England allrounder Dimitri Mascarenhas joined the Rajasthan Royals on Monday, and he will be available for five IPL matches before returning home on May 12.

Mascarenhas’ arrival will be a definite boost for IPL tean Rajasthan Royals, who are now second in the IPL standings after three-successive victories, and he hoped that his team would be able to sustain their momentum. “The biggest challenge for the Royals from hereon is to achieve consistent winning results. The team has had an amazing run after the first game and the main objective now is to force our way into the semi-finals and then the final,” Mascarenhas told the Hindu.

He said that he could return to play for the team, who are set for two back-to-back home matches, after completing his county commitments. “I can also come back for the semi-finals and final should the team get there. But the next two home games will be big for us. It’s going to be tough for me to get into the team; it depends on the balance.”

Mascarenhas was all praise for Shane Warne, his former captain at Hampshire, and the coach-cum-captain of Rajasthan. “I have not seen all the players up close, but Warne definitely has an influence on the team. Speaking to him last night and this morning it’s obvious he has worked on the team with full intensity, got the young lads together and working as a unit. He’s an inspiring guy and people listen to him.”

Meanwhile, Mascarenhas, who is the only Englishman to figure in the inaugural IPL after his county gave him permission for a brief stint, said that his compatriots were keen to take part in the tournament. “The England players are desperate to play in the IPL. Next year they will all put their hands up to come and play. Everyone has watched the IPL in England and what an amazing tournament it is. I have watched all the games. The IPL is big time news in the England newspapers.”

Shoaib Akhtar’s international career virtually came to an end with an appellate tribunal on Wednesday upholding the five-year ban imposed on him but allowed him to play in the cash-rich Indian Premier League.

The appellate tribunal, in its interim ruling, said Akhtar could not play any match in or for Pakistan but gave him the liberty to play anywhere else in the world.

Justice (retd) Aftab Farrukh, heading the appellate tribunal, said the ban stayed because Shoaib did not try to reform himself.

“Basically he has not tried to reform himself and has continued to violate discipline. That is the view of the tribunal so the ban stays,” told reporters in Lahore.

“This is also the order of the disciplinary committee of the Board that he can’t play for or anywhere in Pakistan domestically or internationally. But there is no bar on him playing anywhere else in the world,” Farrukh added.

Farrukh said the tribunal had taken this decision in view of the unconditional apology submitted by Shoaib on Monday to the nation, his team and the Board for his actions and deeds.

Farrukh said the tribunal would resume proceedings against the overall ban in June. Akhtar had appealed against the five-year ban imposed on him by the Pakistan Cricket Board for breaching players code of conduct by criticising the Board in media when he was already in the probation period.

The interim order basically appears to be a move to allow Shoaib to play in the Indian Premier League.

But the million dollar question is that whether the IPL will allow Shoaib to play in their League because earlier also their stance was clear that they wouldn’t allow a banned player to play in their league. And the tribunal has not lifted the ban.

Farrukh also criticised Shoaib for the irreparable harm he had done to Pakistan cricket, his teammates and the trust of the nation.

Gayle had picked up the injury
during the third ODI against Sri Lanka in St Lucia earlier this month,
when he limped off after finishing his bowling stint.

With most International Players leaving for their home commitment, the time has come to see how the IPL teams fair in their absence.

Mumbai Indians have finally arrived with a comprehensive win over the Knight Riders who were outplayed in all the departments in the Indian premier League Match today. The Mumbai Indians were on a mission today and right from the moment they took the field, they meant business. They started off with a bang pegging back the Knight Riders with a heap of early wickets.

The target was never daunting but the Knight Riders got themselves a small opening with three quick wickets at the top. That dropped chance of Uthappa proved costly as he went on to hold a century run stand with Bravo.

The biggest mistake so far has been by Captains of IPL teams who choose to bat the moment they win a toss with a plan to make the opponents chase a big score. And today was no different. Also we do not understand why Md. Haffiz the Pak opener is not being given a chance to open the innings – he is comfortable and confident and have done it in the past also with sufficient expertise.

SRK and his boys really need to think hard and act fast as the initial momentum is gobe and with players like Brandon and Ponting returning home. Also the fact they lost miserably in the hands of the weakest team today requires rational analysis.

However, finally today it was a sigh of relief for all those who had been rooting for Mumbai. Mumbai Indians won by 7 wickets with Sanath Jayasuriya bagging the Man of the Match award for his brilliant performance with both the ball and the bat.

Score :

Kolkata Knight Riders: 137/8 (20.0 Ovs)
Mumbai Indians: 138/3 (18.4 Ovs)

Man of the Match – Sanath Jayasuriya

Indian premier League – IPL News is now available live on mobile phones. iplnews.mobi was launched today by one of the largest fansite of IPL – IPLCricketforum.com as an extended service for all fans of IPL.

iplnews.mobi is a light version of the news with headlines and a brief detail – this is meant for people who wants to stay updated on IPL round the clock and even when they are on the move. Apart from these the site also provides a free toolbar to stay updated from any desktop.

IPL Cricket forum is a community dedicated to IPL and serves with live score, match updates, match results, team status for the Indian Premier League. The site is a user generated community around ipl with user submitted content, images, video and games around cricket. The most unique game is a prediction game for the entire IPL tournament.

While we all know that Sony has purchased the television rights of Television and is currently broadcasting it on Channel Setmax, very few of us are aware about one of the greatest Cricket aficionados inside Sony – who had the vision to spearhead this deal apart from many other winning deals. Yes its none other than Kunal Dasguta the CEO of Sony Entertainment Television. Not only all matches and statistics are at the tip of his finger but also he never misses any match be it a charity cricket or an international tie.

Cricket and Movies has always been the prime driver of Indian Television and this was the reason why Setmax was born which telecasts a mix of Cricket and Bollywood movies. Though many critics described this as the craziest idea initially but time has proven that Kunal was never wrong in formulating this winning mix. Starting from the first Cricket coverage of Tri Series Aiwa Cup held in Sri Lanka the channel has broadcasted several Cricket series along with movies.

Sure the current IPL telecast is the greatest of them all and has already proved its worth shoving away the stale and staple diet of Saas Bahu type serials but also the Bollywood Movies and it has crossed all expectations and currently ruling all the sec’s plus the young, old, rich and kids alike.

While speaking to a website Kunal mentioned correctly that the true test lies in sustaining the brand IPL even after the tournament is over. He said – Ideally I would want the IPL to be a successful brand that has a long term play. After June, I will continue to do promotions to keep the team brands alive. This was one of the conditions on which we bid.

We will do shows around the IPL. You could see teams (franchises) practicing and discussing strategies for the next season.

This might happen. Apart from April-May, you cannot have another period where all the stars are available. What will happen is that once the league is built the new players who are playing will become the core. You can then have matches in different parts of the world to popularise the game there using these new players.

The trick for us is not getting ratings for the first season. This will happen as a matter of course because of the way the IPL has been hyped. The challenge is to sustain the excitement after that and it is here where we will have to take a leaf out of the book of the EPL. Teams have marketed themselves and have thus become iconic brands.

So Mallya for instance, will use the Royal Challenger brand name to go out there and create opportunities for exhibition matches. They can do charity work in Bangalore and build a fan base. Each franchise will have its own website where clips will be available. They can create merchandise.

We think that this is the correct approach in building a property somewhat similar to NFL where the hype continues for the entire near with the pitch rising above average during tournaments.

Kunal also said that Sony will pitch in through magazine shows. Otherwise it will just be a flash in the pan. As we come closer to the next season you will see transfers and there will be speculation.

New heroes will be born. It is possible that the likes of current heroes like Glenn McGrath, Kumble, and Saurav will not play beyond two seasons. Once that happens, then the brand will live outside the big names.

One of the major attractions will be the presence of big Bollywood stars. Akshay Kumar will perform for Delhi. SRK will perform for Kolkata and you will see proper Bollywood entertainment.

We have even tweaked the timings of some of the matches to accommodate our entertainment specials. One match was supposed to start at 4 pm but we have pushed it back to 5:30 pm. We will even have stand up comedy for Extraaa Innings. On air we have gone in for fresh faces. We did not want Mandira (Bedi) for this. She is more suited for ODI cricket. I want 20-year-olds in T20. We also did not want Kapil Dev, Gavaskar. We wanted anchors who represent today’s kids. With the ICC World Cup we broke the mould and brought in females. Now we are breaking the mould back with IPL.

Great going for Max and Sony – we hope the Indian Cricket fans are also enjoying every bit of this evolution of Cricket and waiting anxiously for more to come.

© IPL Cricket Forum

With Chennai Super Kings dominating the IPL League Table – a host of Tamil film stars are queuing up to become brand ambassador of the Indian Premier League’s leadin team.

Earlier, the team’s brand ambassador actress Nayanthara was sacked by the team owners for failing to appear for the shooting of a promotional video on Tuesday.

Among those who are willing are upcoming stars like Arya and superstar Rajnikanth’s daughter Saundarya, team’s spokesman Gurunath Meiyappan told reporters here.

“We are discussing deals with the other stars as well,” Meiyappan added.

While Arya will perform daredevil stunts during the forthcoming matches involving CSK, the offer by Saundarya has been kept secret.

During Wednesday’s match, film stars Vijay, ace drummer Shiva Mani, singers Hariharan, Naresh Iyer and radio-jockey Suchi performed to the full stands.

For Vijay, the IPL deal is a big blessing as the cricket publicity would aid his forthcoming May 3 release “Kuruvi” produced by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi’s grandson Udayanidhi Stalin.

We will see more celebrities coming as every match of the Super Kings is bound to be exciting in the whole league.

Aussie Matthew Hayden has said that he is upset that his Indian Premier League adventure is over, after bowing out of the 2008 IPL on the winning side when his Chennai Super Kings claimed six wickets in the final four overs to beat the Bangalore Royal Challengers by 13 runs – reports Setana Sports.

Hayden hit thirteen runs in the Kings’ total, enough to claim the Orange Cap at the break of innings for leading runs scorer in the tournament so far.

The Australian leaves to represent his country in the Test series in the West Indies, but says that he has enjoyed the whole experience.

“It has been a lot of fun,” he told Setanta Sports.

“It is a great shame to leave, as all of the Australians have enjoyed the opportunity. It is a unique tournament, and it has been great to be a part of it. I will be sad to leave.”

Hayden was also pleased with the batting performance of the Kings, despite his own relative failure, after MS Dhoni (65) and Michael Hussey (47) led them to 178 for 5 off their 20 overs.

“Our batting was particularly strong today,” he continued.

“Our strategy was solid, getting off to a reasonable pace. The last thing we wanted to do was blow ourselves out, with three or four wickets down.

“Today was a good opportunity to set our total up, and there were some incredible strikes at the end from MS and Huss, the consummate professional as always.”

Indeed its a great loss for Chennai Super Kings the dominating team in IPL with an unbeaten record so far with four consequtive win so far.

Indian Premier League Team – Chennai Super Kings continue to dominate the IPL under the Twenty20 World Champion captain. They have won four out of four matches here and they are looking ever so dangerous.Today they closed their innings with a moderate score of 178 thanks to Dhoni’s cool knock of 65 with 3 sixes.

Bangalore came to bat with all the hope to defeat their arch rivals playing in their home ground. Even it looked as if Rahul Dravid and his boys could pull a winner this time. But with once Taylor got out it was all the way for Chennai. Even with whatever bowlers Some silly running took toll on their nerves as well and they ended 13 runs short of the Chennai target.

Score:

Bangalore Royal Challengers: 165-all out (19.4 Ovs)
Chennai Super Kings: 178/5 (20.0 Ovs)

Chennai Super Kings win by 13 runs
Man of the Match – Mahinder Singh Dhoni

© IPL Cricket Forum

Harbhajan Singh was banned for eleven matches of IPL today as announced by Lalit Modi in a press conference a short while ago. The board arrived at this decision after watching a video footage of the incident and Harbhajan’s own acknowledgment. Earlier BCCI – the board of control of India have suspended him pending an explanation from him.

BCCI expressed their shock at his behaviour which was unprovoked during the recently concluded match between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab where he slapped Sreesanth playing for the rivals. BCCI found him guilty at a level of 4.2 which is high. This level even allows a board to suspend a player for ten match and even a lifetime ban. It was also mentioned that this kind attitude was not warranted in a game of cricket. Even Lalchand Rajput’s  (Team Manager of Mumbai Indians) behaviour was found not in the spirit of cricketas he was present at the place of the incident. Harbhajan has been fined 100% of the match fee for this incident while Lalchand Rajput will loose 50% of the match fees.

The incident occurred at the end of the Mumbai – Mohali match of the Indian Premier League  when Harbhajan was shaking hands with all members. On reaching Sreesanth who was third in the line he simply punched or slapped him on the face without any provocation.

Mr Farooque Enggineer match referee who was present during the hearing tried to broker peace between the two players by bringing them together when they shook hands and hug each other in front of the press. Harbhajan also apologized and accepted his mistake while asking fans to continue supporting the team.

We think that this is a correct decision which will set and example for players who are not in control of their emotions and cannot honor the spirit of the game. Also each Cricket Board should have proper counselors who should take care of such errant players.

© IPL Cricket Forum