The franchise owners of the Mumbai Indians, who have the rights for the ticket sales for semi-finals and the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to be played here, have drastically slashed the ticket prices.A spokesman for the franchise management said here that seeing the huge demand for tickets within the country and overseas, the organisers had decided to cut down the ticket prices as a goodwill gesture so that they are affordable to the fans.
The revised prices for the semi-finals, to be played at the Wankhede stadium Friday and Saturday — tickets for the Vithal Divecha Stand priced Rs 400 as against the original Rs 6,000, while it will be Rs 1,000 instead of Rs 5,000 for the Sunil Gavaskar upper stand.
For the Vijay Merchant upper stand, the price has been slashed to Rs 1,000 from Rs 10,000 and those wanting to buy tickets for the Sachin Tendulkar stand they will be paying only Rs 500 for a Rs 2,000 ticket. And the tickets for the North Stand will also be Rs 500 and not Rs 2,000 as originally priced.
For Sunday’s final at the DY Patil Stadium, tickets for the Bay/Stands C, F, K, N lower tiers will be Rs 500, Rs 1,000 for tier 3 and Rs 500 for tier 4.
Tickets for Bay/Stands D, E, L, M will be of Rs 500 for lower tiers 1 and 2, Rs 1,000 for tier 3 and Rs 250 for tier 4.
For Bay/Stands B, G, H, I, J, O the tickets prices are Rs 1,000 for lower tiers 1 and 2, Rs 2,000 for tier 3 and Rs 1,000 for tier 4.
For Bay/Stands A and P, the tickets have been priced at Rs 2,000 for tiers 1, 2 and 4.
All other ticket prices remain as printed on the tickets.
Source:indiatoday.digitaltoday.in
The Indian Premier League, which will wrap up its inaugural season on June 1, is just the first step of a “grand vision” that will eventually lead to the birth of a network of similar franchise-based models across the major cricket-playing nations culminating in the annual Champions League that will rival its football counterpart in terms of quality, money and glamour, a top IPL official has said.
England is working on developing their Twenty20 model; South Africa is convinced by the success of IPL and is already reviewing their current franchise format; Cricket Australia may launch their IPL version as soon as next year; and even Pakistan is thinking seriously about starting their edition of IPL.
“This is the grand vision,” IS Bindra, an influential member of the IPL governing council, told Cricinfo. “The vision is to move cricket to the next level, and get each league in each country to resemble the English Premier League with an exciting mix of international and national players. And then you have the grand Champions League, like the UEFA model which has taken football to such heights.”
The immediate task is to start the Champions League as planned from this year. Officials of the BCCI-backed IPL are understood to be meeting a team from Cricket Australia in Mumbai on May 30 to explore whether the event, involving the top two domestic Twenty20 teams from five countries, can be held in England between September 28, when the ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan ends, and October 9, when India’s home Test series against Australia starts.
“The problem is the four-day practice match on October 2-5. We will try to work out a solution with Cricket Australia because the IPL franchises who will be part of the Champions League will want to have their best players available,” Bindra said.
Bindra, who recently returned from a trip to Melbourne where he briefed the directors of Cricket Australia on the mechanics of organising a franchise-based league there, said one of his focus areas after taking over as the principal advisor to ICC in July would be to “ensure that cricket moves to the next level in world sport” in this direction.
The concept, Bindra said, is backed by senior officials of the major cricket boards. Giles Clarke, chairman of the English and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), “has expressed interest in the model” after being briefed by Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, last month; James Sutherland, the chief executive of Cricket Australia, has confirmed interest in staging an IPL-style competition the following season; and Nasim Ashraf, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), is “very keen to launch a similar tournament there” after having deputed two representatives to participate in the planning stages of the IPL last year and “learn from the process”.
In fact, Cricket Australia had invited Bindra last month to brief its board of directors on the concept at a resort near Melbourne on May 7-12. “There was a formal brainstorming session and an informal briefing, and the concept generated a lot of interest among the audience which included former cricketers like Allan Border and Mark Taylor. What I had suggested was a franchise model similar to IPL. But there might have to be some local adjustments.
“For instance, when we discussed the IPL within the BCCI, the question was whether the teams should be owned by the local state associations or private franchises. Some of us strongly suggested the franchise model because only then can you acquire top players for the teams and make the competition truly global. But the BCCI is a non-profit body and has to look after the state associations, too. So a compromise was arrived at, and we have IPL teams owned by franchises and run in collaboration with state associations. But Australia would have lesser problems since they have a corporate model of governance and have much fewer associations — six, I believe, compared to 30 in India,” Bindra said.
Source: cricinfo.com
Karachi, May 29: : As the inaugural Indian Premier League is inching towards the climax, the Pakistan Cricket Board has made it clear that they will not consider players’ performance in the IPL while selecting the national squad for the tri-nation series in Bangladesh next month.
“We are not going to consider the players’ showing in the IPL,” chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed told The News in Karachi.
Ahmed said the 15-member side to be picked up “purely on merit” ignoring Pakistan cricketers’ performance in the ongoing Twenty20 tournament.
“This is because we believe that Twenty20 is a different ball game and you can’t compare it to proper One-day Internationals where you have to play 50-over games,” Ahmed said.
The tri-nation series, involving hosts Bangladesh and India, will begin on June 8 and all the matches will be played in Dhaka.
Interestingly, young pacer Sohail Tanvir, playing for Rajasthan Royals, is among the best bowlers of the IPL with an enviable economy rate of 5.97. Other than Tanvir, most of the other Pakistani players, including captain Shoaib Malik (Delhi Daredevils), have failed to make their mark in the IPL.
Source:cricket.expressindia.com
Durban, May 29 (PTI) Lauding Albie Morkel’s “stand-out” performance in the Indian Premier League, Cricket South Africa has handed the lanky all-rounder a national contract that takes effect from next month.
Morkel joins fellow all-rounder Robin Peterson and batsman Neil McKenzie as the three new players awarded contracts by the national cricket body.
“His record earned him a contract with the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League and he has been a stand-out player in getting them through to the semi-finals,” Cricket South Africa CEO Gerald Majola said in a statement.
“His improving value to the Proteas is illustrated by his batting strike rate of 154.34 (213 runs at an average of 35.50) an d his bowling economy rate of 8.61 (11 wickets at 28.18) in this competition,” he added.
The latest contracts bring the number of contracted players under Cricket South Africa to 18.
“After close examination of the talent available and the needs of the Proteas, it was felt that Neil, Albie and Robin would fill the identified gaps and should be drawn in as contracted players,” Majola said.
“We are confident that they will add much value as CSA contracted players, and we look forward to the Proteas providing another highly successful season,” he added.
McKenzie, coming into the team in the second half of the season for Tests against the West Indies, Bangladesh and India, finished top of the batting averages (621 runs at 77.62) with two big centuries against Bangladesh and India.
He also featured in the world record first wicket partnership of 415 with skipper Graeme Smith.
Peterson played in the Test series against Bangladesh and took his first five-wicket haul at this level and six wickets in the second Test overall.
Source: PTI
Kevin Pietersen is likely to take advantage of a short window in the international calendar and play in the next Indian Premier League, according to his agent.
England’s tour of the West Indies ends on April 3, 2009, which is a month before their next international commitments against Zimbabwe.
“Ultimately it will be up to (England coach) Peter Moores, but I think the ECB wants to appease the players,” Pietersen’s agent Adam Wheatley told The Times. “There is at least a window now, albeit a short one, so I think Kevin will be able to play in the IPL. He might only play one or two games next year, then maybe a bit more the year after.”
Source:ukpress.google.com/