Kings XI Punjab lost by a narrow margin of 10 runs against the Warriors in their warm-up game in Port Elizabeth, as they faltered in pursuit of a competitive 151. Colin Ingram set up the Warriors innings with an aggressive, unbeaten 57, which included five fours and two sixes. Punjab struggled in the field, dropping five catches though they will be encouraged by the performance of their fast bowler VRV Singh who finished with 4 for 24. Taruwar Kohli led the Punjab response with a quickfire 36 but was short of support from the other batsmen, like Simon Katich (12) and Kumar Sangakkara (16), who got starts but failed to consolidate. Warren Bell took 2 for 22 as Punjab, requiring 19 off the last over, managed just eight.
Last year’s finalists Chennai Super Kings registered a comfortable 42-run win over the Dolphins in Durban. Suresh Raina top scored for Chennai with 72 and Parthiv Patel contributed 43 as their team piled up 181 for 7. Imraan Khan was the most effective of the Dolphins bowlers, taking 3 for 11. In response, the local team were skittled out for 139 as Muttiah Muralitharan bagged 3 for 32.
In their set of warm-ups, Kolkata Knight Riders lost the first game against Free State by two wickets off the last ball. Defending 140, they managed to stretch the home team to the last over but their score eventually proved inadequate. In the second game, though, they bounced back to win by 59 runs after Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum scored 76 each to post a formidable 204. Free State, in reply, could only manage 145 for 7. agencies
Source – dailytimes.com.pk
Former India pacer Ashish Nehra feels the Indian Premier League (IPL) has come as a blessing for several talented youngsters, who would have otherwise not grabbed the public eye.
”It’s an extremely big stage. Look at guys like Manpreet Gony, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina who have benefited enormously from it,” Nehra told cricketnirvana.com.
Nehra, who has not played for India since late 2005, said the IPL has revived hopes of a return to international cricket for discarded players like him.
”The IPL is as big as international cricket. In earlier times, as a cricketer getting dropped from the Indian team, it was very difficult to motivate yourself. The domestic circuit was fast losing credibility and players were not very keen on giving it a hundred percent if they were in the wrong side of 30 and there were no vacancies in the Indian team,” he stated.
The IPL has also become a playground for ageing and retired stars like Ajit Agarkar Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden and Shaun Pollock.
But, Nehra is not yet ready to include himself in that category.
”Please don’t put me in that category, you must be joking,” the Delhi left-armer said.
”I am still under 30.
”The best aspect of the IPL is that it is as big as international cricket in terms of pressure, quality of cricket and competitiveness,” he added.
Source – deepikaglobal.com
With just two days left for the Indian Premier League (IPL) to begin, its management has decided not to sell rights to show its
matches on multiplex screens yet again. Multiplex players believe this is largely because the IPL organising committee was asking for a high minimum guarantee from prospective bidders and found no takers for such a business model.
When contacted, Indian Premier League CEO Sundar Raman told ET, “We are not looking at screening Indian Premier League matches on multiplexes this year.” While Mr Raman did not divulge reasons behind the decision, multiplex players believe it is a good business opportunity lost.
A senior executive with a Delhi-based multiplex chain, who did not wish to be quoted, said, “The IPL committee was asking for a very high price as minimum guarantee, in addition to revenue sharing arrangements. This is not a financially viable business model that multiplexes operate on.” He added that multiplexes can’t hike ticket prices significantly as that would not help in attracting volumes.
As per another senior executive with a company that was looking to bid for the multiplex distribution rights, IPL was looking at a minimum guarantee of Rs 35-45 crore and was awarding the distribution rights only for a year.
“Since the matches are happening in South Africa this year, it would have been an even bigger business opportunity for multiplexes, distributors and advertisers,” UFO Moviez CFO Kapil Agarwal said. The digital cinema solutions firm had evinced interest in providing back-end technology for live telecast of the matches at multiplexes. There were reports earlier that the IPL organising committee had called in bids to award multiplex distribution rights for showing live match feed. With the tussle between movie producers and multiplexes still continuing over revenue share, IPL matches could have brought the much-needed respite for multiplexes that are currently screening Hollywood and regional movies.
Source – economictimes.indiatimes.com
Indian cricket team’s star batsman Sachin Tendulkar avoided debate over the venue of this year’s edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Further, he asserted that as the skipper of Mumbai Indians, he is eager to regale the supporters of his team despite the matches being played in South Africa.
When persisted by journalists for his comments on the government’s inability to provide security for the IPL extravaganza, Tendulkar said, “I am sure the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the concerned guys must have tried their best. It’s just coincided with the elections. I don’t think by shifting the tournament to South Africa there will be any less interest. The interest is terrific.”
He said this while interacting with media persons at a reception hosted by Jaypee University of Technology at Noida here last evening.
The BCCI wanted to stage the event overseas after failing to get government clearance for security cover as certain dates of fixtures clashed with the general elections.
The IPL was a huge success in its inaugural edition in cricket-crazy India last year, primarily because it was structured around city-based franchises with a fan base in home and away matches.
However, Tendulkar wasn’t a part of the winning Indian side in the ICC Twenty-20 World Cup held in South Africa 2007 due to injury.
And reportedly he has expressed his inability to be a part of the national side which again plays in England this June.
On this score, he said that he does not wish upset the team’s combination that has shaped well over the last two years.
“I would have loved to be there (England). But I feel, it would be unfair to disturb the combination and that’s the only reason I have stayed out of the team,” added Tendulkar.
Source – newstrackindia.com
Kings XI Punjab coach Tom Moody knows first-hand how passionate India’s cricket fans were about the inaugural Indian Premier League tournament.
And the Australian believes there’s a “lot of intrigue” among local fans about the second version of the Twenty20 tournament to be played in South Africa after organisers made the late switch from India for security reasons.
Moody, who coached Sri Lanka to the 2007 World Cup final, has assembled a strong line-up to represent Punjab including Sri Lankan stars Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene for the tournament starting this weekend.
But some of his Australian players such as Brett Lee, James Hopes and Shaun Marsh are only expected to be available for the last two weeks after touring with Australia to Dubai for the one-day series against Pakistan.
Elsewhere the Australian flavour is evident across all eight franchises, including five Australian coaches – Moody, Delhi’s Greg Shipperd, Kolkata’s John Buchanan, his opposite in coaching philosophy, Rajasthan Royals captain-coach Shane Warne and Deccan’s Darren Lehmann.
Warne admits his team’s title defence will suffer through having last year’s player of the tournament Shane Watson on national duties in Dubai.
While Moody says it’s very hard to pick a winner this year given the way top players will float in and out of their franchise teams, the reaction of the cricket public is also tough to predict.
It’s believed several teams were keen to play as many games in Durban as possible given the large Indian population in the beachside city.
Hulking Queenslander Matthew Hayden has already been surfing Durban’s warm waters in preparation for his campaign with the Chennai Super Kings.
They’ll be captained by India’s M.S. Dhoni, which won’t hurt Chennai’s attempts to win over Durban fans.
“It’s going to be interesting,” Moody said at the Kings XI team’s training base in Port Elizabeth this week.
“We play six games in Durban, a large percentage of our games in an area where it’s heavily populated by an Asian community.
“We’ve picked up (left-arm quick) Yusuf Abdulla who’s from Durban and has an Asian heritage -we may get a connection with the Durban fans through that.
“Particularly in places like Durban there’s going to be a strong following and I think there’s a lot of intrigue out there too – It has really captured people’s imagination.”
Moody, the Western Australia state coach, is proud to be part of Australia’s colonisation of the cricketing world, as shown by the country’s off-field dominance in the IPL.
“That has been a bit of a trend over the last decade or so in world cricket,” Moody says.
“We’ve seen a lot of Aussie coaches in international positions.
“I was in Sri Lanka, John Dyson is in the West Indies, Greg Chappell was in India (and Geoff Lawson was in Pakistan).
“There has been a lot of Australian influence in coaching and I think that goes with the success of the Australian cricket team over the past two decades.”
The IPL claim tickets for Saturday’s opening double-header in Cape Town between the Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, and Rajasthan Royals versus Royal Challengers Bangalore, were sold out within hours of going on sale.
“In South Africa, I think there’s a lot of intrigue just purely in the cricket and how suddenly all these international cricketers are coming into one competition,” Moody added.
“It’s not a World Cup, it’s not anything of that nature. But it’s a unique format to be enjoyed.”
Source – foxsports.com.au
