Former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming has predicted that the success of the Indian Premier League and Twenty20 will encourage more youngsters in his country to choose cricket over rugby. He will not be playing for the Chennai Super Kings in next month’s Champions League but was hopeful of taking over as the IPL team’s coach.

Fleming, who retired in March after 14 years with the New Zealand national team, said that the new riches in the sport suddenly make the life of a professional cricketer a lot more attractive. “I think with the introduction of the IPL there’s now a financial pathway to attract athletes to the game so the All Blacks may not get all the best athletes anymore,” he said. “We may start to get a few more coming our way because it’s now a career option for a lot of our students in New Zealand.”

Fleming, 35, played the last of his 111 Test matches in the home series against England eight months ago but is still wielding his familiar Gunn and Moore bat on the world stage. This weekend, he’s been in Hong Kong captaining former international foes Justin Langer, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Sanath Jayasuriya in an All-Stars team in the Hong Kong Cricket Sixes. He’s hoping to stay sharp before playing for Wellington in February’s domestic Twenty20 competition followed by the second edition of the IPL, starting in April.

Fleming said he’s interested in working as a player-coach for Chennai but nothing was confirmed yet with further discussions due to take place.

“If there’s a role as a player-coach, I’m certainly keen to develop that side of things with Chennai,” he said. “I love the strategy of the game, I love Twenty20 and how the IPL is bringing cultures and players together. “But I don’t plan on being a national coach or a first-class coach. The IPL is a little bit different as you are bringing players together for a short period of time. There are challenges in that. But it’s the sort of competition that I like.”

Exploring new business opportunities, Fleming has been dabbling in sports management, representing former team-mates including Brendon McCullum, Tim Southee and James Franklin. “It’s the first step into the business world. I’ve been meeting a lot of people and seeing what opportunities are around now,” he said. “Looking after the players is quite challenging. It’s going to take a bit of time but I’m trying to find out who I am and what I want to do.”

His involvement with national players means that Fleming has been following the New Zealand team’s fortunes more closely than he might otherwise. He’s full of praise for new captain Daniel Vettori, who took over the Test reigns a year ago on the tour of South Africa as Fleming remained in the side as a batsman.

“I think Dan’s doing very well. He’s a world-class player,” he said. “Unfortunately we’re going through another rebuilding phase, which we always seem to be doing. That’s just because of our lack of resources. There is some talent in the side, though.”

During the Hong Kong Cricket Sixes, Fleming seemed a model of relaxation as captain of the All-Stars team, keeping wicket, rolling the arm over as a bowler and enjoying the raucous atmosphere at the Kowloon Cricket Club. Even though Fleming hit the winning runs in a six-wicket victory over Sri Lanka, two earlier defeats – including a shock five-wicket loss to Hong Kong – meant that the All Stars were knocked out of the Cup competition on the opening day.

Fleming is happy to play in unique tournaments like the Hong Kong Sixes, slightly removed from the cricketing mainstream, saying that he doesn’t miss the intense pressure of the international scene.

“As a Test captain, every word was scrutinised so you had to be very measured about what you said and very guarded,” he said. “You couldn’t always speak openly because of how it might be construed and what kind of headline you’d wake up to tomorrow. “Being happy is the key. You go through cricket with a lot of anxiety as you do with any job. But if you can spit out the other side and have a life that’s fulfilled and that you’re comfortable with, then you’ll be a happy man.”
Source: content-usa.cricinfo.com

Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd has officially admitted that it is looking to sell its IPL franchise, Hyderabad’s Deccan Chargers. The Hyderabad based media company has given the mandate to KPMG Corporate Finance to advise on the sale.

The company informed the BSE that KPMG Corporate Finance was mandated to run the process to identify the strategic buyers for Deccan Chargers. Earlier media reports suggested that Australia-based NRI industrialist Vikas Rambal could be one of the potential buyers for a majority stake in Deccan Chargers. An 80% stake in the franchise is held by the publishing house, and the remaining 20% is held by Group M, the media arm of the ad conglomerate WPP.

Earlier reports have indicated that Deccan Chronicle may sell its entire stake for anywhere between $175-200 million. This might still be a premium of 55-70 percent over its acquisition price. Deccan acquired the franchise for $107 million and has paid about $5.8 million as players fees.

The team also paid Andrew Symonds $1.35 million, making him the highest paid player in the league. However Deccan Chargers could not make it in the recent IPL, and they finished at the bottom of the table. Also since then there has been a change of guard at Deccan Chargers with Adam Gilchrist replacing VVS Laxman as the team captain and Robin Sharma being fired as the team coach, the things are likely to change at the team. With some of the franchises like Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals managing to break even or even spinning a profit, the IPL franchise is turning out to be a lucrative business opportunity..

Vikas Rambal, who is sponsoring Champions League Twenty20 side Waca Warriors, is the chairman of Australia’s North West Chemicals and Fertilizers. He had expressed interest in buying an IPL team.

Besides Deccan Chargers, Rajasthan Royals, the IPL champions backed by UK based investment group Blenheim Chalcot, is another franchise which is looking for investment.

A lot of corporates have also showed interest in having their own teams. Sahara Group was said to be interested in Kanpur team and Reliance ADAG in a Ahmedabad team. Future Group is also said to be interested in buying a team. Some banks and financial institutions have also showed an interest in buying IPL team. Some of the names doing the rounds during bidding process included ICICI Venture, Sequoia Capital and India Value Fund. Also international players like Providence, Macquire Bank, DE Shaw, Deutsche Bank, Alcazar & Engelfield have also showed interest.

Since IPL might allow new teams only after a couple of years, this is the only opportunity to buy a team.

Source: contentsutra.com

Colombo, Oct 31 (PTI) Sri Lankan Cricket (SLC) Chairman Arjuna Ranatunga today blamed the IPL for depriving the board USD 3 million due to cancellation of next year’s England tour because of non-availability of senior Lankan players who will play in the Indian Premier League.

“The SLC would have got USD 3 million including USD 2 million for TV rights which we have been deprived off as our senior players are contracted to play for the Indian Premier League and our tour to England has been cancelled,” Ranatunga told PTI.

He said it was “unfair” the SLC does not gain any money for releasing its players for the IPL even while agents get commissions from the fee paid to players taking part in the BCCI-backed tournament.

“One thing the players should remember is that they are employees of SLC. Every year, we sign about 40 cricketers from the national and ‘A’ teams. We give them very attractive contracts.

“It is SLC that looks after the players from the junior level and brings them to the level of national cricket by spending a lot of money. SLC should get some money from these cricketers rather than allow them to make payments to some outside agent.

“This way, we will safeguard our cricketers and make use of the money for cricket development,” Ranatunga said.

He said the SLC would have to take steps to ensure it becomes the sole representative of its players and earns revenue from any future contract the players sign with other organizations.
Source: ptinews.com

The International Cricket Council’S Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat, says they may have to make room in the schedule for the Indian Premier League.This weekend in Singapore the IPL will sign a deal which will effectively give them a stake in the running of the game in Sri Lanka.

In return for around 70 million dollars over the next ten years the Sri Lankan board will agree not to schedule fixtures during the IPL.Lorgat says as long as Sri Lanka fufil their comitment under the future tours programme they are entitled to make such an agreement.

Source: radionz.co.nz

Paul Sheldon, the Surrey chief executive, has confirmed for the first time that the club are interested in hosting Indian Premier League matches at The Oval.

“It is true we have spoken to certain IPL franchises about staging games here,” Sheldon said. “If it was possible within the calendar and with the blessing of the ECB, we would certainly look at it.” Earlier this year Keith Bradshaw, the MCC chief executive, visited the tournament’s chairman, Lalit Modi, about the possibility of bringing IPL “exhibition” games to Lord’s. At the time, Sheldon was rumoured to have also shown interest for The Oval, though he denied any talks had been made.

Now, however – thanks to the agent of Surrey’s offspinner, Saqlain Mushtaq, who revealed Surrey’s plans to PakPassion.net – Sheldon has confirmed that the IPL might one day be coming to England.

“Looking forward to 2009, the domestic and international calendar is very tight – so it will probably be difficult to find time for it,” he said. “If it were possible we would be very keen to do it, but we would always work closely with the ECB.”
Source : cricinfo.com