Indian Premier League and Cricket News by IPL Cricket Forum

IPL has made it very clear that every player must get a NOC from his home country for playing in IPL.

Akhtar was banned for 5 years on Tuesday by the PCB for repeated indiscipline in the field which in effect finished his Internation Cricket Career. However the ban does not restricts him to play IPL and the PCB was kind enough to give him permission to play in IPL. Shoiab recently signed for Shahrukh Khan;s Kolkata Knight Riders for $450,000.

Apart from a handful of players from Pakistan and Sri Lanka ( eleven from each countries) and eight from South Africa, one each from England, Zimbabwe many foreign stars are being forced to drop out due to injuries and Test commitments.

Also Australians and New Zealanders will only make a two-week appearance in the 44-day, 59-match multi-billion dollar Twenty20 extravaganza starting on April 18.

The West Indians will be absent for the last stage, including the final on June 1, and only a bit of arm-twisting from worried hosts prevented Pakistanis and Sri Lankans from missing a share of the pie.

The tournament created a frenzy after corporate bosses and movie stars, who own eight city teams, signed the world’s best players for massive sums at an unprecedented auction in February.

But the International Cricket Council’s refusal to create a window for the IPL in the overcrowded calendar has left players short-changed and fans disappointed.

IPL rules stipulate cricketers will be paid only for the matches they play, which means Australian Andrew Symonds will earn a fraction of the $1,35-million (around R10-million) bid on him by the Hyderabad team.

Symonds and his Test colleagues - captain Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey, Simon Katich and Brett Lee - are needed back home by May 1 for a training camp ahead of the West Indies tour.

It makes them available for only four of the teams’ 14 league matches each, hitting their fees badly.

Lee was bought by film actress Preity Zinta’s Mohali team for $900 000, while Ponting, Hussey and Katich were in the $200 000-400 000 range.

The Australians would have missed the entire first season of the IPL if their scheduled Test and one-day tour of Pakistan had not been postponed for security reasons.

Five New Zealanders - captain Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum, Jacob Oram, Ross Taylor and Kyle Mills - are lucky they are playing even four matches.

New Zealand Cricket allowed the five to miss their team’s opening two first-class matches of their upcoming England tour so they could take part in the IPL until May 1.

McCullum, the dashing wicketkeeper-batsman, stood to lose the most among his team-mates after being signed for $700 000 by movie star Shahrukh Khan’s Kolkata franchise.

He can now hope to pick up $8 500 at the most.

Three West Indians, skipper Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, must get home ahead of the first Test against Australia in Jamaica from May 22.

Left-hander Gayle, who has a $800 000 contract with Khan’s Kolkata, said last week he was yet to decide about taking part in the Australia series.

Sri Lankan and Pakistani players must have said a silent prayer after their proposed one-day series in April-end was put off indefinitely, reportedly at the behest of the Indian cricket board.

Australian Nathan Bracken and Lasith Malinga of Sri Lanka, who had no Test commitments during the IPL, may miss the entire tournament due to knee injuries.

Any meaningful foreign participation in what is essentially an Indian domestic competition will be confined to 11 Pakistanis, as many Sri Lankans, eight South Africans and one player each from England and Zimbabwe.

Lalit Modi insists Test commitments will always take preference over the league, but fans are not impressed. The Sponsors will sure save money but maybe at the cost of real excitement for fans…

Andrew Strauss insists England’s top cricketers are not thinking about the mega-bucks Indian Premier League - but admits the tournament is appealing - reports The Sun

The left-hander, 31, has returned from the series win over New Zealand in buoyant mood after securing his spot for the summer Tests.

But the face of cricket is set to change, with the world’s best players - except England’s - featuring in the big-money IPL tournament which starts on April 18.

With the county season clashing, and both the Kiwis and South Africans touring this summer, there was no chance for Strauss and Co to feature in the inaugural Twenty20 competition.

But while the Middlesex batsman insists he is solely focused on his international career, he admits it would be great to play in the IPL if the opportunity arose further down the line.

He said: In some ways things are going to change because of the IPL and the fact it coincides with our summer.

I think the IPL is a great concept, and Twenty20 cricket is a fantastic form of the game.

Any time you have the world’s top players pitched against each other it’s an exciting prospect.

But I certainly wouldn’t want to jeopardise my England future and I know the rest of the lads feel the same - it’s a case of marrying the two I guess.

Hopefully the game’s administrators can sort something out.

Strauss’ international career had looked to be in jeopardy, after a run of 17 Tests without a century.

But a gutsy 177 in England’s Third Test win over New Zealand means Strauss is all but guaranteed to feature this summer - something he is delighted about.

He added: That innings was a relief - It had been a long time coming.

There was a lot of talk going into the game about my lack of centuries, and while it didn’t grate, I knew it was time to deliver. I tried not to think about my place in the side, as that would have fed too many negative thoughts into my head. The main thing was that I didn’t do anything stupid in the 80s and 90s, and that I crossed the line - he mentioned.

The first county game for Middlesex is in 10 days, and now I have a great chance to get myself ready for Tests with New Zealand and South Africa. And two series wins has to be the benchmark, especially when you’re playing at home - Sun Added.

Though only two weeks are left for the lucrative Indian Premier League
(IPL) to start, the venues for the 10 matches to be played in Mumbai,
including the semi-finals and final, are yet to be finalised.

Mumbai Indians side will play all seven home matches in Mumbai, The two
semi-finals on May 30 and 31 and the final on June 1 will also be
played in the city.

‘Five matches each will be played at the Wankhede Stadium and at D.Y.
Patil Stadium. But it has not been decided where the semi-finals and
the final will be played,’ Niranjan Shah, secretary of the Board of
Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), told IANS.

‘It has, however, been decided that the semi-finals and final will be played at the same venue.’

Shah said the venues could be finalised at the IPL governing council
meeting in Mumbai later Wednesday. Officials from Mukesh Ambani’s
Reliance group which bought Mumbai Indians for $111.9 million, the
International Management Group (IMG), which is assisting BCCI in
organising the tournament and the match hosting associations will be
present at the meeting.

Wankhede Stadium in south Mumbai, although floodlit, is not the ideal
venue as it does not match international standards on several fronts,
especially where players’ dressing rooms are concerned.

The stadium was to be completely renovated last year. But the plan has been deferred.

D.Y. Patil Stadium, designed by famous architect Hafeez Contractor, is
a modern cricket venue with floodlights in Nerul, a new township off
Mumbai on the Mumbai-Pune Highway. The stadium is at about a 90-minute
drive from Wankhede Stadium.

The uncertainty over venues in Mumbai has meant that the IPL schedule
has not been finalised. Mumbai Indians are tentatively scheduled to
play their opening match against Bangalore Royal Challengers at home
April 20.

All eight competing teams will play seven home matches and an equal
number of away games as per the round-robin league format, before the
knockout semi-finals and final.

It is reliably learnt that neither IMG nor Reliance is happy about having two venues in Mumbai.

‘IMG wanted Mumbai matches to be played at one venue. It feels that by
having two venues not only will the cost of organising matches go up,
but it will also be time consuming for the personnel involved in
organising matches,’ said a BCCI source.

‘With hardly any time left for the tournament to begin, planning the
matches in Mumbai and elsewhere is also becoming a problem.’

A total of 59 matches will be played for the $3 million prize money.

The source also said that there was a dispute between Reliance and
BCCI/IPL/IMG as to who would bear the extra cost of organising matches
at the second venue.

‘Reliance has been asking the BCCI/IPL for a long time to settle the
venues quickly. But the board has been delaying the issue,’ he said.

All Mumbai matches as well as the semi-finals and final were originally
scheduled at the Cricket Club of India’s (CCI) Brabourne Stadium. Since
CCI members are entitled to watch all matches played at the stadium,
the CCI asked IPL to provide tickets to all of them.

But IPL declined to provide CCI more than 20 percent tickets - the same
that will be given to all match-hosting associations - and the club
rejected the offer, forcing a change of venue.

The Indian Premier League match is due to begin on April 18th, 2008.
About eight cities are participating in this sporting event for which
cricketers were teamed up based on an auction. The Bangalore Royal
Challengers team is led by Rahul Dravid and many top international and
well known Indian players will be representing this team. Already a
promotional video has been made a few days ago with Rahul Dravid.

In an effort to popularize and encourage this team, the organizers have
decided to make another video film. In this video Kannada film
industry’s two popular film stars Superstar Upendra and Ramya, will be
seen shaking their legs, along with the Dravid led Bangalore cricket
team and some ardent cricket fans. A top music director has been
contacted and details of other technical crew will be announced
shortly. It is not yet confirmed who will be writing lyrics for the
song yet.
The Bangalore team which has been purchased by the UB Group wants to
make a video which would create a huge impact among the audience. And
Upendra is already a brand ambassador for the UB products.