Controversial Australian batsman Andrew
Symonds,who has been brought by Deccan Chargers at a whopping price of
$1.35 million, the highest after Mahendra Singh Dhoni, is all set to
make peace with Indian crowd and his ‘foe’ Harbhajan Singh in the
forthcoming DLF-IPL Twenty20 tournament.
Symonds,who arrived
Friday night, said he would be his normal self with Harbhajan with whom
he had a troubled relationship during the recent India-Australia series.
The
Queensland all-rounder was also ready for any crowd reaction, during
the tournament. “I have to be there. I need to be cooler. I have seen
worse things than this. The crowd was there during the last tour.
People are passionate about cricket in India,” he said.
Talking
about sledging, the burly Symonds believed it would not play a big part
in this form of cricket as it is faster as it is found in Test cricket.
“I
don’t think there will be much of sledging. The game is played much
faster. There will be lot of running around. We won’t have time for
sledging,” he said.
Asked whether he was surprised for the
highest bid that was made, Symonds said “I was talking about the
auction process with my teammates.
It is amazing sort of event.
I want to enjoy and play well in India.” On the low bid for his captain
Ricky Ponting, Symonds said, “It is part of the game. The bidding
system may change in next two or three years.”
On the growing
influence of IPL and whether he would prefer IPL or his country,
Symonds was hopeful that the International Cricket Council (ICC) will
find ways to solve this ticklish issue.
“Hopefully they will
find a remedy for players to play for the IPL and the country. The
boards would make way of everyone to be happy.” Symonds did not agree
T20 would push Test and ODI cricket to the background.
“I don’t
think Test cricket will take a backseat. There will be changes in the
game to make it interesting”. Symonds said he was looking forward to
play against his country teammates.
“It is something
different.We have been playing together for the last 10 years and now
it is a different competition. That will also be an interesting part of
the competition.”
Symonds said he had not seen other team list.
“But from what I have heard, Matthew Hayden’s (Chennai Super Kings)
team is a strong one.”
Lalit Modi, Chairman and Commissioner of the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL), who met representatives of the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) here on Saturday, claimed to The Hindu that the problems relating to the contentious terms and conditions of the Media Guidelines – even after they were revised once by IPL – may have been resolved.
“I have dropped the last clause, allowed the websites of the newspapers to upload a reasonable number of pictures [instead of six] and clarified certain clauses to them. We have agreed in principle on all matters,” Mr. Modi told this correspondent.
Clause dropped
The following clause has been dropped altogether: “IPL may request publications to provide for use and reproduction, free of charge, worldwide and without limit in time any photographs/images captured by the Accredited Party at any Ground and the Accredited Party shall make the same available to IPL.”
Another clause restricted newspapers to the use of only six pictures per match on their websites. According to this particular clause, “No online use or publication or syndication of any such still photographic images is allowed except for the website of the publication. Only used photos can be put on website of a publication. In the media gallery of the website, six more pictures other than those used in the publication can be used.” IPL has now agreed to the use of a “reasonable number of pictures.”
It is understood that the national news agency Press Trust of India (PTI) would be allowed to supply pictures to general websites, but not to cricket-dedicated ones. Mr. Modi, who has discussed website-related issues with PTI’s Executive Editor V.S. Chandrashekar, said he would prefer the latter to make an official statement on the matter.
The INS representatives who met Mr. Modi were: Messrs. H. N. Cama (Mumbai Samachar), Pratap Pawar and Abhijeet Pawar (Sakal Group), Devendra Darda (Lokmat) and Paresh Nath (Delhi Press).
There has been no response yet to Mr. Modi’s climbdown by the Editors’ Guild of India and the Indian Newspaper Society, which had earlier termed the guidelines unacceptable.
Australian pace spearhead Brett Lee said on Saturday that he was looking forward to sharing the new ball with Irfan Pathan and Sreesanth in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Praising the Indian bowlers as “world class,” Lee said: “It would be great to share the new ball with them.”
The Australian quick also rubbished suggestion that the Indian Premier League (IPL) would lure players away from national duty, saying both could co-exist without being detrimental to each other.
“I don’t think we should compare or match the IPL with Australian team as both have their own place,” said Lee, who would be playing for Kings XI Punjab.
On being quizzed about a recent survey conducted by Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) which says nearly half of the Aussie players were willing to give up their central contracts to play in the cash-awash IPL, Lee said: “I don’t think there is any reason why we can’t do both (play for Australia and the IPL simultaneously).”
“My heart is for Australian team and wearing baggy green is a great honour,” he added.
Coach Tom Moody said there wouldn’t be any lack of motivation because of the presence of players from different countries.
“They are all professionals and have played in different conditions at different times…A lot of pride is at stake,” Moody said.
Preity Zinta, co-promoter of the team, Lee and Moody kick-started ticket sales with the first two selling and autographing tickets.
“It is great to see so many people turning up to buy tickets and joining us to support and cheer Kings XI Punjab,” Zinta said.
Australia skipper Ricky Ponting on Saturday said though the ‘Knight Riders’ would badly miss Pakistan speedstar Shoaib Akhtar, they were however, looking forward to playing great cricket under Sourav Ganguly in the IPL Premier League beginning on April 18 at the Eden Gardens.
Addressing newspersons along with ‘Knight Riders’ coach John Buchanon after a day’s workout in sweltering heat as mercury almost touched 40 degree Celsius, Ponting said the IPL would provide good brand of cricket and at the end young players would learn a lot from their seniors.
“I am feeling excited and the tourney will provide me a great opportunity to acquaint myself with other players of the IPL,” Ponting opined. Talking about Team India’s recent Australia tour, Ponting said initially they had some problem with the Indian side but as play went on things became better and now that chapter was over.
“Now we have forgotten that chapter, and are looking forward to play together,”Ponting said.
On the absence of Shoaib Akhtar after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) slammed a five-year ban on the Rawalpindi Express, the Australian cricket captain said, ”We will definitely miss him badly but we have to go on with our present side. ”Arriving midnight last night and had
good workout this noon, Ponting said he was bit relaxed as Sourav would lead their ‘Knight Riders’ in the first T-twenty IPL premier league against ‘Deccan Charger’ at the Eden Gardens on April 18.
Ponting said since he was not the skipper, he would try to give the best in the IPL. On all black costume for ‘Knight Riders’, Ponting said they were good and looking smart with black caps, black T-Shirt and black trousers.
To another question, Ponting said he was keen to meet Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan owning the ‘Knight Riders’. On Ishant Sharma, Ponting said he has good future and he would bowl for many years for India.
Coach Buchanan said, ” My players have good experience in T-twenty cricket and we are expecting to perform well in the days. ” Ponting, David Hussey, Tateya Taibu, Yaspal Singh, Iqbal Abdullah, Murli Kartick, Akash Chopra, Sourashish Lahiri, Ranadeb Bose, Brand Macculum had physical training under the watchful eyes of John Buchanan. His son Michael also arrived here as strength trainer.
With King Khan, Preity Zinta taking active role in the promotion of IPL its Bollywood all the way gearing up to promote IPL.
Shah Rukh Khan would be seen cheering his team Kolkata Knight Riders wherever they play. The charismatic Khan is particularly looking forward to cheering his team at the spectacular Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata. In fact, Khan has even decided to lower the ticket prices to as cheap as Rs. 100 so that the young Cricket Lovers can get to witness all the cricketing action live.
On top of this Shah Rukh would be even handing over every 1000th purchased ticket personally to the spectator. The superstar has even urged some of his friends from Bollywood like Bipasha and Rani Mukherji to be present along with him to cheer his team.
In another bid to lure cricket buffs for the forthcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket matches, Bollywood actress Preity Zinta and Australian speedster Brett Lee will personally sell tickets for their Kings XI Punjab team matches with their autographs at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium in Mohali, later today.
As per the Mohali organisers, the interested people can get tickets from the stadium itself at 3 pm today (Saturday), but from Monday onwards, sale counters would be set up at prominent outlets across major cities like Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Amritsar.
Lets hope that the crowds are full in all the venues as they can expect to be treated to a great feats of Cricket with liberal flavoring in the form of Bollywood.
