One could not figure out Lalit Modi’s anxiety to host the IPL season2. Till one heard the above news IPL has signed a nine year 8200cr contract with the World Sport Group (WSG) to be the official sponsor for all their matches till 2017.

No wonder Modi may be ready to take on Indian politicians also to conduct the IPL2, so much money was involved and no one wanted to say no to it, surely IPL has got to do more with money than cricket.

It is believed that BCCI would be growing even richer with this deal. How much ever little dissidence that was there from the players about the relocation of matches and other aspects of conducting the tournament would come to naught with this mid boggling and wealthy news. Surely Lalit Modi and his team have a money winning spinner on their hand through IPL.
Source – andhracafe.com

It is still not clear whether Pakistani players will be playing in the second season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) or not, as Pak Federal Minister for Sports, Pir Aftab Hussain Shah Jilani has said that a final decision in this regard would be taken in the coming two to three days.

Jilani said that following the IPL’s shift to South Africa, the government may rethink its stand on over the issue.

“Now, the organisers have shifted the Twenty 20 cricket event in South Africa, the situation is different now. There will be no security threat to Pakistani cricketers there and they may be officially recognized to play lucrative IPL cricket. The decision will be made in next two days,” The Nation qouted Jilani, as saying.

He said that the final decision would be taken by President Asif Ali Zardari, as he is the Patron-in-Chief of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

On Wednesday, however, PCB’s Chief Operating Officer, Saleem Altaf had said that that no Pakistani player would take part in second edition of the IPL even though it was being shifted out from India to South Africa.

“We know that some players really want to play in the IPL but I don’t think that they would be a part of it this year. They may be included in the league next year but not now. These are the harsh realities of life,” Altaf had said.
Source – thaindian.com

With IPL 2 finally on its way to South Africa, the Indian fans will have to contend with watching the matches on TV and following it up on the Internet. MSM has retained the telecast rights for the tournament, which is expected to commence from April 17. With less than a month left, the IPL teams are intensifying their activities on the Internet via their websites to garner all the support they can.

Most of the IPL team websites have introduced not only newer features for their fans, but also tied up with social media groups to gain better visibility.

GMR-promoted Delhi Dare Devils has joined hands with Bigadda.com in a pure play marketing tie-up, where Bigadda will be their exclusive social networking partner. Bigadda will be creating games, contests, applications and a DDD community through which fans can connect with the team. In return, loyal and committed fans would get exclusive merchandise, meet and greet opportunities with the team, snippets, and behind the scenes news, among others. This will be a mutually symbiotic relationship, which is expected to create an exciting buzz around IPL and DDD as a team.

Mandar Natekar, Head of Revenue & Sales, Bigadda.com, noted, “The popularity of the IPL team sites does increase during the season, but there are limitations to that. Typically, they will still need the thrust of a popular networking site to drive traffic their way. As a social media site, we have a large registered user base and hence, we are in a much better position to create traction, excitement and buzz for their website through our communities, rather than they doing it as a standalone.”

Commenting on the online initiatives of Chennai Super Kings, Rakesh Singh, Head – Marketing, India Cements Ltd, said, “Traffic does increase as the season approaches. During the last season, our website received several million page views, many repeat visitors and over five pages per visit. Our website was also rated as one of the best and most informative websites last year. This year, too, we will have many more features on our website. It will be a one-stop shop for all information on the Chennai Super Kings.”

Talking of the new features, he added, “We have been receiving a lot of feedback from our visitors to the site. Given that, this year will see fresh content that includes blogs, including one from VB Chandrasekhar, of the team management, an online store with special merchandise, including T-shirts, personalised T-shirts, caps, wrist bands and many more goodies, a WAP site and mobile store for ring tones, themes, anthems, wallpapers, news alerts and unique team-centric content from a dedicated editorial staff.”

Utkarsh Singh, Head – Business Develoment, Rajasthan Royals, said, “The website is the best place to get content and info that is not normally available in the public domain. It is visited by the core loyalists of the team the most. Also, for a lot of people and fans who wish to follow the teams’ developments, the website is the best destination.”

The Rajasthan Royals website has also introduced some new features. Singh further said, “We were the first to put up our online store and the first to launch online memberships. We are also the first to have our own channel on YouTube (http://in.youtube.com/user/RajasthanRoyalsTV) and the first to have an official community page on Facebook. All these factors combined, with the fact that we are champions of the 1st season, will ensure a lot of traction and interest in our website. Finally, with Shilpa Shetty adding the glamour quotient and things like exclusive previews to our anthem video and behind-the-scene footage planned for this season, we are already witnessing an increase in traffic. We will monetise the website by selling merchandising. We are already selling membership. Also, we will work closely with our advertisers to make the website an essential ingredient in their marketing mix.”
Source – exchange4media.com

SOUTH Africa has been given an awesome opportunity to host the IPL, and I believe we can do a professional job hosting the tournament. — Ross Douthwaite, Margate

However, international players have indicated that their only reservation is the lack of crowd support they will receive, compared to what they would get in India.

We obviously can’t imitate the thrill of a T20 game with 80,000 loyal spectators, but we still need to generate interest in the teams playing to build up tension and support prior to each game played.

I suggest that you create a column dedicated to the IPL tournament, which in the weeks prior to the start of the first game will educate the general population about the inner workings of each side. It may also be an idea for a province or local team (Titans, Pirates, etc) to “adopt” a side.

This will hopefully help generate friendly rivalry that can be found at a local level.
Source – thetimes.co.za

Yuvraj Singh batting again at Durban’s Kingsmead will revive memories of the sixes he slapped around that venue on September 19, 2007. It will not though, revive any happy recollections for the England seamer Stuart Broad who suffered most from that thrashing.

A steamy Durban night – India are 155/3 in the seventeenth over and looking for a miracle to get a match winning total on the board. Yuvraj arrives and changes the scene. Five successive sixes off Broad in the over; the last of the sixes was off the famed Fredalo Flintoff, as the score fairly scooted along from 177/3 at the start of the assault on Broad to the long-off six off Flintoff and 207/3.

It became the talking point of the first ICC World T20 event and won over many adherents to the game, so much so, they even watch Tests because of it.

However, times have seriously changed. Two serious security breaches along with the Indian general elections has combined with a rushed decision by the BCCI mandarins, led by Lalit Modi, to remove the second edition of the Indian Premier League to South Africa. There is a major danger here as well.

What with Mumbai 26/11 and Lahore 3/3, security became a major factor for Modi as the Indian politicians squabbled, as usual over dates. But there was always a danger here. With money the overriding factor, Modi, when could not get his own way, resorted to hijacking another country’s infrastructure, and thumb his nose at the general elections as an effort to twist the arm of the government.

There are other ponderable issues as well. It means that unless there are special arrangements those Indian players involved may not get the chance to vote in the elections. Legally, it could become a violation of individual rights, but as the Indian chief election commissioner N Gopalaswami points out, the players would need special permission, through the BCCI and the sports ministry. Proxy voting is not permissible.

As television shots of the media conference showed Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola becoming very pally with Modi, there were other concerns. Both men dispensed with ties, and the bonhomie exuded, gave the impression that South Africa’s decision to host the IPL is more to do with the money, which is going to be made out of the deal than the actual staging of the event over five weeks from April 18.

It recalled the arrival of that ace fraudster, Allen Stanford at Lord’s, last year with a plastic case packed with millions of dollars. On this occasion, though, Modi was not able to pull that conjuring trick. Currency regulations are much tighter in South Africa, or so they would have you believe.

Yet the way they smiled and the metaphorical backslapping hid other areas in the arrangement that will emerge at some stage. Newspaper reporters were throwing around figures of 70-million to 90-million in South African currency, some even ventured at 100-million rands and not the US$25-million that a CSA source has now revealed is the final figure.
Source – cricketnext.in.com