daredevils, which hasn’t retained any of its existing players, is certainly going to be the most aggressive. Most other teams have retained at least a couple of in-form players. The Delhi franchise has the entire salary amount of Rs 60 intact.

  • IPL auction: Yuvraj goes to RCB for Rs 14 cr; DD bags Karthik (Rs 12.5 cr) & KP (Rs 9 cr)

    IPL auction: Yuvraj goes to RCB for Rs 14 cr; DD bags Karthik (Rs 12.5 cr) & KP (Rs 9 cr)

    MUMBAI: The auction of players for the seventh season of Indian Premiere League (IPL) is currently underway in Bengaluru and it’s certainly got everyone’s attention. The auction this year is the biggest with 514 players in the pool – 219 capped players (169 Indians / 50 overseas) and 292 uncapped players (255 Indians / 37 overseas).

     

    The first player to go under the hammer was CSK’s opener Murali Vijay, opening at a base price of Rs 2 crore. He will now be seen in the Delhi Daredevil’s camp after the team bought him for a cool Rs 5 crore.

     

    Next up for bidding was Sri Lanka’s ‘Mr.Dependable’ – Mahela Jayawardena – who went unsold.

     

    After having been shunned by the national side – England – the South African-born Kevin Pietersen was next under the hammer and after some frantic bidding went for a high price of Rs 9 crore to Delhi Daredevils as the team used its right-to-match after Sunrisers won the bid.

     

    The biggest bet was for Yuvraj Singh. After the bid for Yuvraj went past Pietersen’s value, Banglore entered the scene and almost got him for Rs 10 crore. KKR then entered the fray and RCB had to finally make a winning bid of Rs 14 crore for the Punjab lad.

     

    The surprise package was Dinesh Karthik, who just about managed to steal Yuvi’s thunder with a cool bid of Rs 12.5 crore from Delhi Daredevils. 

     

    Other highlights are:

     

    # CSK bags Kallis for Rs 5.5 crore. But, the Kolkata Knight Riders have matched the bid.

    # Virender Sehwag to KXIP Rs 3.20 crore.

    # David Warner goes to Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 5.50 crore.

    # Brendon McCullum to CSK for Rs 3.25 crore.

    # Mumbai Indians get Michael Hussey for Rs 5 crore.

    # Sunrisers Hyderabad reclaim Amit Mishra using their right-to-match card. They get him for Rs 4.75 crore.

    # Mumbai Indians win the bid for Zaheer with Rs. 2.6 crore.

    # Aaron Finch goes to Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs. 4 crore.

    # Robin Uthappa sold to KKR for Rs 5 crore.

    # Rajasthan Royals win the bid of Rs. 2.40 crore for Brad Hodge.

    # KXIP get Shaun Marsh for Rs 2.20 crore.

    # Manoj Tiwary to Delhi Daredevils Rs 2.8 crore.

    # Dwayne Smith goes to Chennai Super Kings for Rs 4.5 crore.

  • Ten Sports betting big on Aussies vs. Proteas

    Ten Sports betting big on Aussies vs. Proteas

    MUMBAI: The Ashes is passé. Get set for some riveting action on the 22 yards strip as Australia takes on not England but another cricketing great, South Africa, in a test series starting tomorrow on Ten Cricket.

     

    Being aired live along with ball-by-ball commentary in English, the tourney has big names associated with it, what with Micromax and Fogg as co-presenting sponsors, Royale Aspira, Clear and Asian Paints as associate sponsors, and spot buys taking place in the course of the series.

     

    Ten Cricket, which is looking at making anything between Rs 10-12 crore in ad revenues, is pushing the series mostly on the digital platform and through promos on its network.

     

    Speaking to indiantelevision.com ahead of the telecast, Ten Sports CEO Rajesh Sethi said: “Globally, Australia and South Africa are the world’s two best test playing nations, so it will be a clash of the titans and is poised to be an interesting proposition for the viewers. We have created eye-catching promos and have been aggressively promoting it through our network.”

     

    Billed as Australia’s challenge to South Africa’s supremacy in test cricket, the series’ promos have been created in-house by a team of 15-odd members.

     

    For the test matches, ad slots have been sold at Rs 10,000 for every ten seconds whereas for the T-20s, they’ve been sold at Rs 20,000 for every ten seconds; revealed Sethi. “We are in a comfortable position with over 95 per cent of our inventories sold for the three T-20s and for the three tests, they’ve sold for more than 80 per cent,” he said before adding, “The content is not that aggressively priced and hence the spot rates are decently priced.”

     

    A media analyst offered his perspective on the channel’s claim saying: “Big sporting events such as these generally sell out 80 per cent of their inventories and make the most of the remainder of the same. Ten Sports on its part has surely garnered a sizeable amount for the series.”

     

    Sethi’s concluding remark was: “Since this series is as big as the Ashes in terms of the level of competition, we would expect to witness good traction among the viewers and we have generated a buzz on the social medium as well.”

  • Sony Six to broadcast 2014 Pepsi IPL player auction

    Sony Six to broadcast 2014 Pepsi IPL player auction

    MUMBAI: ?Sony Six, India’s premier sports and entertainment channel will exclusively broadcastthe player auction that will take place before this year’s edition of the Pepsi Indian Premier League. Come February 12thand 13th, the 2014 Pepsi IPL Player Auction will be the talking point of the country as the bidding process rolls out for theseventh edition of the tournament.  The event that will see eight team owners battle it out to build their dream team, will be broadcast Live and Exclusive on Six and Six HD.

     

    With every team given the option of retaining a maximum of 5 players, this year’s auction is certain to bring up surprises, with the 8 franchise teams drafting new approaches to retain the best mix of cricketing talent. This year’s auction will feature 219 capped players (169 Indians and 50 overseas players) and will also feature 292 uncapped players (255 Indians and 37 Overseas). Indian uncapped players will be figuring in the auction for the very first time. The auction will take place at ITC Gardenia, Bengaluru, on the 12th of February, with an option to carry onto the 13th of February.

     

    The auction will be conducted by Richard Madley, a professional auctioneer from England who hasbeen conducting the player auctions since the inaugural season in 2008, and will be hosted on Six by Gaurav Kapoor and Ajay Jadeja sharing their insights on player and team strategies.

     

    Some of the top players valued at the auction include Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Yusuf Pathan, Brad Haddin, Brad Hodge, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Kevin Pietersen, Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor, Jacques Kallis, MahelaJayawardene, and Marlon Samuels.

     

    Sony Six business head Prasana Krishnan said, “This year’s auction is probably one of the biggest that we’ll see, as all teams will look for a major revamp. Six will bring an in-depth perspective into the strategy each team has chartered for the league, keeping the audience enthralled throughout the event.”

     

    The Pepsi IPL is a Twenty20 cricket league in India consisting of 8 teams. Teams will play in a round robin format where each team plays each other twice, home and away. The top 4 teams with maximum points at the end of the round robin format, qualify for the play offs. This is the 7th season of the Indian Premier League. Mumbai Indians were the winners of the previous edition in 2013.