If the inaugural edition of the IPL T20 provided it an opportunity to project the brand, India Cements believes this year’s event being held in South Africa gives it a chance to grow its corporate image. India Cements owns the Chennai Super Kings franchise.
Last year, the team’s players had Coromandel King (Coromandel being one of India Cements’ brands) on their shirts, giving this predominantly southern player in the cement industry a national presence. The company even said it would ride piggyback on the Chennai Super Kings franchise as it expanded its national footprint in the cement industry.
The Chennai Super Kings, led by skipper M.S. Dhoni, who at $1.5 million was the costliest buy in last year’s players auction, this year bagged England cricketer Andrew Flintoff at $1.55 million, again among the costliest buys this season.
Source – moneycontrol.com

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

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

Soft drink major PepsiCo today said its newly-launched drink Nimbooz has become the official beverage sponsor of the IPL franchisee team Kings XI Punjab.
The IPL tournament will be held in South Africa from 18 April.
“We are thrilled to announce the association of Nimbooz with the Kings XI in IPL’ 09. Nimbooz is proud to associate itself with such … a dynamic team and we hope this association gives all its fans many refreshing moments to cheer about,” PepsiCo India Executive Director Marketing Punita Lal said in a statement.
Through this partnership, Nimbooz have gained the exclusive pouring rights at home matches besides being the official beverage for the Kings XI, the company said.
It has also got the branding rights on the players’ uniform with the logo at the back. “Nimbooz branding will be displayed on the uniforms of the Bhangra cheerleaders as well as in that of the ball boys,” it said.
Besides, the company has also launched a marketing initiative ‘Nimbooz Highway Gadi’, in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal, offering consumers to buy scratch cards and win a trip to South Africa.
Source – livemint.com