The West Indies tour did not go well for Andrew Flintoff. Nobody knows what awaits him in his two weeks stint with Indian Premier League, but the million dollar cricketer belonging to Chennai Super Kings have great expectations from the upcoming cricket T-20 tournament.

A hip injury, thigh injury and finally a thumb injury – it was far too much for the English cricketer Andrew Flintoff. But the optimistic cricketer who was bought for a whopping $1.5 price in the IPL Season 2 auction by the Chennai Super Kings hopes that things will work in his direction in the upcoming cricket Twenty-20 cricket tournament. “It’s been frustrating with the hip injury, thigh injury and getting hit on the thumb just before the end of the tour of the West Indies and I think the IPL will be good for me,”. The team that came out number two in the previous season will have this talented English cricketer for two weeks. For Flintoff, it will be a great learning experience ahead of a busy international cricket schedule. The player says that the things he picks up from his team mates as well as the opponents will help him perform better for the England team in the World Twenty20 at home in June.“I know I’m only bowling four overs a game, but it will give me a chance to work on my game in between games going into a Test series and I will be working with top facilities out in South Africa,” Flintoff, who earlier expressed his disappointment at not being able to participate in the tournament in India told the cricket news media.

As the cricketer returns from South Africa, a rather hectic summer at home awaits him and his colleagues in the England team. His teammates in England team, who are going to accompany him in South Africa, are Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Owais Shah and Ravi Bopara. All of them are to report back to England team management by May 1. The upcoming cricket commitments of England cricket team include: Test and one-day series against West Indies, the World Twenty20, the Ashes and a seven-match one-day series against Australia.

The army of Chennai Super Kings includes the likes of MS Dhoni, Matt Hayden and Muralitharan. Flintoff hopes that observing their playing techniques would help him fine tune his own. And that in turn would help him earn an edge over his World Twenty20 opponents. He particularly mentions Dhoni who has become an authority in shortest format cricket by now and Hayden who has given quite an impressive performance last season.

“While I’m out there I’ll be watching the likes of Dhoni, who has played a lot of it, and Hayden who had a good IPL last year. I will be speaking to a few of the Indian guys and see if I can pick their brains,” said Flintoff. For Flintoff fans out there here are information that would really help: The player is going to play at least seven matches in South Africa. You can watch him play his first match of the season against the Mumbai Indians in Cape Town on April 18. Next interesting match to catch is the one in which he would take on to another multi million dollar English cricketer Pietersen and his team, Royal Challengers. It will take place two days later in Port Elizabeth.
Source – cricket360.com

Max Media (part of ENG Worldwide) has been awarded the Middle East advertising sales contract for www.IPLT20.com the official online destination for the DFL Indian Premier League by the rights holder Global Cricket Ventures.

In a partnership granted by Global Cricket Ventures (GCV) – a joint venture between Dubai based netlinkblue and US based Live Current Media – Max Media will be able is able to offer unprecedented global advertising opportunities to regional clients.

As the official website for the DLF IPL – www.IPLT20.com provides brands with guaranteed exposure through the streaming of live matches, live scoring, video highlights and online video syndication (e.g. YouTube). Advertising via mobile channels is also incorporated.

According to Rehan Merchant, Group CEO, ENG; ‘’The UAE region has witnessed a significant growth in digital advertising spend and the medium is an increasingly cost effective choice in the current financial climate.

‘’The GCV partnership gives Max Media the edge in offering clients the opportunity to reach global audiences during the IPL.

Live streaming via the web fills a gap in ensuring brands target the high percentage of people viewing online before they travel home.’’

Source – khabrein.info

Cape Town will be the unlikely end of a tortuous winter journey for Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen when the two England heavyweights make their Indian Premier League debuts on April 18.

It would be surprising if the pair have not spent much of the past 12 months – since having to miss the inaugural IPL – daring to hope for a place in this year’s ultra-lucrative Twenty20 spectacular yet fearing a hitch throughout.

Still less likely, though, is that they imagined at any stage before late last month that they would be strutting their stuff in South Africa – or even, as seemed likeliest for a few short days, England – rather than India.

Hugely unfortunate circumstances well beyond the control of either player have conspired to force the IPL out of India.

While world events have beset cricket for much of the winter, Pietersen and Flintoff have had their own personal dramas to deal with too.

The eventual upshot is that – like fellow England regulars Paul Collingwood, Owais Shah and Ravi Bopara – they will have two weeks, up to May 1, to show the world what they can do for their big-money franchise employers.

The cut-off point for them, in a tournament set to come to the boil more than three weeks after their departure, is at the start of a week which sees the first of England’s two back-to-back home Tests against West Indies.

But the truth is that IPL needs Flintoff and Pietersen as it seeks to complete its global appeal, and is therefore happy to accommodate stage one of their two-year contracts in abbreviated form rather than not at all.

From the moment Dimitri Mascarenhas became English cricket’s only representative in last year’s IPL – and that as a bit-part player for Shane Warne’s surprise winners Rajasthan Royals – the brand could not afford to press on without at least one star attraction from one of its sport’s highest-profile nations.

Collingwood et al cannot quite claim the same level of mutual necessity but will doubtless be happy enough to be carried along for the ride, and handsomely rewarded for their presence.

The plan finally appears set to come together.

But Pietersen and Flintoff will not need reminding when they take the field a week on Saturday for Chennai Super Kings and Bangalore Royal Challengers respectively that it could all so easily not have happened.

Regardless of the terrorist atrocities which have so unsettled the sub-continent in recent months – and specifically cricket, in Mumbai last November and Lahore early in March – Pietersen and Flintoff have had difficulties closer to home.

Pietersen’s came first, of course, when he lost his position as England captain in all forms of the game as his employers sought a solution to his differences with coach Peter Moores.

Pietersen’s apparent driving force behind England’s return to India for the limited-overs leg of their tour – when the aftermath of Mumbai was still so raw – was identified by many, and similar roles were attributed to the likes of Flintoff.

It was nonetheless a moot point as to whether expediency, with IPL contracts still to be sealed, played its part too in the laudable resumption of the tour.

Whatever those imponderables, there is less room for doubt over Pietersen’s state of mind as he set out to cement his position all over again after Christmas as a mere foot-soldier under the captaincy of Andrew Strauss in the Caribbean.

The South Africa-born batsman nailed some unwanted headlines with his candid admission to being near the “end of his tether” towards the end of the West Indies trip.

Having failed to dominate for much of the tour, Pietersen still has work to do to re-establish his place in the top rung of the world elite. But there is no suggestion he is any less marketable than he was – and his high-profile, fortnight-long return to his native country is an obvious opportunity to underline those credentials again.

Flintoff’s winter blues have been less to do with form or demotion than the habitual scourge of injury.

For the sake of authenticity, his all-rounder billing could do with a few runs to complement his continued development as one of the world’s most feared and respected strike bowlers.

To date, though, that is a mere qualm set aside another outbreak of physical frailties for a sportsman who has had four operations on the left ankle which takes so much of his weight in the all important delivery stride.

The variation on a theme was a hip injury which saw Flintoff miss a pivotal part of the Caribbean tour – at around the same time as Pietersen was reportedly hankering for a short break at home with his ice-dancing, pop-singing wife.

They were episodes which reignited debate over the hectic summer schedule facing both players, and whether IPL should really be playing a part at all.

In the end, of course, the bottom line spoke; the England and Wales Cricket Board agreed a compromise ‘window’, and the stakes were raised again over Flintoff and Pietersen’s IPL involvement.
Source – uk.eurosport.yahoo.com

The Rajasthan Royals claimed the inaugural Indian Premier League title last year when they beat the Chennai Super Kings by three wickets in the final in Mumbai.

The team is led by legendary Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne, who is also the coach.

Warne is the only non-Indian captain in the competition. South African captain Graeme Smith and fast bowler Morne Morkel, as well as Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal and Australian all-rounder Shane Watson are some of the stars who play for the Royals.

Smith topped the batting averages for Rajasthan last year, scoring 441 runs in 11 innings at an average of 49. Watson scored the most runs (472 in 15 innings) at an average of 47.2 and a strike rate of 151.76.

Pakistan’s Sohail Tanvir picked up the most wickets for the Royals and was the leading wicket-taker in the tournament, with 22 wickets in 11 games. Warne followed closely with 19 wickets in 15 matches.

The Emerging Media Group owns the side that won 13 of their 16 games in 2008.
Source – thetimes.co.za

UltraTech Cement Limited, the single largest cement brand in the country humbly announced its alliance with the defending champions of Indian Premier League 2008, the Rajasthan Royals. Through this involvement, UltraTech will be the Official Team Sponsor of the Jaipur based IPL Team.

Shilpa Shetty and boyfriend Raj Kundra were present at the event that announced Ultratech Cement Limited as a major contributor to the Rajasthan Royals. Due to their busy schedule, Shilpa Shetty Raj Kundra, co-owners of the Rajasthan Royals will not be present at the IPL opening on April 18. Encouraged leadership, originality, professionalism and a well thought out strategic advance lead the team to win India’s first IPL. By essential roles explicitly and delegating task, the Rajasthan Royals came together as a unified entity, finally rising as champions. This nation completely blends with UltraTech cement who is known to be leaders and champions in its own field.

Ever since February, Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty and boyfriend Raj Kundra who is a London-based businessman announced that they had bought a 12 percent wager in the Indian Premier League team, the Rajasthan Royals.

‘The team’s success story last year was an inspiration for me. That’s why I am investing in this team,’ Kundra said at a press conference that month. The couple had invested $15.4 million in the team. Shilpa called it a strategic business investment and said: ‘I completely relate to Rajasthan Royals. My story is similar to the team’s journey to the top. It is an honor to be a part of Rajasthan Royals.’ Ever since then, the couple had become proud owners of this winning team.

Shilpa’s heartening words and support charged up the ambience and certainty of the players.

Shilpa said, “Rajasthan Royals is a heady mix of youth, experience and emerging talent and the same even holds true for UltraTech. Through this association we will be cementing our relationship, a definite ‘Best Choice’ for us!”
Source – desihits.com