IPL brings more than just cash

A salesman at the company in which I work nearly flattened the poor secretary in his rush to spread the gospel.
"The IPL's coming here! We've got the IPL!" he gushed. True enough, a switch to Sky was met by the breaking news. You'd thought we were back in 1969 and man was landing on the moon.
A press conference was hastily convened in Johannesburg and broadcast live on SuperSport. While England had started the day as "70% likely" to be given the Twenty20 event to stage, we saw a fresh-looking IPL commissioner, Lalit Modi, staring into the cameras. "I arrived here this morning," he said, and in an instant you knew the media were already around 24 hours behind the news.



For he would have known before boarding the plane to South Africa that the deal had been struck.
A mail from a trusted colleague in London later that day said, "no surprise it's gone to South Africa, the place is going to be a magnet for sports competitions and last-minute conferences and rescheduling for the next 18 months, owing to the 2010 World Cup".
Actually, news of the IPL moving came as some welcome relief. There was pretty much nothing of interest the whole week, very little in the way of live sport until Friday's Hong Kong Sevens, and then the next round of Super 14, and the Australian Grand Prix qualifying to spice things up.
So, what can we expect from the IPL? In a word, Bollywood. Lots of fireworks, noise, activity, cash and frenetic action.
The appetite was whet with last year's inaugural competition and it's now an unashamed walking cash-cow. And who can blame the cricketers themselves for wanting a piece of the action?
But the money extends beyond the players and the huge entourages. It's said that a typical franchise numbers some 200 people, once all the players, sponsors, owners, hangers-on and beautiful women have been added.
The big payouts and the obscene amounts of money bandied about don't stop there though. Even the TV commentators are set to hit the jackpot and, also this past week, I had one such individual, who shall remain nameless email to say he had "unfortunately not cracked the nod for the commentary teams".
The hand-picked IPL commentary team includes three South Africans, though not one "100 percent South African".
Pommie Mbangwa played cricket for Zimbabwe before becoming a fixture as a SuperSport anchor, Kepler Wessels played for Australia and South Africa, while Robin Jackman represented England at Test level before settling in Cape Town.
They are the three "home products", but spare a thought for someone like Daryll Cullinan who has come on strongly.
Elsewhere, there is an understandably Asian feel considering most of the money and the audience is from India, in Ravi Shastri, L Sivaramakrishnan, Sunil Gavaskar, Arun Lal, Ramiz Raja, Ranjit Fernando and Abbas Ali Baig.
Zimbabwean Alastair Campbell, New Zealanders Danny Morrison, Simon Doull and Jeremey Coney and Australia's Greg Blewett make up the numbers.
As the IPL shows, money talks in sport. And it's no different with the best golfer we have ever seen.
Tiger Woods is asking for an appearance fee of $3-million for making a year-end trip to Australia.
He has defended the amount by saying that all the top professionals are paid to tee up. It's a huge gamble by the organisers of November's Australian Masters, who now need to talk to TV executives and sponsors to recoup their outlay. Woods went on to say, "I've always wanted to get down there and play more in the Aussie sandbelt because that is my favourite area to play." Of course it is, Tiger.
You could have seen from a mile out that Benni McCarthy wasn't going to be available for Bafana Bafana's friendlies against Norway and Portugal as coach Joel Santana starts finetuning his plans for the run-in to the 2010 World Cup.
McCarthy might have played for South Africa at every level and claims to be the innocent one in the never-ending soap opera that he inspires, but his "injury" this past week seemed only too predictable.
With Blackburn fighting to stave of relegation, Sam Allardyce needs his players fresh for the big matches coming up. It's that whole club-versus-country debate. But, the international fixtures have been approved by Fifa and the World Cup is also a Fifa-organised event.
The time has now come for Santana to tell McCarthy enough is enough. The player has experienced the atmosphere of a World Cup and now's the time to invest in a younger player at his expense. South Africa aren't going to win the World Cup; in fact they will do well to survive the first round, which is why it would be best now if the coach was planning for 2010 with 2014 also in his sights.

Group M, UFO Moviez lead race for IPL's multiplex rights

Group M, a leading media agency, and UFO Moviez, digital movie exhibitors and distributors, are said to be front runners to bag the in-theatre telecast rights for the second season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), starting April 18. The 59-match Twenty20 IPL tournament has been relocated to South Africa owing to security concerns after attacks on Sri Lankan cricketers in Pakistan. In-theatre telecast rights mean that the matches will be telecast live in a “stadium-like” environment in 250 multiplexes.
Although an official announcement is yet to be made, highly placed sources in IPL, which floated a tender for theatre rights earlier this month, confirmed that negotiations with Group M and UFO Moviez are on and the details of telecasting matches in multiplexes for the 36-day tournament were being worked out.
“IPL may work out something with both Group M and UFO Moviez together," confirmed an IPL official requesting anonymity. Sources in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which promotes the IPL tournament, said the in-theatre rights could generate revenues worth Rs 18 crore to Rs 20 crore for IPL.
Asked about the deal, Raaja Kanwar, vice-chairman and director, UFO Moviez, said: "We are working out something for IPL but I cannot share the details at the moment. We have the technology to telecast a live match within a multiplex in real time and we will come out with all the details soon."
UFO Moviez reaches over 1,500 cinema screens in India and abroad and specialises in satellite-based transmission of films across theatres in real time. This means exhibitors using UFO technology do not require physical movie prints. UFO is likely to use similar technology for the IPL matches.
The theatre rights holder is likely to exhibit the IPL matches on a revenue-sharing model with the multiplexes that air them.
The prospect of broadcasting IPL is exciting multiplex owners. “We will definitely show IPL on at least one screen every day. But we will have to market the tournament really fast. The average ticket price will work out to around Rs 100,” said Devang Sampat, vice-president, Cinemax.
“There are no major movies releasing in April and May, so IPL screenings will be a bonus. But I doubt if we will be able to raise the ticket prices,” added Utpal Acharya, vice-president, programming and distribution, Inox Leisure.
There are other hurdles for the exhibitors before IPL hits the theatres. According to Acharya of Inox, exhibitors will not only require a special censor clearance for all IPL matches, but also permission to exhibit “live” matches in theatres, a first in India.
“We are bound by the Cinematograph Act that allows us to show only 35mm films in theatres,” he said.
Also, multiplexes will be required to pay entertainment tax on the basis of 100 per cent occupancy for any commercial telecast of a non-film event. This means the movie hall will have to pay entertainment tax on the full capacity even if, say, just half the tickets are sold. For the 85 million cable homes, and about 11 million direct-to-home subscribers, IPL will be telecast live on the SET Max channel.

IPL-styled T20 planned

The sports organisers of Chittagong are planning big with a Twenty20 cricket tournament styled as Port City Cricket League (PCL).
Taking inspiration from two Indian mega events IPL and ICL, the organisers of Chittagong Divisional Krira Sangstha (CDKS) had recently initiated to launch a lucrative Twenty20 league in the port city.
In this regard, the PCL officials met with two Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) officials yesterday in Dhaka and the BCB officials agreed in principle to lend their hands to hold such a tournament and gave a green signal to a five-member delegation of the CDKS to 'go-ahead' with their initiative.
"This is a very encouraging initiatives by the regional organisers. They informed us about their planning but we requested them to give us a concrete proposal in this regard before placing it to the board's working committee as well as the board meeting," said Gazi Ashraf Hossain, BCB's tournament committee chairman.
"They have a plan to offer a lucrative prize money as well as there would be also an auction like in the IPL. They are planning to launch the tournament with eight teams where two national players are available for each team. They are not too much concerned about financial support from the board rather they sought assistance for coaches, umpires etc," Ashraf added.
The PCL organisers gave a tentative date of April 29 to May 10 for the tournament and it will be held under floodlights at the MA Aziz Stadium.
"We have to talk with our national coach Jamie Siddons before confirming the date because our national interest always comes first. And we have to consider whether this tournament conflicts with any other BCB tournament. But again we want to see this kind of tournament take place in the country," said Ashraf.
PCL organising committee chairman AZM Nasir, also president of Chittagong Brothers Union club, led the team and the other members of the delegation were CDKS vice president Ali Abbas, Secretary of Chittagong Jela Krira Sangstha (CJKS) Cricket Committee Abdul Hannan Akbar, and CJKS members Taherul Alam Swapan and SM Nasir Khan.
AZM Nasir placed the demand for PCL at yesterday's meeting while Sirajuddin Mohammad Alamgir, general secretary of CDKS and a BCB member, gave an outline of the proposed tournament.
“The PCL will definitely usher in a new era and enthusiasm in the sports arena of Chittagong as well as Bangladesh , and we are extremely happy that the BCB gave us the much-needed permission,” Ali Abbas told this correspondent over phone after the meeting.
He said the BCB officials however asked the CDKS delegation to feed them back with some more information about the tournament immediately. These include a complete budget, format (knock out or league), complete project profile and plans to upgrade the flood light system of Chittagong MA Aziz Stadium where the PCL would be played under lights, he added.
“As per our initial plan, a total of eight teams will play in the nine-day tournament for which national 'pool' players will be drawn in discussion with concerned organisations,” CDKS General Secretary Alamgir said.
He said the budget is expected in-between Tk 60 lakh to Tk 70 lakh and players will get Tk 25,000 per match.
“An auction of around 60 cricketers may take place,” Alamgir informed.
“There also will be the option for the participating teams to choose sponsors,” he said.

Sponsors tweak IPL deals with teams

NEW DELHI: A number of sponsors are deserting Indian Premier League (IPL) teams or tweaking their deals with team owners as the tournament moves to South Africa in its second season and the slowdown continues to hurt firms across industries.
Companies like financial services firm Religare, insurer Bajaj Allianz and realty player HDIL have terminated deals with IPL teams, while soft drink major Coca-Cola and mobile service provider Virgin Mobile have decided against some new ties.
Also, almost all existing sponsors have re-opened deals with their respective team franchisee partners, and are either seeking compensation, more privileges for the same money, or better deals for season three in cases where they have inked multi-year deals.
"Things are not as rosy as they were last year. We are trying to tweak our deals in a manner that our sponsors get more value for their investments," said Rajasthan Royals chief marketing officer Raghu Iyer. He confirmed that Bajaj Allianz has terminated its sponsorship deal with the team. "We have done an out of court settlement with our former sponsor Bajaj Allianz, and have mutually terminated our agreement. They will not be associating with us," Mr Iyer said.
Religare has pulled out as associate partner of GMR-owned Delhi Daredevils. When contacted, GMR Sports CEO Amrit Mathur confirmed: "Religare is no longer associated with Delhi Daredevils." The two had entered into a multi-year tie-up last year. HDIL is no longer title sponsor of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), confirmed a KKR spokesperson.
Coca-Cola, which was on the verge of signing a sponsorship deal with Deccan Chargers, has stalled its plans. Virgin Mobile is also learnt to have pulled back a proposed licensing deal with Delhi Daredevils as official mobile partner.
"We have not yet entered into any agreement with any team for IPL season two," confirmed a Virgin Mobile spokesperson. While most IPL franchisees are having a tough time fixing their corporate teams for IPL-2, the Reliance-owned Mumbai Indians seems to have no such tension.
"Several new marquee brands are supporting Mumbai Indians this season, even under a changed economic environment. It is a huge vote of confidence in the potential of our team," Mumbai Indians team owner Nita M Ambani said.
Pernod Richard has inked a deal with the team as official partner for spirits and wines. Wrigley, PepsiCo, MasterCard, Kingfisher and Adidas are the other sponsors. A team spokesperson said talks are on with players in the insurance, pharmaceuticals, electronics, travel and tea company for additional sponsorships.
Beverage makers PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, meanwhile, are in the process of re-working their plans, since home ground beverage partner benefits like on-ground activation, in-stadia visibility and engaging with home crowds are lost.
Summer being peak season for soft drinks, the companies had tailored elaborate on-ground activation plans to leverage on IPL.
PepsiCo, for example, had tied up with Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings as pouring rights and hydration partner. Rival Coca-Cola had fought a close battle with PepsiCo to ink a deal for its Sprite brand as KKR’s associate sponsor and pouring partner. Coca-Cola is also renegotiating its deal with Delhi Daredevils. A Coca-Cola India spokesperson said: "Having signed up as associate sponsors of KKR and Delhi Daredevils for our brands Sprite and Coca-Cola respectively, we are now looking forward to season two."
Companies like sport gear maker Puma, which is a merchandise partner for Rajasthan Royals and Deccan Chargers, and Hero Honda continue to bet on IPL despite the shift in venue. "We will shift on ground promotional activities to South Africa, though our in-store promotions will continue in India," said Puma India’s CEO Rajiv Mehta.
Advertisers too are learnt to be re-working on-air deals with broadcaster Sony Entertainment. They argue that with a number of matches scheduled for 4 pm, the prime time on-air advantage will be impacted.

With 4 Skippers, Who’s in Charge?

It is not just die hard Dada fans who are outraged at the presumption of Kolkata Knight Rider coach that Sourav Ganguly the Prince of Calcutta would docilely step aside and have three other chaps be his skipper from time to time. It also defies all logic that there are four skippers who lead a T20 cricket team by turns. The latest cricket controversy created by KKR coach John Buchanan seems to have thrown up a host of questions which are currently being debated furiously in the cricket news.
It is not clear whether KKR coach John Buchanan aims to create a many headed monster-serpent like Hydra or perhaps a Cerberus like multi-headed guard dog of Greek myth, or indeed what his aim is, to have as many as four captains for the IPL team coached by him.
Yes we have seen different captains in different forms of the game; such as when M S Dhoni captained the T20 Indian team and Rahul Dravid led the test team etc. But to have as many as 4 captains in a single team of a single format of the game seems not only strange, it seems to defy logic and common sense that dictates that there should be one person in charge.
Each captain would reasonably have his own vision, his own strategy, his own planning; to have that change every game or every few games (as of now we do not have too many details of John Buchanan’s grand design) sounds as though the team would have a feeling of being rudderless pulled one way and then another. A leader is also one whom you look up to, come to when in doubt or in need of guidance and someone that is a confidant for his teammates. In the absence of one clear leader, as John Buchanan’s idea envisages would the players think of four men as their leader or keep changing the concept of their leader from time to time?
It is puzzling what Buchanan hope to achieve; and how such a scheme could be beneficial to a team or its players. Could be perhaps hold out captaincy as a sort of reward for the leader that performs best or does he perhaps think that there is something to be gained from keeping them all guessing? Or one more possibility occurs, Buchanan wants to prevent another power centre within the team by rotating the captaincy and the team, not letting it settle and coalesce.
So as Buchanan puts his theory of having Sourav Ganguly, Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle and Brad Hodge captain the KKR team by turns, a dubious nation has its eyes trained on this IPL team to see if there is any merit to his theories. Another question that is doing the rounds in the cricket news is what Shah Rukh Khan has to say about this!

IPL clash resolved, Comrades to go ahead

With the 2009 Indian Premier League programme finally resolved and the fact that Sahara Stadium Kingsmead will not host a semi-final, the Comrades Marathon will go ahead on the stipulated date of May 24.
The two semi-finals will be stage on the Reef - SuperSport Park will be the venue for the first semi-final on May 22 while the Wanderers will host the second semi-final and the final on May 23 and May 24 respectively.
However Durban's world famous cricket venue will host 16 matches of the 59-game programme which will take the eight-team event to places such as Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, Pretoria, East London, Kimberley, Bloemfontein and Pretoria.
Though KwaZulu-Natal would have loved to have staged a semi-final they are not unhappy as they have 16 plum games at their home.
Now that it has been confirmed there's no semi-final the issue surrounding the running of the 2009 Comrades Marathon has been resolved.
"We have come to an agreement with the Comrades Marathon Association that they can have Kingsmead from May 21 onwards for their building process for the finish of the 2009 Comrades," said Cassim Docrat, chief executive of KwaZulu-Natal Cricket who held a meeting with the CMA at the weekend.
Normally the CMA would take three weeks to set up the finish area but with the last IPL match at the home of cricket being staged on May 20, KwaZulu-Natal have decided to allow the CMA to take over the venue as soon as the final ball has been bowled.
Docrat said that in future Sahara Stadium would not be hired out for a three-week period ahead of the race.
Dave Dixon, chairman of CMA, did not respond to telephone calls after the agreement between his organisation and KwaZulu-Natal Cricket.
Meanwhile all eight chief executive officers of the venues staging the 2009 IPL have been called to a meeting in Johannesburg on Monday to discuss the way forward for the megabucks event which will inject a huge amount of money into the South African economy over the next five to six weeks.
The cost of staging a single game at any one of the stadia around the country is expected to be R300 000-800 000, according to officials and each union staging the event is likely to make R125 000-200 000 a game.
Docrat said: "We have been asked to go to Johannesburg where we will be told how the entire IPL event will be staged in this country. I believe we cannot, as a host union, do anything we want to do while the IPL is being staged here. We will have to follow the guidelines laid down by the event co-ordinator, IMG."
Docrat said each centre would have a co-ordinator posted to the eight venues.

Buchanan's captaincy theory is absurd: Wadekar

Bangalore: Hitting out at Kolkata Knight Riders coach John Buchanan’s multiple captains’ theory as ‘another case of over-experimentation’, former India captain and coach Ajit Wadekar said that this theory will never work in cricket.
The southpaw also lambasted Buchanan for his comments on Indian senior batsmen like Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and V V S Laxman, questioning their fitness to play in the forthcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) in South Africa.
"Buchanan is just making a mockery of Twenty20 in particular and cricket in general. I don’t think this theory will work even in football, where a captain’s role on the field is limited as all the moves are done by the coach or the manager of the team sitting in the players’ box.
"It really sounds very funny to me as a single captain takes all the decisions on the field in cricket for a full season. I can understand if the captain fails to deliver for a long time, then there is a need for the change otherwise it will only add to more confusion," Wadekar told Cricketnext.com on Sunday.
"I was shocked to read somewhere that Sri Lankan skipper Kumara Sangakkara, who is definitely one of the most intelligent cricketers of modern times, saying he welcomed this theory. My question to him is will he be able to deliver the goods as captain if there are constant interferences from others during a tour? Leave alone in cricket, this theory may not work in any sport," he added.
"if Bachanan gets his way and implements this theory in South Africa, it will be a real disaster for the team. Because the players will be so confused with four different theories from four different captains, that they will be caught in two minds while attempting even basic things and in cricket if you are in two minds nothing will work for sure," Wadekar observed.
"You can take the present England team as an example, they have a very decent team but the players are totally confused to do even simple things on the field because the captaincy has changed hands as many as five times in the past one year or so. You just can’t have too many cooks as it is bound spoil the broth," he added.
"The best thing for Kolkata team is to allow Sourav Ganguly to continue as captain for the first ten or twelve matches and if he fails to deliver, then think about a change for the rest of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season.
"I also don’t agree with Buchanan’s observation that Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and V V S Laxman are too old to play in the IPL as age has got nothing to do with playing any form of cricket as long as they are fit mentally and physically," Wadekar pointed out.
"Moreover, when you are playing any form of domestic cricket, the pressure is less and I don’t see any harm in the three seniors playing as they still have lot of cricket left in them and are quite fit," he added.

Ganguly now gets the IPL snub, coach Buchanan wants Kolkata captains rotated

Kolkata: Hours after chief coach John Buchanan announced in his presence that the Kolkata Knight Riders would have four “rotating captains” this IPL season, Sourav Ganguly, who led the team last year, hit back saying “these are all opinions” and “tomorrow I can jump out and say we need four batting coaches, four John Buchanans and Shah Rukh Khan can say we need six Andy Bichels.”
“These are all opinions... I think it is his (Buchanan’s) idea, he wants to do that. We’ve to wait and see whether it actually happens in the team or not. It’s too premature to say anything on that because he feels that’s the way Twenty20 Cricket should be played,” Ganguly told NDTV.
Earlier, at a press conference where it was announced that the Knight Riders were doing away with the single-skipper concept to split leadership duties four ways, Buchanan took most of the questions while Ganguly sat alongside.
Before Ganguly could reply to a question whether he was upset, Buchanan put his arm around him and said, “Yes, he’s obviously upset. After all, he’s the king of Kolkata.” Ganguly simply smiled and said: “I’m not upset.” He later said that the plans hadn’t been discussed with him and that he got to know of the move through the media. Buchanan, meanwhile, explained the thought-process behind the move. “We have high-calibre players in the side. Many of them are experienced players. We are going to use their experience. Some of the players have better knowledge of our opponents. So we need more players giving in their inputs,” he said.

Shah Rukh Khan's IPL team's experiment will be watched keenly

New Delhi, March 28, 2009: Shah Rukh Khan's IPL team's experiment will be watched keenly. Kolkata Knight Riders’ coach John Buchanan and its icon player Sourav Ganguly sprang a surprise on the cricket world by announcing that the team will have a pool of captains who could turns at leading the team at different stages of a match during the ensuing DLF-IPL tournament in South Africa.
“We're looking at knowledge of individuals at different stages of the game. The idea is to have somebody to have a better view of the game irrespective of whether he's in the middle or off the field,” Buchanan said in Kolkata, sparking off a great debate in cricket circles. He suggested that in this format of the game there is little scope for thinking.
Last year, the DLF-IPL tournament showed that T20 was not just slam-bang cricket. On the contrary, it challenged the best cricketers to be on their toes and think on their feet. Buchanan has surely added a new dimension to it now but, as Ganguly says, we will all have to wait and see how the experiment pans out.
Traditionally, it has been believed that too many captains on the field can lead to chaos. At the moment, we can only envisage that the adaptability of KKR players – and, for good measure, the pool of captains – will come under test.
Come to think of it, the opposing teams will also wonder during a game which of the KKR men on the field is doing the leading. After all, every captain has a different approach to the task of leadership and the rival teams would have to make different plans to take on the KKR combination under different skippers.
Buchanan has not articulated his thoughts on how exactly he plans to roll this idea out. “The concept of multiple captains is new, we'll have to see how it goes,” he said. “I'm clear about my concept. We have to look and see how it works out.”
You can be sure there will be a lot of people waiting to see how it goes.

IPL franchises race to get a base

With just three weeks left for the IPL to begin in South Africa, the eight teams have begun a race against time to get their player combinations and practice bases in place.
Rajasthan Royals, the IPL champions, were the first off the blocks and have tied up with Cape Cobras and Western Province to use Newlands in Cape Town as their practice location. Kolkata Knight Riders are eyeing Bloemfontein, and Mumbai Indians are hoping to cash in on the Asian support base in Durban, which is hosting 16 IPL matches.
In fact, there was such a rush among the franchises to be based in prime locations like Durban and Pretoria, which also has a sizeable Asian fan base, that Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, told a TV channel in South Africa: "The franchises are fighting with me to get a base to organise their camps and that is our priority."
Most of the teams have also confirmed that they will be holding preparatory camps in South Africa from the first week of April. Shaun Pollock, mentor to the Mumbai Indians, told Cricinfo the camp will begin on April 8 in Durban. But Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils are taking a different route. "We will have a 10-day camp starting March 31 or April 1 in Chennai," Rakesh Singh, the marketing head of India Cements, which owns Chennai Super Kings, said. "We are having a preparatory camp for Indian players in Delhi from April 1 and we will leave for South Africa on April 7," T A Sekhar, who heads the cricketing operations for Delhi Daredevils, said.
Franchise officials are looking through the tournament schedule that was officially released on Friday and also engaged in commercial meetings with the IPL in Mumbai and Delhi. Most of them are also approaching a final decision on how many players they can take to South Africa , 20-29 in many cases.
The franchises hope the event will be well worth the extra effort but they admitted that the absence of the home-and-away concept, which was such a success in India last time, might take some sheen off the contests.
"There is no option and we can't do much about it," Joy Bhattacharya, team director of Kolkata Knight Riders, said. "There is no concept of home-and-away games because the weather conditions don't permit it as in places like Port Elizabeth it gets colder during these months so that has to be factored in, too. And if given a choice, all eight teams would have liked to play at Durban and Cape Town (due to the strong Indian fan base)."
"It is an advantage to have a home base as you are playing seven matches on a particular surface and then you also have control over preparation (of the pitch)," Amrit Mathur, the chief operating officer of the Delhi franchise, said. "There is a certain merit in the home-and-away concept as there is identity of your team along with your supporters who will rally behind your team. Now it becomes uncertain, but every team is affected by the same factor."
There is also considerable interest in how many matches the England players, who are making their IPL debut, can squeeze in, considering that they will be available only till May 1, after which they leave for the home series against West Indies. For instance, if Bangalore Royal Challengers get Kevin Pietersen, their captain, to stay on till May 1, they will be able to squeeze in seven matches for their star catch. Andrew Flintoff, the other England star, will get to play six matches for Chennai, while Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah play five games for Delhi.
"Kevin is going to be crucial, especially his attitude on the field and that is why he was made the captain," Ray Jennings, Bangalore's new coach, said. The franchise has announced that Jacques Kallis would take over from Pietersen, but Jennings said that the final call will be taken later. "Kallis is one of the options to take over but we'll have to see how he stands up in the first six games," he said.
The other significant decision that confronts the franchises is how many players they will fly across to South Africa, because they have been informed by the IPL that the league would bear the ticket costs of only a specific number of players - the number is still being finalised.
"We have been given the assurance from the IPL that they will take care of the incremental costs; this was told to the franchise owners when the decision to stage the event was finalised," Chennai's Singh said. "Suppose I spent X amount of money last year and the expenses are X + Y this year, Y is what IPL has told us they will take care of. The understanding is the IPL will pay for the return ticket for certain number of players."
Jennings has asked the Bangalore franchise to send 20-25 players for his team training camp that starts on April 5. "We are taking almost 24 to 25 players to the camp," Kolkata's Bhattacharya said. "We will arrive initially with 11-12 players and then four players will join us in two subsequent batches and later on some of the guys on international duty will join us eventually. Before the tournament begins we may cut it down to 20, not including the support staff."
Chennai's Singh said MS Dhoni, the team's captain, and Stephen Fleming, the coach, will decide on a final number. "We have announced 29 players and if they want all of them we have no issues with that," he said. Mumbai Indians have already sent a bunch of their Indian domestic players to South Africa to train under Pollock in Durban.
"We intend to take 22 players," Delhi's Sekhar said. "In any case there will be seven Indians and four foreigners. There will six other foreigners as back-up so you need that for the Indians also."

IPL’s exit sends out wrong signals

Only a reckless banker or a client-less astrologer will be willing to gamble their money and reputation on the outcome of the General Election. But one thing is certain: if Congress performs poorly in urban India and fails to reap the harvest of youth votes it is banking on, a large share of the blame will go to the ‘munshis and managers’ who forced the T-20 IPL tournament out of India.
In the course of just one successful season, IPL had become one of the biggest global brands, comparable to Wimbledon and the football World Cup. The Central government chose to deal with this Indian achievement with the same bloody-mindedness it displayed in the allocation of 2G and 3G spectrum for the telecom sector. An outpouring of meanness drove the Nano plant out of West Bengal. Last week, P Chidambaram donned the mantle of Mamata Banerjee and forced IPL out of India. Like Mamata, who felt that Ratan Tata could be browbeaten because he was a hostage to money already invested in Singur, North Block proceeded on the assumption that the IPL was a helpless captive. And just as Tata had to cut his losses and resist blackmail politics, Lalit Modi inveigled IPL out of a desperate situation with a daredevil flight to South Africa.
The implications of IPL’s exile from India are awesome. There is, of course, the colossal loss of income for all those directly or indirectly involved in the cricket extravaganza — from humble vendors at the venues to the hospitality and travel industry. This, in turn, will have a bearing on government revenues which are already feeling the pinch of the slowdown.
But there is a more horrifying dimension which goes beyond accountancy. Chidambaram was being more than a little disingenuous when he argued that the IPL organisers were being unreasonable in putting entertainment above democracy. If it had been a case of adjusting the dates of a few matches to accommodate the policing arrangements for five different phases of polling, no one in the BCCI would have contemplated taking such an extreme step. The organisers agreed to add new venues such as Ahmedabad, Dharamsala and Raipur so as not to over-burden the administration of the metros. Gujarat, for example, accepted the offer of six games without any reservations; it had a problem with the date of a seventh match.
It is more than a little curious that the IPL faced resistance only from the Congress-ruled states. It was the firm no from Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Delhi that finally clinched the issue in favour of South Africa. In Delhi, where policing is under the direct purview of the Centre, even chief minister Sheila Dikshit was in favour of hosting matches. Yet, the police chief informed her and Delhi Cricket Association president Arun Jaitley that no permission would be forthcoming before, during and after the polling. As far as the Centre was concerned, IPL could go to hell.
The Government, it would seem, was intent on teaching the IPL organisers a lesson. Whether this was because of Lalit Modi’s proximity to Vasundhara Raje or prompted by a desire to deflate BCCI president Sharad Pawar is a matter of conjecture. Also, worth considering is the Congress Party pressure on the IPL to lift the total ban on political advertising at the venue and during the official telecast. Whatever the real story, there is compelling evidence to indicate that the government hostility was not prompted by national security imperatives. It can hardly be the case that terrorists were intent on targeting only Congress-ruled states.
The global message of the IPL flight to Africa is stark. India has sent out a loud and clear signal that the country is unsafe for any major event that involves international participation and crowds. The simple message: India is as dangerous as Pakistan. India can only hope and pray that the world of global finance is mystified by cricket and fails to gauge the significance of the IPL fiasco.
If this self-inflicted ignominy is shameful, consider the other implication. India has proclaimed that it will respond to the terrorist challenge by running away from it. If terrorists target cricket, ban cricket; if terrorists frown upon a Rakhi Sawant Nite, deny permission to item numbers; and if zealots in Azamgarh want to impose an ideological veto on a political rally, meekly acquiesce. In an age of vote banks, this is called prudent politics.
No wonder, the latest batch of Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists trying to cross the border carried T-shirts proclaiming ‘Jihad is my life.’ The army took them on frontally and did India proud. The vote-banker in the Home ministry would have responded differently. He would have banned T-shirts.

Modi outlines 'home-away' alternative for IPL

JOHANNESBURG: Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi has outlined the alternative to the 'home-away' pattern of matches, which featured at the inaugural series, for the second edition to be played in South Africa from April 18.
None of the participating teams will be based at any of the eight cities that will host matches in the series. However, each team will play twice against every other team at all venues.
"We don't have the home and away concept that we followed in India because we want the teams to play in all locations," Modi said in an interview to local radio station Talk Radio 702 on Friday evening.
"We are just going to move them around from one place to another. At the end of the day, it depends on the number of points a team gains to enter the semi-finals."
The cities that will host the IPL 2009, which was moved to South Africa because of general elections in India, are Kimberley, Bloemfontein, East London, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Pretoria and Port Elizabeth.
Responding to a question on interest in this form of the game outside cricket-playing nations, Modi said IPL is fast catching up in the US.
"There is a huge population in America that comes from cricketing countries and they are all watching it (IPL). We are working to make it popular in China over the next few years."

IPL in S Africa will globalise cricket: Irfan

New Delhi: India paceman Irfan Pathan is definitely disappointed at not being able to play the second season of the Indian Premier League in front of home crowd, but feels shifting the cash-rich Twenty20 tournament to South Africa will globalise the game.
"I am certainly disappointed as shifting of IPL to South Africa will deny us an opportunity to perform before Indian audience, specially the Mohali crowd. Its nice because the supporters kick up spirit of the team every time.
"But under the given circumstances, people of the country will be able to watch it on television at least. Its better than not having the event at all," said Irfan, who plays for the Kings XI Punjab in IPL.
"But I think there are IPL fans throughout the world and this decision (to shift the IPL), in one way will help to globalise the cricket. Some section of people, who missed the inaugural edition, will probably watch the tournament this year," he added.
The BCCI were forced to to shift this year's IPL out of the country due to security reasons as it clashes with the general elections.

Oram may be out of IPL

Jacob Oram will turn his back on his US$675,000 Indian Premier League contract if he fails to complete the State Championship final.
The injury-plagued all-rounder can hear the whispers that he is saving himself for the cash-rich tournament after being a late defection from Central Districts' current match against Auckland.
But Oram says it is far from the truth. He aggravated his Achilles tendon injury in Central's last match and after consulting New Zealand Cricket's medical staff it was decided he should miss the current match and aim for the five-day final against Auckland, starting on April 6.
"I can understand people thinking I'm cotton-woolling myself but I'll definitely take myself out [of the IPL] if I don't get through the final," Oram said.
"I'm pretty confident I will make the final and I won't be tiptoeing through five days of cricket. I'm going to hit it hard, and deep down I think I'll be okay."
Oram bowled 25 overs in the first innings of Central's last match against Canterbury but was unable to bowl in the second innings because of pain in his Achilles.
"I was testing myself to see if I could get up to speed for the Napier test, but clearly I wasn't ready.
"The injury is back again but it's not a train smash, I'm not back to square one but it's a setback. It's more like two steps forward, one step back."
Oram is hurting more than just physically. He says the IPL, which starts on April 18, and the Twenty20 World Cup in England in June, are potentially career high-points that he desperately wants to be involved in.
"Yes I am worried about the IPL and I'm worried about the Twenty20 World Cup.
"The next two to three months are massive for me. I want to be part of both of those.
"Watching the guys play the first two tests against India has been bloody tough on me. It's very hard, emotional at times. Believe me I want to get back more than anyone realises."
Despite his horrible run of injuries, Oram still feels it is premature to throw away the bowling boots.
"It begs the question and I've talked to some mates and we ask the question `why don't I stop bowling?', but I'm not ready for that step yet.
"I bowled in the nets in Hamilton before the first test against India and it felt really good. I'm not prepared to stop yet."

Few IPL sops for SA hosts

Spectators will be able to enjoy the world’s most exciting cricketers live on home soil.
It may be a “non-stop carnival” in the words of commissioner Lalit Modi, but the relocated Indian Premier League will be a made-for-India carnival.
Although Modi is urging South Africans to support the matches, their presence primarily will be to act as wallpaper to the television pictures sent back to India — and, to be fair, many other countries too, including South Africa through SuperSport.
The direct benefits to Cricket South Africa and the individual franchises are limited to a hosting fee, the amount of which has not been divulged. The IPL will also meet the costs of staging the games.
All television, sponsorship and gate money will go to the IPL.
The IPL will make no concessions to local interests in terms of player eligibility, according to tournament director Dhiraj Malhotra, who said the rules will remain as they were for the first tournament in India last year.
Although teams may sign up to 10 overseas players, they can field no more than four at a time. They must have at least eight Indian players in their squads including two from the country’s under- 22 pool.
The IPL will be responsible for media accreditation, which was a source of controversy last year because of the strict control of image and I nternet rights.
Major international agencies such as Reuters and Agence France-Presse decided not to cover the matches because of the restrictions. Malhotra said the same terms would apply this year.
Ticket prices will be similar to those for domestic Pro20 games, probably in the region of R50 for adults and R20 for children, although there may be a premium for double-headers.
The entertainment value will undoubtedly be considerable, especially over a spectacular opening weekend at Newlands in Cape Town, where all eight teams will be in action.
On Saturday April 18 defending champions Rajasthan Royals, whose ranks include Shane Warne, Graeme Smith and Morne Morkel, take on the Bangalore Royal Challengers (Kevin Pietersen, Jacques Kallis, Rahul Dravid, Mark Boucher, Dale Steyn).
On the same day the 2008 runners-up, Chennai Super Kings (MS Dhoni, Andrew Flintoff, Matthew Hayden, Albie Morkel, Muttiah Muralitharan) take on Mumbai Indians (Sachin Tendulkar, JP Duminy, Sanath Jayasuriya, Dwayne Bravo).
The remaining teams will be in action the following day when the Kolkata Knight Riders play the Deccan Chargers and the Delhi Daredevils meet the Kings XI Punjab, with the four sides parading another cast of legendary names.
Over the course of two days, Cape Town spectators will be able to see the world’s most exciting cricketers in action, although in addition to the Indian and international stars the teams will be filled out with Indian players of lesser repute.
There will be a “curtain-raiser” between the Royals and South African champions the Cape Cobras at Newlands on April 11 and 12.
The only notable absentees at the start of the IPL will be current Australian one- day players, who will be travelling to Dubai immediately after the last match in South Africa on April 17 to play a one- day series against Pakistan, ending on May 7. No players from Pakistan are due to play in the IPL this year
Australian players who go to Dubai will be able to take part in the closing weeks of the tournament, which ends with the final in Johannesburg on May 24. Some of the most famous Australians such as Warne, Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Glenn McGrath have retired from international cricket and will therefore be able to remain in the IPL.
England and West Indian players will only be able to play at the start of the tournament. They then have to go to England for a Test series, followed by one-day games, starting on May 6.
Some West Indian players have threatened to boycott the tour of England because they would prefer to play in the IPL but Modi cautioned against such a move, saying the IPL wanted its players to honour their national commitments.
Matches will start at 12.30pm and 4.30pm to suit Indian television, which may make it difficult to attract big crowds for weekday games.
Gerald Majola, chief executive of Cricket SA (CSA), said the terms of the agreement with the IPL were confidential. “It’s more or less the same sort of arrangement there would be for staging an International Cricket Council event,” he said.
Franchise chief executives will meet CSA tomorrow to discuss financial terms.
Cassim Docrat, whose Dolphins franchise will host 16 matches, said he doubted whether the franchise would earn more than R1-million. “We’re not doing it for the money,” he said. “It will bring in some nice income for us but when you consider the number of games, it won’t be as much on a daily basis as when we hire out the ground for events such as the Comrades Marathon.”

Sony keeps IPL rights with new deal

MUMBAI: After a tough fight for the Indian Premier League (IPL), broadcaster Sony Entertainment Television, now known as Multi Screen Media (MSM), has managed to keep the IPL rights after entering into a fresh deal. It has signed up with the World Sport Group (WSG) in a $1.6 billion deal, valid for the next nine years through 2017.
The earlier 10-year contract, which MSM couldn't protect, was worth $918 million for telecast and $108 million for promotion of the tournament.
BCCI had terminated the contract with MSM and inked a fresh deal with WSG Mauritius on March 15. MSM had then moved the Bombay high court, which held that the cricket board could open talks with other broadcasters for the IPL telecast rights. MSM then bid more than its original contract to bag the rights, all over again.
MSM CEO Man Jit Singh said, "The acquisition of the media broadcast rights for another nine years reaffirms our commitment to the Indian subcontinent. WSG CEO Venu Nair added: "Our base objective with the IPL franchise was to place Indian cricket on the global sports calendar.''
IPL will work closely with Cricket South Africa to ensure that the necessary logistics and technicalities are completed before it kicks off on April 18.