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

Sourav Ganguly will no longer be the “fixed” skipper of the Kolkata Knight Riders as the team has decided to rotate captaincy in the second season of the Indian Premier League starting April 18 in South Africa.

KKR coach John Buchanan said the decision to have multiple captains has nothing to do with Ganguly’s performance or fitness and denied any rift in the team.

“The decision has got nothing to do with Sourav’s performance. Chris Gayle (West Indies), Brendon McCullum (New Zealand) and Ganguly will all captain KKR. There will be a nominated captain for each game,” he said.

Ganguly, on his part, said his focus was to perform on the field.

“He is the coach, he has views. My goal is to score runs and take wickets,” responded the former Indian captain when asked whether he was disappointed with the KKR’s move.

Even before Ganguly could finish his response, Buchanan intervened to say “He is the King of Kolkata.”

“If you (the media) is going to make a big deal about it, go ahead, we are not going to do it. The concept of multiple captains is new and we will have to see how it goes,” he said. Asked how the team would cope with the conditions in South Africa, where the IPL was shifted after failing to get security assurance from the Indian government, Ganguly said, “It will be different to play there. Wickets will have bounce but let’s see.”
Source – indianexpress.com

There is a calm before a storm. After keeping a low profile for sometime, Shahrukh Khan is all set to storm your television screens. Nothing can stop him from cheering for his IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders and not even the recent surgery on his shoulder.

The second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be played outside India because of the upcoming general elections. Shahrukh knows the buzz will be missing in India but he is certainly not going to miss the fun. He said that he and his Bollywood friends would try to watch maximum number of matches. He added that he would request Lalit Modi, Chairman of the IPL, to reschedule the matches on weekends so that his children could watch it.

Well, Shahrukh Khan roped in Indian celebrities like Karan Johar, Arjun Rampal, Farah Khan, Aziz Mirza, Juhi Chawla, Vivek Oberoi, Sajid Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, Chunky Pandey and Arbaaz Khan to cheer for his team Kolkata Knight Riders last year. The story will be different this time around, as the venue for the IPL matches will be away from home. England and South Africa are the favourites to host this year’s IPL.

Well, let’s wait and watch if Shahrukh can pull the crowd outside India.
Source – entertainment.oneindia.in

Sourav Ganguly’s tenure at the helm of the Team Kolkata may well be over before the second edition of the IPL begins. Dashing New
Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Brendon McCullum’s name is now doing the rounds as the new skipper of the IPL team co-owned by Shah Rukh Khan.

The Black Caps vice-captain, who caught the imagination of the Indian public with a belligerent 73-ball-158 against Team Bangalore in the IPL opener last season, is someone who is favoured by chief coach John Buchanan and perhaps, more significantly, by Shah Rukh as well.

If sources close to the team are to be believed, Buchanan is not too happy with Ganguly’s level of fitness and is actually apprehensive over the Indian captain’s chances of sustaining the rigours of a full-blown tournament in the T20 version. Dada is a few months short of turning 37.

McCullum, in contrast, is 27 and one of the fittest cricketers around. He is also on the top of his game, as the Indian team in New Zealand is discovering. “John is not a malicious person, he has no personal grudge against Sourav,” a source said.
Source – ipl.timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Ravi Bopara has said he hopes the Indian Premier League comes to England rather than South Africa in three weeks’ time. The England batsman, who has been signed by Kings XI Punjab for the coming season, at a cost of $450,000, was looking forward to playing in India, in the region from which his parents originate. But if the security issues in India preclude the 59-match tournament taking place in that country, then he would favour England rather than the other potential host country South Africa.

On Sunday the England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive, David Collier, said that, if required, it was ready to stage the tournament which could be fully accommodated in the desired time frame and on major grounds in England without recourse to altering fixtures. “I would welcome it being in England,” Bopara said in Guyana on Monday prior to catching the team charter to Barbados. “I don’t think there is anything wrong with it as long as the county schedule and the West Indies tour does not change.”

But like Andrew Flintoff before him Bopara has mixed feelings about the prospect of not playing in India. “I think it is disappointing,” he said. “What I was looking forward to was the crowds, the hype, the whole IPL thing. I was excited by it. But if we are playing in England, then I’ll just get on with it.”

However, he sounds a warning to those who might be expecting April and May in England to be conducive to the sort of pyrotechnics seen in the tournament’s inaugural season. “Conditions in India lend themselves to explosive cricket,” he said. “I don’t think it will affect the spectacle but it will be harder to get big scores. The seven English players involved, though, will be used to the conditions so that might help us and it should also help us for the World Twenty20 a month or so later. So I think it can be a good thing for us if it happens.”

Since the IPL player auction Bopara’s stock has risen. He replaced Ian Bell in the Test side and made his maiden Test century in the fourth Test in Barbados. For the Twenty20 match in Trinidad and the one-day internationals that followed in Guyana he was given the responsibility of opening, in an endeavour to find a combination that would be able to take advantage of the powerplays in place at the start of the innings. If his success has been muted so far, he has hopes that he can grow into a role he relishes.

“I would like to see myself opening long term,” he admitted. “I’ve always wanted to do it and I’m so happy I’ve got my opportunity with England. I want to make the most of it because I do want to open for the next so many years and I want to be known as England’s opener. I’m excited about it and I want to do it for however long I play international cricket. It can be difficult at the top of the order but it has its benefits as well. You can pierce the ring and it goes for four. But there are advantages and disadvantages.

“You are up against the new ball and you can always get a good delivery with that. Hopefully I won’t need a long run to prove myself. I want to do that over the next three games and the one-day series coming up in England and the Twenty20 matches I’ll be playing. I want to go to Barbados, score some big runs and win and that will prove myself.”
Source – guardian.co.uk