Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to allow Pakistan players to play in the third edition of the prestigious Indian Premier League. Due to increased tension between two neighbors after the Mumbai attack, none of the Pakistan players were allowed to play in IPL-2. During a meeting with IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, PCB chairman Ejaz Butt said that PCB will not object if players wish to take part in this million dollar baby of BCCI
“I spoke to him about our players taking part in the next IPL season and have requested him to ensure that Pakistani players are allowed to play in the league next year,” he said.
Indian premier league season 3 is scheduled to be held in March-April 2010.
Stuart Binny, the son of former India allrounder Roger Binny, has become the second player to sign up with the Mumbai Indians in a week. Days after Mumbai gave Punjab’s Chandan Madan a contract, they took on board Binny, a Karnataka allrounder who made his first-class debut in 2003-04.
Binny, 25, has plenty of Twenty20 experience after two seasons with the unofficial ICL. His accurate medium-pacers and big-hitting were pivotal to the Hyderabad Heroes’ campaigns, establishing Binny as one of the leading allrounders in the league.
Binny accepted the Indian board’s amnesty offer earlier this year and quit the ICL. The reputation he built in the unofficial league made him one of the most sought-after players in the Karnataka Premier League, where he was the second-most expensive buy.
Source:cricinfo.com
The Indian Premier League is facing a rough pitch. With a little over six months to go for the third leg of the most successful cricket properties of recent times, with a brand value of $2 billion, IPL is facing hostile bouncers — four to be precise — that it is finding hard to negotiate.
First, IPL-III now has no central events management firm. Second, the international company handling its online business has terminated its contract with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), leaving the status of the portal IPLt20.com unclear. Third, a clutch of international cricketers from Australia, England and South Africa , including Ricky Ponting, have announced their decision to focus on the longer version of the game (test matches and one-day cricket), as opposed to playing Twenty20 format cricket. Players like Sri Lanka’s Muralitharan are batting for test match cricket, even though he is crucial to the fortunes of Chennai Super Kings , the IPL team from Chennai. Fourth, a section of advertisers are sceptical on the popularity of IPL-III as a television property next year, going by the lower ratings of IPL-II that was played between April and May this year. The biggest problem, of course, is the termination of the 10-year contract with IMG International, a leading international sports and events management firm that conceived and managed the first two IPL tournaments held in India and South Africa. This is because the BCCI terminated the 10-year contract it had with IMG International over differences in the financial terms put forward by IMG, sources say. This means IPL has no central events management body that will co-ordinate between players, state cricket boards, hotels and airlines for the third edition of the tournament scheduled to begin in March 2010. The matter is likely to be discussed on September 24 in an internal meeting of the IPL working committee after BCCI came under pressure from the former BCCI president Sharad Pawar.
The IPL teams are also concerned. Says a top executive of one of the IPL teams: “We are extremely concerned by the sudden exit of a professional events management body from IPL. Whosoever in BCCI thinks what IMG was doing can be replicated by any local body or by the BCCI does not understand the logistics of handling a 59-day cricket tournament.” To make matters worse, the Canadian media firm?Live Current Media?managing the websites of both BCCI and IPL has terminated its 10-year contract with BCCI that it won last year for $50 million. The Canadian company owns portals like IPLt20.com, Cricket.com, T20.com among several other cricket-related online portals. Industry observers say Live Current Media was finding its deal with the BCCI an extremely high cost venture with limited opportunity to recover its investments. “Live Current Media has exited from the cricket business altogether. This is a sign that IPL brand as an online property may have been overvalued by its promoters,” says a media consultant who does not wish to be identified. IPL insiders say the revenue from the online business of IPL is considered critical by the Indian cricket board. These include incomes from live streaming of IPL videos, T20 cricket highlights available in downloadable clips for a charge, online sale of tickets for IPL and other memorabilia and several other online revenue earning possibilities. “When the contract was signed with Live Current Media, it was estimated that IPL will earn upwards of $3 million from the websites alone in the first-four IPL tournaments,” says a source connected with IPL management. IPL as a hot television property in 2008 generated around Rs 500 crore in ad revenue for SET Max, sources say. But this year, its second-leg saw a 10 to 15 per cent dip in match ratings though the net reach of the show was higher than IPL-I. “The novelty factor of IPL is not there now. Also, the Indian team was the World T20 champions before IPL-I, so there was an overall excitement about the event. In subsequent years, IPL will settle down as a serious television event but the potential of generating advertising revenue has to be more realistic,” says the head of a leading media agency. For BCCI, the top priority is now to find an event management firm that is acceptable to all the eight teams. “The rest will fall in place much before the IPL-III kicks off once the matter of the management firm is settled,” says a source in IPL.
Bollywood star Salman Khan wants to own a cricket team. The actor has met IPL chairman Lalit Modi in Mumbai to understand the bidding process.
According to reports Bollywood star Ajay Devgun also wants to buy new IPL team.
Two new IPL teams are to be introduced in 2011. Early reports say Khan is interested in bidding for the Nagpur or Kochi team.
“He was interested to know what it takes to own a team, what’s the process, when it will be initiated and what’s the timeline for it. I think he is a serious buyer,” Modi said.
Last year, the average bid was 150 million dollars per team, so Salman will need a serious amount of cash.
Source: cricket.ndtv.com
Kolkata Knight Riders’ hunt for a new coach is still on, and the latest to join in the speculation is former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram.
But latest reports say that Akram, one of the most gifted bowlers of all time, is not in line for the coach’s job. Instead, he is likely to be roped in as a consultant. Akram’s media commitments are said to be the reason for him not joining the team full-time.
According to media reports, Akram and John Wright, who has captained New Zealand and coached India, are the only top candidates left to be interviewed by the team’s owner Shah Rukh Khan. The process, which includes a presentation by the hopefuls, may be completed by the end of this week. Akram will be meeting the KKR management to finalise his contract on August 30.
Earlier reports said that Wright (55) was the frontrunner to succeed Buchanan, who had been the franchise’s head of cricket operations until his removal two months ago. However, two more names – Richard Pybus and Dermot Reeve – have cropped up.
Pybus and Reeve, the former English cricketers, were interviewed by Khan at his Bandra residence on Sunday and are tipped to secure the high-profile coaching assignment.
Pybus is said to have emerged as the favourite. The management was impressed with his presentation. He has been asked to stay on for a second round of meeting on August 30.
Wright too will present his case on the 30th of this month. But KKR is having second thoughts about him because he does not have any T20 coaching experience.
Meanwhile, Akram has confirmed that he was approached by the KKR management for coach’s job. He said that he was called by Sourav Ganguly to help him in managing/coaching the Knight Riders.
Ganguly, however, said nothing had been finalised yet.
“Akram is part of the final few coaches who have been called on August 30. He along with (John) Wright and (Pravin) Amre have been called. I would also go to Mumbai that time,” Ganguly said.
Former Indian batsman, Amre, incidentally was assistant coach of the Mumbai Indians for the second season of the IPL.
Source: cricket.ndtv.com/
