Taking a break from training day, Delhi Daredevils coach Shippard shared his views on his team’s training and about the IPL league. Delhi Daredevils coach Greg Shippard believes the coaches of the Indian Premier League (IPL) teams have a difficult and challenging job at hand. “The teams have players from different backgrounds. There are local players as well as international stars along with youngsters. They will have to gel as a team in this short period and that will be a challenging task for any coach,” said Shippard.
“IPL is a new concept. The players will have to bond together, develop a team relationship and play as a unit,” he added.
Shippard, who is the successful coach of the Australian state team Victoria, said Twnety20 cricket is getting huge popularity and is a very energetic and entertaining format of the game.
“It is very popular format in Australia. Crowds have swelled in T20 matches unlike in other domestic competition. T20 is very demanding physically and mentally for the players,” he said.
“We have got a good team and we are hopeful about our chances in the tournament. In the next few days we will assess the skills of the players and prepare them for the tournament,” he added.
Cricket director of Daredevils T.A. Sekar said the six fast bowlers whom they have picked in the side will be up for the task at hand.
“Mohd Asif and Glenn McGrath have the experience. Then we have Farveez Mahroof, young Pradeep Sangwan and Yo Mahesh. With Daniel Vettori in the side, we have variety in our attack.”
The Delhi Daredevil captain Sehwag and Coach Shippard will have to work hard with the boys and gentlemen of their team to win the cup.
Which team is Vettori’s favorite ? The Delhi Daredevil answers during a training session at FerozeShah Kotla Grounds! Read On! No Virender Sehwag. No AB De Villiers. No Gautam Gambhir. No Mohammad Asif. No Shoaib Malik. No Glenn McGrath, either. Not even Dinesh Karthik. Unlike their glammed-up promotional events, the first practice session of Delhi’s Indian Premier League team at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Tuesday was an exercise in frugality.
It was only right, then, that soft-spoken Daredevil Daniel Vettori hogged the limelight at this tentative intermingling. Surprisingly, the Kiwi skipper, who will play under Sehwag here, and like four other New Zealand teammates has been given permission to delay his arrival in England for the Test series till May 1, has no illusions about the role big foreign draws will play in the IPL.
Maybe he has been keeping one eye on how things have panned out on the field for the rebel ICL, where former teammate Shane Bond is plying his trade. “It’s unfortunate Shane can’t play for New Zealand anymore, it’s just one of those things,” he said, before getting down to the business end of things. “Only four foreign players can take the field for any given team, so I suppose the squad with the strongest group of Indian players will win. That said, Delhi Daredevils have some pretty talented guys and some very exciting local talent.” A new coaching staff and new loyalties ensures some excitement, too.
Vettori was surprisingly candid about how the IPL is being perceived back in New Zealand.
“With concern,” he said, unequivocally, “We are a poor cricket board. We have had some exodus to the ICL, too. We know it’s a difficult situation. It’s hard to refuse when big offers come your way. It’s a matter of making sure people still play for their country.”
He was also equally forthright about the need to fit IPL into the ICC’s Future Tours Programme: “That will ensure fresher and fitter international players. It will make it easier for us. It hasn’t happened this time. It will be nice if it’s feasible, if that can be done.”
At the World T20 last year, Vettori had joked about how, as a spinner, he wished he didn’t have to bowl at all. Now, with the format’s success more entrenched, he has had to become less apprehensive: “Spinners have been pretty successful in this format, we’ve got a big role to play.”
One man who looked more comfortable in his new skin was Daredevils coach Greg Shippard, the Victoria Bushrangers coach who has a stellar Twenty20 record. Renowned for his tactical thinking, Shippard was into the thick of things straightaway. ‘
‘The diverse group of players is one of the beauties of this competition,” he said, “I’ve watched T20 crowds grow and grow in Australia over the years and I’ve no doubt it will be huge here.
“For the players, it’s very demanding physically and mentally, so it’s important to have good technical management. But motivating players here is a challenge. As for the younger crop, I’m already impressed with (pacers) Pradeep Sangwan and Yo Mahesh.”
The Daredevils can boast a formidable seam attack on paper but concerns remain. Asif is an unlikely starter because of injury, McGrath lacks practice, Brett Geeves is likely to carry drinks and Fervez Maharoof missed the bus to the West Indies because of a side strain. But the Lankan is optimistic of his chances here.
“I’m fit and ready to go, I’ve recovered sufficiently,” he said, “The hot weather is of no concern.” On to the cricket, then.
No wonder, Vettori as a spinner will not only have to play well but also win matches for his daredevils!
The season tickets for the Indian Premier League cricket matches involving Chennai Super Kings will go on sale from Friday, April 11 at the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) counters.
Subsequently, season tickets will be made available at various distribution points across Chennai. The list of other ticket counters would be announced shortly.
In all, the Chennai Super Kings, led by India’s youth icon Mahendra Singh Dhoni, will be hosting seven matches at the MA Chidambaram Stadium as under:
April 23 - Vs Mumbai Indians April 26 - Vs Knight Riders May 2 - Vs Delhi Daredevils May 6 - Vs Deccan Chargers
May 10 - Vs Punjab Kings
May 21 - Vs Royal Challengers
May 24 - Vs Rajasthan Royals
The denominations are:
A Stand – Rs 6,000 (Season)/Rs 1,000 (Daily)
B Stand – Rs 1,200 / Rs 200
D Stand – Rs 3,000 / Rs 500
D Special Stand – Rs 9,000 / Rs 1,500
E & G Stands – Rs 4,000 / Rs 600
F & H Stands – Rs 5,000 / Rs 800
T-3 Stand – Rs 12.000 / Rs 2,000
Pavilion Terrace – Rs 25,000 / Rs 4,000
A/C Pavilion – Rs 30,000 / Rs 5,000
The daily tickets would go on sale later and the dates would be announced shortly.
The Chennai Super Kings will also be involved in seven “away” matches in the course of the preliminary league.
The top four teams at the end of the league phase will qualify for the
semi-finals (May 30 and 31). The final is scheduled for June 1.
All the IPL matches would be played under floodlights on a “home and
away” basis. Mumbai is the venue for the semi-finals and final.
Cricket fans in North America will be able to watch IPL matches on Willow TV. Willow TV, Inc. has acquired the broadcasting rights to distribute on television, radio, broadband and Internet, for the Indian Premier League (IPL) in North America.
Live coverage of the 59-match inaugural season of IPL will start on April 18, 2008. IPL will have eight teams playing each other over 44 days. The League was created by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) with approval from the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Lalit Modi – Chairman & Commissioner, IPL, said, “BCCI-IPL would like to welcome Willow TV, as its broadcast licensee, and is pleased to be working with Willow TV on the broadcast of the DLF IPL in the Americas and is confident that this will be a successful working partnership. We are sure the cricket fans in America could look forward to an exciting line up of matches as International and Indian cricket Stars compete with each other to offer the best of cricketing action.”
Venu Nair, President, South Asia, World Sport Group, the Worldwide Media, said “The popularity of cricket in this part of the world is immense. With the introduction of IPL, international players who were one time opponents stand a chance to be playing in the same team, which makes IPL very exciting to its viewers. We are glad to partner with Willow as they have one of the best distribution networks and have a very large subscriber base in this region.”
“The Indian Premier League is the most exciting new development in world cricket and we are delighted to acquire these rights. Willow is pleased to bring this blockbuster event featuring the top stars in world cricket to viewers and listeners in the Americas.” said Vijay Srinivasan, CEO, Willow TV.
Top cricket websites like Rediff.com and Cricinfo have been banned from covering the IPL.The deadlock between the media and the Indian Premier League ended, at least in part, following a meeting between IPL organizers and editors from leading newspapers in Mumbai on Monday.
While the print media got relief on the use of images and the number of reporters and photographers allowed IPL has decreed that websites can cover pre-match and post-match press conferences, but their reporters and photographers will not be allowed into the press box when the actual matches are on.
Further, websites are not allowed to upload any pictures of the tournament, and news agencies have been banned from selling pictures to websites.
Backing off from its earlier stand that newspapers would not be allowed to put up pictures on their websites, the IPL has conceded that newspaper websites can upload six different pictures on their portals, in addition to the pictures have been published in their print edition. They have also been allowed a maximum of two reporters and photographers for each game.
IPL chairman Lalit Modi said the new media guidelines will be shortly be posted on the tournament website, and that the deadline for media accreditation has been extended to April 10.
Also, as per the new guidelines, newspaper photographers are now not required to upload all their pictures on the IPL website. The organisers agreed that they will not have any rights over any photographs taken at the venues and will instead have their own photographers at each venue who will click around 10,000 pictures per day. They would also request the editors of all newspapers to send the best images of the day to be uploaded on the IPL website so it could be made available to fans worldwide. To encourage such a move, they would also give a daily prize to the best photograph of the day.
The Editors’ Guild of India and Sports Journalists Federation had earlier taken a strong stance asking the BCCI to withdraw all restrictions on the coverage of the tournament. There were also reports that all the top newspapers were considering boycott of the tournament if the restrictions were not lifted, following which the BCCI acted swiftly and met the representatives from all the leading newspapers to resolve the issue.
The Indian Newspaper Society (INS) had also said that it would advise its member publications not to cover the IPL matches and boycott the tournament if the restrictive terms for accreditation were not withdrawn.
Accordingly, the IPL has revised the 13-page terms and conditions to two pages.
The most important thing is The News Media Coalition which includes top global news agencies like Agence France-Presse (AFP), Associated Press (AP), Reuters and Getty Images have not still taken a decision on the coverage of the event. Their main concern is not being allowed to sell photographs to websites and also the fear that this could set up a bad precedent for the future.
A few years back, FIFA tried imposing very similar restrictions on photo coverage of the 2006 World Cup; however, it had to back down after it faced a threat of a worldwide boycott.
In September last year organisers of the Rugby World Cup tried a similar stunt but had to bow down. Interestingly, then the photographers turned up for a commercial photo shoot and just took pictures of the grass as a protest - Rediff added today/
In November last year, the global news agencies boycotted the coverage of the first Test between Sri Lanka and Australia, thereby leading to virtually no coverage of the match in Brisbane after similar restrictions were imposed by Cricket Australia. The Australian Cricket Board finally had to bow down, thereby ensuring that the second Test match was covered.
We still hope that good sense will prevail with the IPL Bosses and they will back out of their restrictions which can be real harmful to the league.
The season tickets for the Indian Premier League cricket matches involving Chennai Super Kings will go on sale from Friday, April 11 at the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) counters.
