An account of what I went thru- Superkings vs Daredevils

I was typing the below post as I was watching the match between Delhi Daredevils and Chennai Superkings. I was so overwhelmed with the thrill but since I was all alone watching the matching I couldn’t help but share it with someone. And who could be better than my readers… so there you go!

A tremendous batting performance by Delhi Daredevils have just set the tone right for a big match between the champions of previous season. In a mammoth score of 189 for 5 in 20 overs, there was hardly any contribution by the most talked about Gauti-Viru opening pair from Delhi. The major contributions came from AB De Villiers and Dilshan, who created 105 and 50 respectively. Ab De Villiers century is the 7th IPL Century and also the first one in this season.

Chennai Superkings have started the chase in style. With Hayden hitting the ball all over the park, the team looks well in hunt for the mammoth target!!! Raina has come in to join the party with 41 runs in just 27 balls.

The live commentary begins...

"The heart beats are up, the ones with weak heart had better kept off this match. As Chennai Superkings require 190 runs to win, the game is evenly poised at the moment. However, for them runs are coming in trickle when they should have come in floods!!! It’s now two overs left and 24 runs more to be made. As unnerving as all the Chennai superking’s match. The same was the condition in the match against Mumbai.

At the climax, Chennai loses Badrinath. Now Chennai requires 22 runs in 9 balls with 4 wickets in hand.

Gony has been promoted upper in the batting order. And a much needed sixer by Gony. Now the Chennai superking’s need just 15 runs in 7 balls.

That’s out!!! Gony run out off the last ball from Vettori. Now 15 runs required in 6 balls. The match is definitely on the steepest cliffhanger.

Well , its back to back two wickets lost by Chennai. They no more look in hunt now."

A great chase put up by Chennai Superkings. Delhi Daredevils definitely will be happy with the way things have turned out in final overs. They were successful in uncovering the weak lower order at the time when it was needed the most. For the Chennai superkings some of the great performances have gone waste, including the fastest fifty by Hayden.

Scores

Delhi Daredevils: 189/5 in 20 overs
Chennai Superkings:180/9 20 overs

The IPL Rules...

The Indian premiere league has set in a new pitch altogether for the recently introduced format, comprising of twenty overs each and named as Twenty 20 cricket. The IPL rules are more or less based on the standard Twenty20 format rules; however the IPL rules introduce some of the interesting rules too. The teams in this series have been created by bidding for the players by the people or franchisee who are supposed to own the team. However even the creation of teams are governed by standard IPL team rules.

Following are the set of rules laid down by IPL for choosing teams, conducting IPL matches and the revenue sharing.

1. Total strength of team can be no more than 16 players, a physio and a coach.
2. No team can have more than 4 foreign players in the playing 11 and no more than 8 foreign players in the squad.
3. Each team needs to have a minimum of 4 domestic players and not less than 4 players from the BCCI under 22 pool.
4. Each region will have an Icon player who has been established as a legend in Indian cricket. There was a fixed price for Icon players, i.e. INR 4 crores or 1 million dollars.
5. The rest of the 77 players will be up for bidding, which has been divided into eight categories. Categories A-D will have of top seed players. E comprises wicketkeepers, F will have all-rounders with G consisting of specialist batsmen and H having specialist bowlers.
6. The maximum amount each franchisee can spend is $5 million
7. All the players will be compensated with a base annual salary, which is the price on which players have been bought on the day of bidding.
8. Icons are paid 15% more than the highest paid player in the auction.
9. The BCCI pool of under-22 players should be compensated with a minimum annual salary of US$20,000. The other domestic players will have a minimum base salary of US$50,000.
10. The time appointed for trading/swapping of players for the coming three years will be February.
11. No foreign players may be bought prior to the auction
12. There are also certain restrictions imposed by Cricket Australia on the number of players playing for each side. The demand by Cricket Australia is that no team should buy more than 2 Cricket Australia centrally contracted players or more than 2 players from the same state association of Cricket Australia.
Of all the above rules, some of the interesting IPL rules are:
1. Each team will have to bowl a minimum of seven bowlers. With each of the six bowlers bowling three bowlers each and the seventh bowler can bowl 2 overs
2. The batting team can call off their extra players to bat till the end of 20 overs. However , only 11 players are allowed to bowl or field
3. The batting team can continue to bat till the end of 20 overs even if it has completed the target on posed by the other team.
4. A match can be declared complete if and only if all the 40 overs have been played.

Revenue Sharing model of IPL

Till 2017:
54% - franchisee and the team management
40% - IPL
6%- Prize money

After 2017:

45% for franchisee
50% for IPL
5% for prize money

Well now before you ask me why have I listed all the IPL rules... Let me tell you that in the crunch moments, that invariably all IPL matches have... Your knowledge of rules may help you remain on the top of all heated up discussion!!! What say?

IPL T20 Schedule April-May 2009

Well, Well, Well ... so we are up with the final schedule of IPL matches. After all the speculations, news and views; The Indian premiere league being played in South Africa have just came out with its schedule (Well may be I am pretty late on that... But then an important news like this couldn’t have been left out on a blog that centres on IPL Schedule)

Week 1 and Week 2



Week 3 and Week 4

Week 5

So there you go... The IPL Schedule is up and so are the timings of matches... Now you know exactly at what time you need to settle down with a cup of coffee (or whatever you may like to have lol) before your idiot box. And ya... it no April 1st prank!!!

India to host IPL matches 2009!!!

So the buzz is, “IPL is coming back”... and the news is about to be made public in couple of days from now. This would mean that Indians will have an opportunity to catch the IPL matches live in their own home grounds, the local advertisers will get an opportunity to gain publicity and of course the part of Bollywood that’s not at all involved in this extravaganza will have to bear up with empty multiplexes....
But hold, before you just start celebrations remain informed of the fact that it’s not official yet, speculations are still on and anything may happen. You Mr.Lalit Modi right?

And how come!!!

Now before you flood me with questions like why, how, what, where and all those blah blah, I’ll brief you about what went in background. Well the speculations for keeping India as IPL venue began when it was made known to the organisers that even South Africa will have its national elections beginning from April 22nd due to which the African government has said that it won’t be able to provide security to the venues where IPL matches are slated to be conducted and thus the organisers will have to manage all the security themselves. Keeping this in mind, an emergency meeting was called at 11 am on Wednesday morning in Mumbai, between all the franchisee reps, BCCI and the IPL commissioner MR. Modi.

The decision on considering the rescheduling of IPL matches came just before the PM, Mr.Manmohan Singh was about to leave for G20 summit in London. The was Centre and state governments have agreed on considering the prospects of hosting IPL matches up to four days before the elections in the respective centers in every state, and immediately after polling ends in the given centers. As reported by Asian age, Hyderabad, Vizag and Nagpur have elections on April 16, Bengaluru on April 23, Mumbai on April 30, Jaipur and New Delhi on May 7 and Chennai and Kolkata on May 13 and thus the matches can be organized if planned accordingly.
The states that have begun to respond favorably are Andhra Pradesh, where the state police have reportedly agreed to provide security immediately after the April 16 elections. The Asian age reports also say that Hyderabad, where the polling will be held in the first phase, will be chosen as the venue for the opening match in place of Mumbai as according to the original schedule.

Guess who is relieved….

The whole of congress, along with Mr. Chidambaram in particular looked relieved as the news floated across. As it was congress was being held up by BJP just before election for not bein able to provide security to the events like IPL in country.
And the day is...

By the way can someone please remind me... which date was Wednesday? 1st April right?
Well sorry for the prank, but its 123india.com to be blamed that gave me the idea of this prank. Sorry if I have hurt the emotions of an IPL fanatic. No offense intended!!!

IPL Reschedules the matches

Latest Update: It’s now confirmed that IPL matches will be hosted by South Africa. The decision took shap after Mr. Modi met Gerald Majola in Johannesburg, after the CSA chief promised high security for the stadiums hosting the matches. However, the IPL matches which were originally slated from April 10 till May 24, have been rescheduled to 17th of April.
Here are the latest IPL updates at your exposure… As the political scene heats up for and against IPL, there are camps coming in picture that are for and against the move… the move to take IPL matches abroad. Off track, in a turn table incidence, England that was a hot favorite as a venue for IPL matches has been succeeded by South Africa. Reason: Expected rainy season in England during the time when IPL has been slotted out can affect at least 70% of matches and an opposition from ICC president David Morgan, who is of the view that high profile IPL matches can affect the ICC twenty 20 match that is to follow just six days after the IPL matches end. Also, the English police have raised a concern over the arrangement of security for IPL matches at such a short notice. But organizing a game in South Africa is also not going to be a cakewalk either. Arrangement of accommodation for so many people, logistics and above all security at such a short notice could be tough. However source claim that CSA chief Majola shares a good rapport with Lalit Modi, and this would help them expedite the final moment decisions, negotiations and quick adjustments.

All Said, how fans are reacting to this latest turn of events…

An extravaganza comprising of the best from all three worlds namely sports, glamour and business was set to have great response from 1.1 billion strong nation and the vice versa is also true. The fans are definitely angry on the loss of a great spectacle named IPL!!! And who are they blaming? Off Course Indian government for letting IPL go out of country. The lack of security does not only raise concerns on India hosting commonwealth games in Delhi but also the concern of living in the country. People have gone to an extent of questioning that should all Indians shift to South Africa or England for security??? However, at the other end, the British of Indian origin are welcoming the move to England at the face of expected rough weather. They are up convincing players that with nearly two million strong Indian crowds, the teams will always feel at home. The top industrialists and business houses of Indian origin have also offered to support the hosting if required. That said, the players including Sourav Ganguly have expressed their disappointment in moving abroad for IPL matches. There have also been reports of demonstration from angry IPL fans near Eden garden against moving the IPL matches abroad.

How is the Business side of IPL faring…?

One of the several reasons for England losing it out was the funds. The travelling charges and the huge hosting fees along with some taxation laws have turned out inhibitive for an England pro BCCI board. If there is so much money involved, there has to be negotiations in place. BCCI has already been dragged to court for signing broadcasting right for ten years with WSG. With IPL moving abroad, there are huge bucks to be made from telecasting rights. The franchisee did support the decision, as even they had made profit out of it last year. With IPL now moving to England or SA, the team owners would now incur 20 to 25% more cost, but then if IPL matches are moved to abroad, most of the franchisee would get back at least what they have invested or may even get into profits. BCCI has decided to pump in 70% of the total cost of moving the league out of country along with subsidized air tickets for Indian players. The cost of travelling of foreign players would be borne by the team owners itself. One camp that’s badly hit is ground advertisers. The local advertisers are surely not happy with the way things have turned out, as they will be losing a great amount of exposure.

There goes an old saying, A loss for someone means an opportunity for other. Look who is smiling… The Bollywood and the Multiplexes. Last IPL season while the big budgets movies had to be postponed, the small budget movies went without much of viewership. This time around, the big budgets are anyways getting postponed, but then the smaller ones are hopeful.


Remain tuned for more on IPL and the latest developments….

IPL to shift venue... a thread bare analysis

It’s Hot, It’s Happening and its here again... The Indian Premiere League IPL is back and is back with a bang. A highest level of commitment and professionalism was shown by BCCI and IPL to its franchisee, fans and overall sporting community as it announced a shift of venue for all IPL matches to some other country. The selection of actual venue for IPL matches may not be of supreme importance as the fact that a tournament named as ‘Indian’ Premiere League will be conducted in a venue outside India. The IPL at the outset had a global feel but the versatility demonstrated by Mr.Modi, i.e. taking IPL out of India, just makes it an International brand rubbing shoulders with sporting events like EPL and NBA.
The point IPL proved:
To me this move comes in not only as a slap on terrorism but a slap on the fact that India is country filled with procrastinators. Where the biggest of events can be postponed and where a word like priority does not exist. With the onset of IPL season 2, the way franchisee bid for players, was itself a mockery at the face of recession and then this move is just an icing on the cake. However to any Indian, IPL’s magnanimity does not come as surprise. With the best from corporate and the glamour world joining hands, the event was bound to be disciplined, professional and off course “Filthy Rich”.
The political stance to it:
The over touted rumour that politicians are trying make big money out of it was just beginning to die when a camp chipped in with another piece of information that this move initiated by anti-Pawar lobby in Congress to hit on the power and popularity Mr.Sharad Pawar was gaining prior to election. The sheer coincidence of Lok Sabha elections with IPL’s schedule had just given a feed to ever talking experts. Based on security grounds, infrastructure for logistics and the security of overseas players, the government gave IPL a slot of 29 days to complete all of its scheduled 59 matches. This restriction had just started to threaten a complete version of IPL season 2 and did give whiffs of IPL moving out of India. What the politicians have to say on IPL is again as myriad as Indian politics itself. While the congress camp is blowing the whistle of “Mass” security, saying that the security apparatus for such a mass gathering for IPL matches along with who is who of India can be tough to manage, the BJP camp is touting it as a loss of Congress led government at the hands of Terrorism. Mr.Narendra Modi was quoted by Times of India saying “Today our country stands defeated before terror. Most BJP ruled states were ready to host IPL matches. What will happen to Commonwealth Games next year?” As a reaction to this comment, P.Chidambaram slammed both Narendra Modi and IPL together calling IPL a shrewd combination of Business and the Cricket and that there is no point mixing politics with it. As the war of words heats up, being a politically neutral individual, to me the current episode of IPL has promised much of an entertainment much before it actually kicks off!
The Franchisee and owners feel...
The move is a demonstration of commitment and professionalism towards organising of IPL matches by the BCCI and the IPL. Flanked by top Bollywood stars, in likes of Shah Rukh khan, owner of Kolkata Knight Riders and Preity Zinta franchisee of Kings XI Punjab and supported by corporate tycoons like Vijay Mallaya( Royal Challengers, Bangalore ) and Nita Ambani , the owner of Mumbai Indians, Mr.Lalit Modi is at cloud nine. To quote Mr.Modi, the moving of IPL matches out of India has been the toughest decision of his life and that he does not want to politicize it. The most politically correct response came from none other that King Khan, when he said “We have to respect the elections in our country, that is a bigger issue than our issue...”
So to which country are IPL matches moving to?
Even before IPL commissioner Mr.Lalit Modi or the BCCI chief Mr.Sharad Pawar knowing it, the indigenous Indian Media approached Cricket South Africa (CSA) chairman Mr.Gerald Majola to ask him the prospects of IPL matches shifting to South Africa. The move was becoming obvious ever since the deadlock happened on IPL schedules. However, a move to England was hinted much before all this fiasco. As Times of India proudly claims to have reported the move back in Dec 21, 2008. The factors that would be taken into consideration would be the accommodation costs, Logistics, i.e travelling of players from India to the chosen country and from one venue to another within the country, the Indian timings and the corresponding timings in the selected country and off course the Indian population. The two major venues in picture are England and South Africa. But keeping the above points in mind, English land stands out to be clear favourites for hosting IPL matches. However, the accommodation costs could be prohibitive. Notwithstanding, the huge chunk of Indian population can always give IPL the feel of ‘I’ in England. That too with England cricket board ECB CEO, Giles Clarke all gung ho about it, the IPL matches seem more likely to be shifted to England.
What is players’ reaction to it...
While Sachin Tendulkar, the Mumbai Indians captain expressed his disappointment for not being able to play before home crowd, Yuvraj Singh who is leading Kings Eleven Punjab said that he’ll abide by whatever decision BCCI takes. The Master blaster, however insisted on taking family along, as they will be returning from a long tour of New Zealand. England as venue would also mean a perfect practice spot before International Twenty 20 match. Much to Indian surprise was the reaction of Flintoff who was bought by Chennai super kings team for 1.5 million$. He expressed his disappointment as he loved to play before the packed Indian stadiums....
To be continued...