Sydney: After experiencing a fortnight of glitz and glory in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Australian cricketers say playing on the same side with Indian players has helped mend strained relations.

“It’s been an incredible experience. It’s been one that’s broken down the cultural barriers that perhaps existed through the course of this summer but also, more than anything, it’s been a hell of a lot of fun to play in,” Australia’s star batsman Matthew Hayden, who played for Chennai Super Kings, told reporters in Brisbane.After a summer of discontent which led to souring of ties between players from the two sides, Hayden was not having the last laugh at Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh’s suspension for slapping India teammate S. Sreesanth.

“I think it was a pretty disappointing thing. I just think we’ve all tried to move on from anything to do with taking a backward step in the way last summer went on,” Hayden said.Hayden was charged with a breach of the Cricket Australia Code of Behaviour for calling the controversial spinner “obnoxious little weed”.Earlier, Harbhajan was banned for three Tests after Australian players gave evidence that he called Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds a ‘monkey’ during the second Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground in early January. His charge was reduced on appeal.

As Australians switch to the Test mode, training at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane, Hayden said he needed to make “big adjustments” to be prepared for the West Indies tour that will have three Tests and five One-Day Internationals.Besides Hayden, other Australians who played in the IPL include Ricky Ponting, Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken, Cameron White, Michael Hussey, Symonds and retired greats Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist and spin wizard Shane Warne.

Source :sify.com

The Indian Premier League and controversy seems to go hand in hand. The latest issue to have now lead to a nationwide debate across Pakistan is Pakistani cricketer Misbah-ul-Haq’s association with Bangalore Royal Challengers.The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is in a fix after allowing Misbah-ul-Haq to play for liquor baron Vijay Mallya-owned Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL as it is in conflict with its policy of discouraging players from associating themselves with alcohol brands.

Mallya owns the United Breweries group, manufacturers of leading alcohol brands in India, and Royal Challenge happens to be the name of a leading spirit brand of the UB group. PCB CEO — Shafqat Naghmi said the board does not encourage its players to promote or endorse alcohol and tobacco products.”Players usually take prior clearance for endorsing or starring in any brand commercials. I am not sure whether Misbah has taken permission for the Royal Challengers and I am also not sure whether he is required to wear or market any brand of the UB group,” Naghmi said.

“But yes we do discourage our players from even sporting logos promoting alcohol or tobacco products,” he admitted. Naghmi said the board would look into the matter. Alcohol consumption is against the tenets of Islam and banned in Pakistan. Even tobacco advertising on television and in sports was banned by the government a few years ago.To complicate matters, the Indian Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss recently said the Bangalore team’s name amounted to surrogate advertising and promoted alcohol. Ramadoss said his ministry would write against the Bangalore team to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for its surrogate advertisement.

Senior Pakistan Journalist — Shahid Hashmi reacted to this move by the PCB and very strongly said that the Board is responsible for this issue and they should have taken a note of the same before the tournament began. He said, “I think the PCB should have taken a note of this matter earlier itself. PCB may take a lenient action because Misbah may not have known about the logo featuring on the jersey of Bangalore Royal Challengers.”

Misbah is the only Pakistani playing in the Bangalore team. Three years ago the PCB in a pre-emptive move to ensure that its players were not required to wear the Johnnie Walker whisky logo during the Super Series in Australia, had taken prior clearance from the International Cricket Council.

Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan and Abdul Razzaq were among those who played in the Super Series. Four years ago, former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram was also taken to court by a Pakistan citizen after he appeared in an advertisement for an Indian alcohol company.Akram was cleared after arguing that he was promoting the company’s cricket gear, and not the alcohol. South African batsman Hashim Amla, a devout Muslim, has also been given permission by his board to not wear the logo of team sponsors Castle Lager because of his religious beliefs.

Source: timesnow.tv

Lady Luck finally seems to be smiling on controversial pacer Shoaib Akthar. A day after he was cleared for participation in the Indian Premier League, ‘Rawalpindi Express’ as he is also fondly known, also got respite in a defamation case filed against him.

In a further softening of the stance on the temperamental speedster, the Pakistan Cricket Board will no longer pursue the defamation lawsuit it slapped on the fast bowler last month.The decision comes following a meeting between Nasim Ashraf, the board chairman and Shoaib at the house of a top political official on Sunday night in Islamabad.Shoaib Akhtar, who was banned for 5 years by the PCB, had got the PCB ruling suspended for a month by an appellate tribunal on Sunday.

Nasim Ashraf had also slapped a Rs 220 million defamation suit against him. The suit has been filed against Shoaib for making allegations on a television show that the PCB Chairman had demanded money from him and other players for allowing them to sign contracts with the lucrative Indian Premier League.Shoaib later retracted his claims and also made an unconditional apology before the appellate tribunal hearing his appeal against the five-year ban imposed on him by the disciplinary committee of the board.

Shoaib apologised for causing “grief and pain in particular to the Chairman of the board with the unsubstantiated and damaging allegations against him”.

The lucrative Indian Premier League could be about to get much bigger, with Australian players being told the tournament’s $US5 million salary cap could be abolished.Although some IPL franchises are already starting to struggle financially with low crowd numbers and their player’s bumper pay packets, others are apparently keen to splash even more cash to land the world’s best players.

Think Andrew Symonds $1.5 million-a-season deal was big? One Australian player has reportedly been told by Indian captain MS Dhoni that salaries could skyrocket to a staggering $15 million.Dhoni is currently the highest earning IPL star, with a contract worth $1.65 million.Australian and Chennai opener Matthew Hayden says he has heard the IPL player payments are only going to get bigger.“From what I have heard, some of the stuff this year could be just the tip of the iceberg,” Hayden said.

The removal of the salary cap would increase fears about what the IPL could do to international cricket, with many players already considering retiring early from representing their country in order to chase the big dollars on offer in India.There is currently no “IPL window” in the international cricket calendar, meaning the tournament will continue to clash with national team tours.Australia is about to begin its tour of the West Indies, and is set to tour South Africa and Pakistan during the IPL season next year.

MUMBAI: Some say catches win matches. But success in the business of cricket takes more than a T20 game. Nobody knows this better than Lalit Modi, the BCCI man who has successfully passed the initial hurdle of selling the Indian Premier League (IPL) to franchisees and sponsors.

The 5-plus TRPs that the first 12 matches got have given IPL and Mr Modi a leg up. But, the challenge now is to ensure unblinking eyeballs, match after match. Because media revenues, in the form of advertising, will play a key role in making the game profitable for franchisees.Globally, a franchisee of a similar game format earns revenues from three broad areas, media rights, sponsorships and gate receipts. But the business model for IPL franchisees, at least in the initial years, will have to depend on media revenues.

As such, selling tickets at stadiums isn’t going to fetch much. IPL is a two-month event while EPL runs for almost seven months. Even assuming the best scenario of all the matches running at full capacity in the stadiums, all the franchisees put together would sell three million tickets. As per the arrangement, 20% of these tickets should be given to IPL.At an average ticket price of Rs 500, the revenue generated would be Rs 120 crore for all the eight franchisees. Back of the envelope calculations show that gate revenues at best would be 15% of franchisees’ revenues unlike 35% for EPL franchisees.

In the initial years, outdoor stadium activity is going to be a no-profit-no-loss business. This leaves the revenues, and profitability, riding on the media revenues for the franchisees. BCCI has sold the global broadcast rights to Sony-WSG for $918 million for 10 years. ET contacted Sony Entertainment Television president Rohit Gupta to understand the intricacies of the contract. “This is confidential and we can’t reveal it,” he said.But Alchemy Share Brokers which spoke to franchisees have mentioned the details of the contract in its latest report. As per the report, Sony would pay $316 million for rights of broadcast for the first five years, which would be shared between franchisees and BCCI.

The franchisees have a share of 80% in the first year, which falls to 60% in the fifth year. After five years, as per the report, Sony will pay $608 million “if this format has been remunerative in the first five years”. That gives Sony the option to back out in case the TRPs, and ad revenues, fall.The contract also mentions that while in the first year, payouts are equal for franchisees, “TRPs would drive payouts from the second year”. Which means unpopular franchisees would have to be content with lesser share of the media revenue pie. Getting sponsors will depend on popularity of the event and each team.

IPL teams, like EPL clubs, can make money from merchandising and trading players. But then, all that takes years. EPL took 15 years to get to where it is today. Mr Modi probably knows it, as he struggles with his bleary eyes to keep the interest alive for IPL. After all, eyeballs, in any colour, matter in this business.

Source :economictimes.indiatimes.com