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  • IPL 2020 auction: Pat Cummins, Glen Maxwell top overseas buys; Piyush Chawla biggest Indian buy

    IPL 2020 auction: Pat Cummins, Glen Maxwell top overseas buys; Piyush Chawla biggest Indian buy

    MUMBAI: It was a day of records at the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 auctions in Kolkata on 19 December. When the hammer went down on the acquisition of Australian pacer Pat Cummins at Rs 15.5 crore by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), it announced a record for the highest price paid for a player in the league’s history. Compatriot Glen Maxwell was bought for Rs 10.75 crore by Kings XI Punjab (KXIP). The two were amongst the top foreign buys, while Indians player Piyush Chawla was picked by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for Rs 6.75 crore.

    In the thirteenth season of IPL, 332 cricketers went under the hammer. The eight franchisees bagged players with an aim to balance their sides.

    The spotlight was on the English players- Jason Roy, Chris Woakes and Sam Curran and Eoin Morgan, South Africans player Chris Morris, Indians players- Piyush Chawla, Robin Uthappa and Jaydev Unadkat, Australian players- Alex Carrey, Glen Maxwell, Pat Cummins, Chris Lynn, Nathan Coulter Nile and Aaron Finch and Windies player Sheldon Cottrell.

    Here is the list of the players bought by the teams.

    Delhi Capitals

    Players bought: Jason Roy (Rs 1.5 crore), Chris Woakes (Rs 1.5 crore), Alex Carrey (Rs2.4 crore)

    Players retained: Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, R Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Sandeep Lamichhane, Kagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma, Keemo Paul, Avesh Khan

    Total players in the squad: 17. No of open players slot:8 (6 domestic, 2 overseas). Purse left: Rs 22.45 crore.

     

    Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

    Players bought: Sam Curran (Rs 5.5 crore), Piyush Chawla (Rs 6.75 crore).

    Players retained: Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, N Jagadeesan, M Vijay, Rituraj Gaikwad, MS Dhoni (wk), Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner, Monu Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir, Karn Sharma, Lungi Ngidi, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, KM Asif.

    Total players in the squad: 21. No of open players slot: 3 (2 domestic, 1 overseas). Purse left: Rs 2.35 crore.

     

    Kings XI Punjab

    Players bought: Glen Maxwell (Rs 10.75 crore), Sheldon Cottrell (Rs 8.5 crore), Deepak Hooda (Rs 50 lakh), Ishan Porel (Rs 20 lakh), Ravi Bishnoi (Rs 2 crore)

    Players retained: KL Rahul (wk), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Mandeep Singh, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Murugan Ashwin, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, K. Gowtham, J. Suchith, Harpreet Brar, Mohammed Shami, Hardus Viljoen, Arshdeep Singh, Darshan Nalkande.

    Total players in the squad: 21. No of open players slot: 6 (3 domestic, 3 overseas). Purse left: Rs 22.95 crore.

     

    Kolkata Knight Riders

    Players bought: Eoin Morgan (Rs 5.25 crore), Pat Cummins (Rs 15.5 crore), Rahul Tripathi (Rs 60 lakh), Varun Chakravarthy (Rs 4 crore).

    Players retained: Shubman Gill, Siddesh Lad, Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Rinku Singh, Nitish Rana, Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav, Harry Gurney, Lockie Ferguson, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier.

    Total players in the squad: 18. No of open players slot: 7 (5 domestic, 2 overseas). Purse left: Rs 10.90 crore.

     

    Mumbai Indians

    Players bought: Chris Lynn (Rs 2 crore), Nathan Coulter Nile ( Rs 8 crore).

    Players retained: Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Quinton de Kock (wk), Aditya Tare (wk), Anmolpreet Singh, Kieron Pollard, Ishan Kishan (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Jayant Yadav, Anukul Roy, Jasprit Bumrah, Lasith Malinga, Trent Boult, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mitchell McClenaghan.

    Total players in the squad: 20. No of open players slot: 5 (5 domestic). Purse left: Rs 3.05 crore.

     

    Rajasthan Royals

    Players bought: Robin Uthappa (Rs 3 crore), Jaydev Unadkat (3 crore), Yasashvi Jaiswal (Rs 2.40 crore), Anuj Rawat (Rs 80 lakh), Kartik Tyagi (Rs 1.3 crore).

    Players retained: Jos Buttler (wk), Steve Smith, Sanju Samson (wk), Manan Vohra, Riyan Parag, Ben Stokes, Mahipal Lomror, Shashank Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Tewatia, Mayank Markande, Jofra Archer, Ankit Rajpoot, Varun Aaron.

    Total players in the squad: 19. No of open players slot: 7 (3 domestic, 4 overseas). Purse left: Rs 18.40 crore.

     

    Royal Challengers Bangalore

    Players bought: Aaron Finch ( Rs 4.40 crore), Chris Morris (Rs 10 crore)

    Players retained: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal, Parthiv Patel (wk), Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Pawan Negi, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj.

    Total players in the squad: 15. No of open players slot: 10 (6 domestic, 4 overseas). Purse left: Rs 13.50 crore.

     

    Sunrisers Hyderabad

    Player sold: Virat Singh (Rs 1.9 crore), Priyam Garg (Rs 1.9 crore).

    Players retained: David Warner, Kane Williamson, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Manish Pandey, Sreevats Goswami (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Abhishek Sharma, Rashid Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Basil Thampi, T. Natarajan, Billy Stanlake.

    Total players in the squad: 20. No of open players slot: 5 (3 domestic, 2 overseas). Purse left: Rs 13.2 crore.
  • Kings XI Punjab welcomes on board Aaj Tak as title sponsor

    Kings XI Punjab welcomes on board Aaj Tak as title sponsor

    MUMBAI: Kings XI Punjab has launched its new jersey and announced a range of partners that will support the team this season in the VIVO Indian Premier League.

    On board as the title sponsor for the season is Aaj Tak. The news channel will occupy its place on the front of the Kings XI Punjab Jersey this year.

    Other sponsors include Bageshree Infratech, V.I.P. Industries, along with Jio, Fena, Royal Stag and Finale Cables, who continue to back KXIP from last season.

    Kings XI Punjab CEO Satish Menon said, “We are delighted to unveil the new jersey and announce our partnership this year with the news channel Aaj Tak, a TV channel known as much for its in-depth analysis delivered in double quick time as for its credibility. A brand of that repute coming on board is a proud endorsement of Kings XI Punjab's intrinsic values. We head into IPL season 12 with optimism and enthusiasm as we have the right brands with us on the journey. Their support is our strength as we aim to excel on the field with our performances played in the true spirit of the game.”

    India Today Group vice chairperson Kalli Purie said, “India Today Group is really excited to partner with the most anticipated cricketing event of 2019. This partnership of Aaj Tak with Kings XI Punjab is a coming together of the biggest in news with the biggest in sports. All the best to the Kings XI team, looking forward to an amazing tournament and like Aaj Tak, may the ‘Sabse Tez’ team win.”

    Along with these, KXIP welcomes onboard other partners as well. These include:

    Kingfisher – Good Times Partner

    Coca Cola – Official Beverage Partner

    Beardo – Associate Sponsor

    Prayag – Official Bath & Kitchen Fitting Partner

    T10 – Official Kit & Merchandise Partner

    Welspun – Official Partner

    Dream11 – Associate Partner

    boAt – Official Audio Partner

    cricfig – Official Figurine Partner

    The Souled Store – Merchandise Partner

    Big FM – Radio Partner

    CASHUrDRIVE – Outdoor Partner

    Zomato – Official Partner

  • Mohit Burman willing to look at cricketing leagues globally

    Mohit Burman willing to look at cricketing leagues globally

    MUMBAI: They had never won the Indian Premier League (IPL) title in 10 seasons but that didn’t stop Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) from investing in big names for the eleventh edition. Chris Gayle, Aaron Finch, Yuvraj Singh and KL Rahul are names associated with this team.

    Since the commencement of the league, the ownership of KXIP has remained unchanged with Dabur India director Mohit Burma holding the majority stake and the rest being distributed among actress Preity Zinta, businessman Ness Wadia and Apeejay Surrendra Group’s Karan Paul.

    This season, the IPL has introduced a novel concept of allowing mid-season transfer of players. While some team owners believe that it won’t be used much, Burman thinks the opposite. Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, he says, “It is a great move by IPL. It helps the team realign its strategy keeping in mind the kind of position it is in at that particular moment. The players who haven’t received enough opportunity to play for the team will get a chance to play for some other team.”

    The first seven seasons were loss-making with KXIP losing Rs 70 crore but the team stuck to it and managed to turnaround things in the next three seasons. Burman is set on cricket and isn’t keen on investing in other sports but will look at other cricketing leagues globally.

    Burman may have taken a lesson from his investment in the team Dabur Mumbai Magicians in the Mumbai Hockey India League (HIL) from 2012 to 2014. The team is now owned by DoIT Sports Management. But he still owns the Pune team of the Indian Badminton League.

    Financially, this was the best pre-tournament time for KXIP’s history. “For the first time in history, we closed all our sponsorships one month before. This year, we changed our strategy to sell out sponsorships by approaching the companies that generally don’t advertise on cricket. In terms of sponsorship revenue, we grew by 20-25 per cent compared to last year. The average title sponsorship for all the teams is between Rs 10 crore and Rs 20 crore. The top teams for selling sponsorships are Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders,” Burman adds.

    KXIP sponsors for season 11 include Kent RO, Lotus Herbals, Jio, Fena, Royal Stag, Finolex, Manyavar, Tecno, Surya LED, Kingfisher, Tic-tac and Coca-Cola.

    He lauds the investment by Star India to ensure the IPL reaches out to regional crowds this season onwards. “Star has put it a lot of work because of the amount they have paid for broadcasting it. IPL viewership has gone up in the south because they are showing it in different languages like Telugu, Tamil and Kannada,” he says.

    The team that failed to qualify for the knockouts in the previous season, surprised everyone by deciding to release star performers Glenn Maxwell and David Miller with the former going to Delhi Daredevils and the latter being retained using the right to match option. The side that ended in the fifth position of the table decided to retain only the bowling all-rounder option Axar Patel this year.

    As of today, KXIP stands fourth in the IPL ranking chart trailing Sunrisers Hyderabad, Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders. The team will have to buck up if it wants to defeat champions and become champion for season 11.

  • Dura Cement replaces Kingfisher as RCB’s associate sponsor

    Dura Cement replaces Kingfisher as RCB’s associate sponsor

    MUMBAI: Kingfisher and Royal Challenger Bangalore (RCB) have parted ways after a successful 10-year sponsorship sprint at the Indian Premier League (IPL). The associate sponsor slot has nowbeen taken over by Dura cement replacing Kingfisher. As part of the deal, the Dura branding will appear on the back of the team’s playing kit.

    In a recent interaction, Gameplan Sports director Jeet Banerjee pointed that the sponsorship amount that brands will pay to teams this year will be in the range of Rs 15-25 crore per annum.

    RCB is waiting for the title sponsors deal to be closed and have increased the amount by 50 per cent. Gionee paid Rs 14 crore for the previous season, so this season the amount has reached to Rs 20 crore according to media reports.

    Kingfisher’s “oo la la la la le o” campaign has been a successful one in the past for the IPL. The campaign was seen with the big names of six teams previous season including RCB, Mumbai Indians (MI), Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Delhi Daredevils (DD) and Rising Pune Supergaints (RPS).

    With the revival of the eight original franchises that took part in the inaugural edition, the league is all set to embark upon a new journey. Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals arereturning after a two-year ban.

    Also Read:

    BCCI invites bids for e-auction of India rights

    Star India bags production rights for IPL 2018

    IPL 2018 gets a makeover with Star India

  • IPL 2018: Team sponsorship deals may see an uptick

    IPL 2018: Team sponsorship deals may see an uptick

    MUMBAI: With barely two months to go before the eleventh season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) starts in April 2018, brands have begun their hunt to pick their favourite team to bid on and are rapidly putting together deals. The bigger team you pick, the more chances of your brand being visible on the field and earning you brownie points in the eyes of viewers and consumers. 

    A lot is riding on this year’s season for sponsors as the T20 tournament has gone on to become the fifth most popular sports event in the world with more than 335 million viewers and the number only seems to be increasing every year. Last year, Star India won the global IPL media rights for Rs 16,347 crore for a period of five years. Since this is the first time both the TV and digital rights are with a single broadcaster, better synergies can be drawn between the TV and digital campaigns.

    Gameplan Sports director Jeet Banerjee projects a rise in the sponsorships amount that brands will pay to teams this year as compared to previous seasons. “The amount will differ from team to team, but it will be in the range of 15-25 crores per annum,” he believes. 

    According to an industry source who did not wish to be named, however, principal sponsor deals this year between teams and brands could range from Rs 8-12 crore per annum, more in line with previous years.

    Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians (MI), according to another source, are on their way to complete their inventory for the year 2018 with new sponsors and partners.

    As the five-year deal between MI and Videocon d2h has come to an end, a new innings for Samsung has begun this season. Samsung, which was the official partner for MI, has now become the team’s lead sponsor. The team has a list of official partners including Performax, Kenstar, Taiwan Excellence and Usha.

    Although Kingfisher is sponsoring all major teams this season as well,  Royal Rajasthan and Chennai Super Kings that are making a comeback this season are also interested in sponsoring with Kingfisher and the brand is in talk with teams to consider it.

    United Breweries Group chief marketing officer Samar Singh Shekhawat believes IPL is the perfect sport for the brand to invest in as the league is all about fun, glamour, colour, youth and energy. Because the brand is not allowed to do television and other traditional advertising for its product due to government regulations that prohibits any alcohol advertising on the platform, IPL works best for the company.

    The brand is considering a lot of on-ground activation this year and is working and debating with 3-4 agencies that have pitched presentations for UB.

    Radio station radio city 91.1fm’s five-year official partnership deal with the Mumbai Indians ended this year but is said to be in discussions with the team to renew the partnership.

    While CSK has Muthoot Finance as its principal team partner, the right chest of the team’s jerseys will bear the logos of India Cement, which has come on board as the team’s official cement partner, and Gulf, which is its official lubricant partner. Other partners include Nippon Paint as the official paint partner, Equitas as the official retail banking partner, HIL as the official partner and ACT Fibernet as the official connectivity partner.

    This season, Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) has water purifier brand Kent RO as its title sponsor while detergent brand Fena, Royal Stag and Lotus Herbals have come on board as official partners and will be featured on the team’s jerseys. The team, with its fresh squad, is planning to change its team name and shift its base out of Punjab.

    Sony Pictures Network successfully managed to elevate the IPL’s position year after year. The turn of events is going to be interesting now with Star India planning to make the IPL a six-month-long fiesta with new-age technology, putting fans at the heart of the experience.

    Also Read :

    Star ushers in IPL’s new era with a bang

    Star India gets IPL to change match timings for 11th edition

    IPL auction: Gayle to play for KXIP, Unadkat most expensive Indian player

  • IPL opening eight days total 74.7 million live impressions: Twitter Brand index

    IPL opening eight days total 74.7 million live impressions: Twitter Brand index

    MUMBAI: With 74.7 million live impressions during the opening eight days of the eighth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Twitter is abuzz with excitement. While defending champs Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have had a stop-start beginning, the Rajasthan Royals (RR) rushed out of the gates and the Indian captain led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) continued to be crowd favourites as there was hardly any surprise on their first match versus Delhi Daredevils (DD) being the most talked about game on Twitter between 8 – 15 April, 2015.

     

    Below are the games ranked in descending order of the most live impressions: 

     

    1. #KKRvMI (8 April 2015)

    2. #CSKvDD (9 April)

    3. #KKRvRCB (11 April)

    4. #CSKvSRH (11 April)

    5. #RCBvSRH (11 April)

    6. #MIvKXIP (12 April)

    7. #RRvMI (14 April)

    8. #DDvRR (12 April)

    9. #KXIPvRR (10 April)

    10.  #KXIPvDD (15 April)

     

    Top Moments, on the basis of Tweets Per Minute, between 8 – 15 April, 2015 were: 

     

    1. Chennai Super Kings beat Delhi Daredevils by one run.

    2. Royal Challengers Bangalore defeats Kolkata Knight Riders by three wickets.

    3. Kolkata Knight Riders defeats Mumbai Indians by seven wickets

    4. Chennai Super Kings’ Brendon McCullum brings up his century off 56 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

    5. Kings XI Punjab defeats Mumbai Indians by 18 runs.

     

    #Orangecap & #Purplecap

     

    Most mentioned batsmen and bowlers on Twitter during the Live Match Windows with the hash tags #OrangeCap and #PurpleCap are:

     

    Batsmen:

    1. Yuvraj Singh (Orange Cap) (@YUVSTRONG12)
    2. Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45)
    3. Chris Gayle (@henrygayle)

    Bowlers:
     

    1. Harbhajan Singh (Purple Cap) (@harbhajan_singh)
    2. Morne Morkel (@mornemorkel65)
    3. Ashish Nehra

     

    Ranking of Most Mentioned IPL Teams on Twitter from 8 – 15 April:

     

    1. Kolkata Knight Riders
    2. Chennai Super Kings
    3. Mumbai Indians
    4. Delhi Daredevils
    5. Kings XI Punjab
    6. Royal Challengers Bangalore
    7. Rajasthan Royals
    8. Sunrisers Hyderabad

     

  • IPL teams keep their ‘core’ intact

    IPL teams keep their ‘core’ intact

     MUMBAI: A total of 123 cricketers including players were retained by the franchises for the 2015 Pepsi Indian Premier season. Five Indian cricketers including Unmukt Chand and Vinay Kumar have been traded during the window for player trade this year. 

    The window for the franchises to extend the player contracts on existing terms for Pepsi IPL season closed on 15 December 2014. 

     

    The released players now have an option to register for the auction from where they can be picked by any interested club.

    IPL chairman Ranjib Biswal commented, “Teams have the right, at their sole election, to extend player contracts for another season. This allows for teams to make any course corrections to their squads as a way to strengthen their team ahead of the next season. It is a way to balance the need for continuity whilst allowing for churn which is very important from the league’s perspective. The released players will have the option to put their names up for the player auction for the 2015 season.”

    Teams have a total salary purse of Rs 63 crore for the 2015 season (5 per cent increase over the 2014 season purse). The salaries of the players retained will be deducted from this amount. 

    Here are the details of the retained and released players for 2015 season:

     

    CSK (Retained Players): MS Dhoni, Ashish Nehra, Baba Aparajith, Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Faf du Plessis, Ishwar Chandra Pandey, Matt Henry, Mithun Manhas, Mohit Sharma, Pawan Negi, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Samuel Badree, Suresh Raina, Ronit More. 

     

    CSK (Released Players): Ben Hilfenhaus, John Hastings, Vijay Shankar, David Hussey.

     

    DD (Retained Players): Jean-Paul Duminy, Kedar Jadhav, Manoj Tiwary, Mohammad Shami, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Quinton De Kock, Saurabh Tiwary, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mayank Agarwal, Imran Tahir, Jayant Yadav.

     

    DD (Released Players): Dinesh Karthik, HS Sharath, James Neesham, Jaydev Unadkat, Kevin Pietersen, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Milind Kumar, Murali Vijay, Rahul Sharma, Rahul Shukla, Ross Taylor, Siddarth Kaul, Wayne Parnell.

     

    KXIP (Retained Players): Axar Patel, Anureet Singh, Beuran Hendricks, David Miller, George Bailey, Glenn Maxwell, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Karanveer Singh, Manan Vora, Mandeep Singh, Mitchell Johnson, Parvinder Awana, Rishi Dhawan, Sandeep Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Shaun Marsh, Shivam Sharma, Thisara Perera, Virender Sehwag, Wriddhiman Saha.

     

    KXIP (Released Players): Cheteshwar Pujara, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Murali Kartik. 

     

    KKR (Retained Players): Gautam Gambhir, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Kuldeep Yadav, Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Morne Morkel, Patrick Cummins, Piyush Chawla, Robin Uthappa, Ryan ten Doeschate, Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Veer Pratap Singh, Yusuf Pathan.

     

    KKR (Released Players): Debabrata Das, Sayan Sekhar Mandal, Jacques Kallis.

     

    MI (Retained Players): Rohit Sharma, Aditya Tare, Ambati Rayudu, Corey Anderson, Harbhajan Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Josh Hazlewood, Keiron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Marchant de Lange, Pawan Suyal, Shreyas Gopal, Lendl Simmons, Unmukt Chand, R Vinay Kumar.

     

    MI (Released Players): Michael Hussey, Praveen Kumar, Ben Dunk, Pragyan Ojha, Jalaj Saxena, Krismar Santokie, Sushant Marathe, Apoorv Wankhade, Zaheer Khan, C.M. Gautam.

     

    RR (Retained Players): Shane Watson, Abhishek Nayar, Ajinkya Rahane, Ankit Nagendra Sharma, Ben Cutting, Deepak Hooda, Dhawal Kulkarni, Dishant Yagnik, James Faulkner, Kane Richardson, Karun Nair, Pravin Tambe, Rahul Tewatia, Rajat Bhatia, Sanju Samson, Steven Smith, Stuart Binny, Tim Southee, Vikramjeet Malik.

     

    RR (Released Players): Amit Mishra, Ankush Bains, Brad Hodge.

     

    RCB (Retained Players): Virat Kohli, AB deVillers, Chris Gayle, Mitchell Starc, Nic Maddinson, Varun Aaron, Yuzvendra Singh Chahal, Rilee Rossouw, Vijay Zol, Yogesh Takawale, Abu Nechim Ahmed, Harshal Patel, Ashoke Dinda, Sandeep Warrier, Manvinder Bisla

     

    RCB (Released Players): Albie Morkel, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ravi Rampaul, Sachin Rana, Shadab Jakati, Tanmay Mishra, Yuvraj Singh.

     

    SRH (Retained Players): Shikhar Dhawan, Ashish Reddy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Chama Milind, Dale Steyn, David Warner, Ishant Sharma, Karn Sharma, KL Rahul, Moises Henriques, Naman Ojha, Parveez Rasool, Ricky Bhui.

     

    SRH (Released Players): Aaron Finch, Amit Mishra, Amit Paunikar, Brendan Taylor, Darren Sammy, Irfan Pathan, Jason Holder, Manprit Juneja, Prasanth Parameswaran, Srikkanth Anirudha, Venugopal Rao.

  • Indian leg of the IPL to begin from 2 May

    Indian leg of the IPL to begin from 2 May

    MUMBAI: There is good news for Indian cricket fans, who were left disheartened after the news hit that the first 20 matches of this edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will kick-off in UAE.

     

    IPL is set to return to Indian shores on 2 May for the remaining 36 matches, including four play-offs, which will be played in the home-leg.

     

    The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after having successive discussions with the authorities at home, decided that the IPL can be played at home beginning from 2 May. The first leg of the IPL will be held in UAE from 16 to 30 April due to the general elections in India.

     

    In the home-leg, each franchise will play nine matches and five of the eight teams will be playing at least four matches in their home stadium.

     

    Chennai Super Kings will play two matches at Ranchi, while Kings XI Punjab will play two games at Cuttack. Rajasthan Royals will play four matches at Ahmedabad. There will be no matches on 1 May and 17 May.

     

    The schedule of the UAE leg has also been tweaked to suit the franchises. The evening match slated for 26 April in Abu Dhabi, between Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), will now be designated as a home match for the Knight Riders and the 28 April match in Dubai, between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and KXIP, will be designated as a home game for Kings team.

     

    “Following on from the launch of ticket sales for the UAE leg today (3 April), I am pleased that we are now able to confirm the dates for the rest of the season,” said BCCI-IPL interim president Sunil Gavaskar in a press statement.

     

    “It is great news that the fans back home in India will be able to watch a large part of the Pepsi IPL 2014. Given the various challenges and the logistical complexities, we have spent a considerable amount of time in crafting a balanced schedule,” he added.

     

    IPL governing council chairman Ranjib Biswal said, “We are delighted to have the season back in India at the start of May. Organising an event of this scale at multiple venues in two countries is an enormous organisational undertaking and we are very grateful to the Government of India, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the police authorities in the various states for their support.”

     

    Hosting IPL involves elaborate planning on several fronts, logistics included and it is critical that there is surety on the availability of the match venues, for a tournament of this magnitude. The BCCI has tried to work with various franchises and stakeholders to get confirmations to host matches in the cities.

    The Rajasthan Royals have indicated to the BCCI that they are pleased to play their four home matches of the India leg of the 2014 season, at Ahmedabad, to avoid any uncertainty to their home matches. KXIP and CSK will be playing some of their home matches outside Mohali and Chennai respectively, due to non-availability of their home venue, for a large portion of May 2014.

    Looks like the IPL will continue to look at as many venues as possible to play the tournament in forthcoming seasons, and that’s a good sign for smaller states and regions to come to the forefront.

  • 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.

  • 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.