A day after he was selected in the Indian preliminary squad for the Twenty20 World Cup in England in June, Rajasthan Royals player Naman Ojha says he is keen to perform well in the second edition of the IPL and confirm his berth in the national squad.
“I am looking forward to perform well in the Indian Premier League (IPL), commencing this month in South Africa, to get a berth in the Indian team that plays in the Twenty20 World Cup in England,” Ojha told PTI on Sunday.
“The IPL is very crucial for me,” he said.
The 26-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman from Madhya Pradesh said he was ready to bat in any order in the IPL and was mentally prepared for it.
“I have toiled hard in the field”, he said.
Rajasthan Royals will clash with the Bangalore Royal Challengers in the inaugural IPL’s Twenty20 match in Cape Town on April 18.
Ojha started playing first-class cricket in 2000 and has scored over 3,000 runs for Madhya Pradesh.
Source – cricketnext.in.com
Rajasthan Royals, the reigning IPL champions, will be looking to rediscover their famous team spirit in the second season, which kicks off in South Africa on April 18.
“The secret of our success last year was that we clicked as a unit. It should be the goal this year as well,” said Mohammad Kaif, arguably the most well-known Indian player in the team.
From a bunch of no-hopers who did not even spend the allotted quota of money to buy players in the first auction, the Shane Warne-led team played some extremely disciplined cricket to come out winners of the five-week contest last time.
It is a feat that could put them in the highest echelons of sporting excellence as the Royals are in the early running for nominations in the best team category for Laureus World Sports Awards.
The other possible nominees in this category, hold your breath, is Jamaica’s Olympic sprint team, including 100 metre and 200 champion Usain Bolt, British cycling team, which went on a medal-spree in Beijing, and Spain’s European Championship-winning soccer team.
In cricket, the only other early nomination is that of South African team, which became the first side in 16 years to win a Test series in Australia.
The final list of nominees, venue and date for what is the sporting Oscars now will be announced on April 16.
While Kaif was not aware of this, the Test discard said he was looking forward to meet the teammates in South Africa on April 5.
“I have not been quite in touch with the boys, but we are expected to have a camp at our base in Cape Town,” Kaif told Gulf News over phone. “It will certainly not be the same to play in front of your home crowd, but it could be a different experience altogether,” he said.
Asked about a possible pressure factor from being the underdogs last year to getting down to title-defence, Kaif said it would not weigh them down. “See, it’s a short game and one bad day can make a lot of difference. The idea would be to take it match by match and see show it goes,” said the middle order batsman, who agreed that he needed to make up for a patchy individual form last year.
While the first edition of IPL saw a virtual run-feast in most of the games, it will it be little more challenging for the batsmen on the bouncier wickets of South Africa where the ball also moves around a bit in the evening? “Most of the leading stroke players of the world would love the bounce there. However, it might see some more even contest between the bat and ball with some low-scoring matches as well,” Kaif said.
Source – gulfnews.com
Now that all of the legal and financial obstacles are through, the DLF Indian Premier League is now ready to being its season on April 18. Bollywood actress and co-owner of inaugural IPL Champion Rajashthan Royals Shilpa Shetty is ready for the season to finally get underway. While the IPL has been a cash cow becoming a billion dollar entity in only its first season, the move to South Africa due to general elections in India has scared some sponsors and advertisers. Shetty and her boyfriend, businessman Raj Kumdra believe this is a long term investment that will pay off huge dividends.
“Raj and I have thought of it as a long-term investment plan and I really think the way the Rajasthan Royals have turned out as a team has been spectacular,” Shetty told the Times.co.za.
Being the co-owner of the reigning champion Rajasthan Royals might make life easier for Shilpa Shetty than some other celebrity owners of IPL franchises such as Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta, and Juhi Chawla. While that brings major bragging rights, it also brings higher expectations of her and of her team as they look to remain the only champions the Indian Premier League has ever known.
“The [Rajasthan Royals’] growth as a team and an investment has gone by leaps and bounds. It made money even last year, and it will continue to make money this year, despite the whole shift from India to South Africa.”
The Rajasthan Royals open up their schedule in Cape Town on April 18 against the Bangalore Royal Challengers. The difference between this Twenty20 tournament and regular cricket is that the time of the game is considerably shorter, something that Shilpa Shetty highly approves of.
“I’ve always been a very impatient person. I always like to watch the last 20 overs. I’ve never had the patience to watch a whole match. This whole Twenty20 format for me is really interesting and I’m a huge fan of that,” Shetty said.
While she’s a huge fan of the cricket time, she’s not a fan of having to pick favorites on her team. When asked to name her favorite cricketer, Shilpa Shetty said, “I think it’s rather unfair of me to take just one player’s name, especially when you’re a co-owner. So I just simply say whoever makes the most runs, and gets the most wickets, for the Rajasthan Royals, becomes my favorite player.” She is definitely playing it safe there.
Source – desihits.com
Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, who co-owns Indian Premier League (IPL) team Rajasthan Royals, hopes that the new venue for the matches will be a success for the T20 series.
“Kudos to the South African government and South Africa cricket body who have welcomed us with open arms and I am really hopeful after attending the Australia vs South Africa Pro T20 Match on Friday, seeing the huge cricket fan base there, I am sure that the IPL will be hugely successful,” Shilpa posted on her blog on board a flight to Cape Town.
The second edition of IPL is taking place in South Africa. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to shift the Twenty20 tournament outside the country after state governments failed to assure security for the event that clashed with general elections.
Last year’s winning team, Rajasthan Royals will kick off the series with a match against Bangalore Royal Challengers at Newlands, Cape Town April 18 and the 33-year-old actress also admitted to undergoing pressure to maintain the winning streak.
“The pressure is really on, especially for us but I feel Rajasthan Royals have an edge since three of our players belong to the South African team, namely South Africa captain Graeme Smith, Morne Morkel and Tyron Henderson,” she wrote.
Watson admitted the second edition of the IPL couldn’t help but lack the same dazzling atmosphere after being shifted to South Africa due to security reasons.
The Australian all-rounder believed the competition, starting on April 18, would still be well organised in South Africa but doubted it would boast the same huge crowds or fanatical interest as in India.
“I think it will definitely be slightly different,” Watson told Fox Sports.
“It’s extremely sad the IPL won’t be held in India. It is a beautiful country and the people there are absolutely fanatical about cricket.
“But it’s still going to be an amazing tournament as it was last year. *
“It’s going to be interesting to see how it’s all going to come together in a couple of weeks.”
Watson was named the competition’s best player in 2008 after starring with both the bat and the ball for the unfancied Rajasthan Royals who snared the inaugural trophy.
Now the Shane Warne-led Royals and the seven other Indian franchises will be based in different South African cities as the tournament is likely to streamlined from six weeks to five and include double-headers.
The Republic beat England to the hosting rights due to several factors, including weather, finances, television rights and the speedy issuing of more than 1000 visas.
Rain is less likely to affect matches in South Africa during the tournament period and with a dollar worth almost 10 rand it is an attractive option financially.
Watson, who was immediately recalled to the Australian one-day side after last year’s IPL, again aims to use the tournament as a springboard back into the international arena.
A strong Ashes candidate, the injury-plagued 27-year-old, who is overcoming back stress fractures, will return to the bowling crease midway through the competition.
“The IPL’s again come at the right time of my career to get back on the track,” he said.
The Queenslander also confirmed he was close to finalising a move to NSW for next season’s domestic competition for lifestyle reasons.
Watson, whose partner is Sydney-based sports presenter Lee Furlong, commuted from Sydney to Brisbane to play for the Bulls this season.
Source – news.com.au
