After the recent blasts in Jaipur, the Shiv Sena party demanded that no Pakistan Player be allowed to play (in IPL matches) held in Mumbai.
Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray put a dampener on the Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders by demanding that no Pakistani player should be permitted to play in the league. “We have been opposing their (Pakistani) players here for many years now,” Uddhav told reporters here on the sidelines of a campaign for the forthcoming by-election from Thane to the Lok Sabha.
In the last two decades, Shiv Sena has consistently opposed Pakistani cricket teams’ visits to India and has even dug up pitches at venues to foil the matches.
update: The Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders Match went on peacefully, with Mumbai Indians winning the match easily in the fastest ever win in 20Twenty Cricket.
New Zealand Spinner Daniel Vettori who played for the Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League spoke about the upcoming tour while nursing his injured spinning finger. Speaking to the Independant he said - “It’s an incredibly important tour for us, coming off a series defeat against England at home,”.
On test Cricket and 20Twenty Cricket his views were more candid.
“I still see Test cricket as the pinnacle,” he says. “But I’m a realist, and the New Zealand cricket team is not financially as secure as some other nations round the world.” His own value in the IPL auction was a cool US$625,000 (£321,000). “Which was hugely surprising,” he says, “but none of those guys was there just for the money. It was highly competitive, and it gave me a great insight into other cricketers from around the world. I’d played against Glenn McGrath for 11 years, but now I know what it’s like to sit in a dressing room with him.
Indian Premier League announced yesterday the introduction of the Purple Cap, which will be awarded to the bowler with maximum total wickets to his name. IPL had earlier introduced the Orange Cap for the batsman with most cumulative runs against his name.
According to an IPL statement, at the end of the season, the holder of the Purple Cap will receive recognition on the final day of the IPL. And in the event of a tie at any given time, the holder will be determined by superior economy rate.
“We have seen over the course of the inaugural season of the DLF Indian Premier League so far that bowlers have just as important a role to play in winning T20 matches as batsmen do” said Lalit Modi.
“DLF IPL has created a distinction for the highest wicket taking bowler in the ‘Purple Cap’. The purpose of this initiative is to continue to be innovative, create a further unique piece of history that sets the DLF Indian Premier League apart form the crowd, and to acknowledge outstanding performance by the bowlers,” Modi said.
“The bowler who wins the right to call himself Purple Cap Winner 2008 will certainly have earned the right to feel proud of the achievement, since the prevailing thought is that T20 is a ‘batsmans game’ and DLF IPL is blessed with many of the world’s greatest batsmen,” Modi added.
This is something good for bowlers like Sohail Tanvir. Laxmipati Balaji and others who deserves recognition for match winning performance.
Bollywood actress Riya Sen has been chosen by IPL as a brand ambassador for their official website.
Talking from Dubai to Times of India, Chief Technical Architect of ipl website, Akash Aurora confirmed Riya’s appointment. He said, “Yes, we have appointed Riya as the brand ambassador of our website.
Explaining why they chose Riya, Akash said, “We saw Riya attending a couple of the IPL matches. We observed that she was quite well-versed with the game and its proceedings. Rather than having somebody naive on board, we preferred getting someone who knows about the game. Riya was our first choice and we went ahead with her.”
“Riya has already signed the contract. The duration of the contract will depend on the response we get from our readers,” Akash told TOI.
We have seen Mandira Bedi, Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone and many others adding glamor to Cricket - now its turn for Riya to convince the fans that she understands Cricket a bit more than the cheerleaders.
Speaking to the Independent, London, former England captain David Gower said though Twenty20 is here to stay, “six weeks’ razzle-dazzle is not enough to consign over a hundred years of Test cricket to the dump”.
“You must be off your rocker. Twenty20 is here to stay and will energise the game around the world, but players, however grateful for IPL and, in the future, EPL cash, still know that they will be judged by their record as Test players,” he said. As such he does not considers IPl as a threat to Test Cricket.
Asked whether the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) should allow England players a crack at the IPL next year, he replied, “The ECB might well make some concessions to their contracted players re the IPL, but a lot depends on how plans for an EPL develop. Until those are clear we need to hold fire.”
Gower also said England are clear favourites for the upcoming series against New Zealand, “having rediscovered the winning habit in the nick of time in New Zealand”. New Zealand, he added, “will be reliant on the usual few”.
“England should be thinking in terms of a clean sweep, but who knows what the weather gods have in store?”- he added.
New Zealand Spinner Daniel Vettori who played for the Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League spoke about the upcoming tour while nursing his injured spinning finger. Speaking to the Independant he said - “It’s an incredibly important tour for us, coming off a series defeat against England at home,”.