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Is there a superlative manner of endorsing cricket? Some say that it has been found recently, with the IPL version. Certainly, it cannot be easy to support sports that have reached such a level of interest both among players and fans (spectators). The IPL Cricket Forum community comes to assist any cricket enthusiast who wants to share views and predictions concerning the situation of cricket in India and the potential outcome of future games.

The Indian Premier League is about funds and sports brought together. The reason is the search for ways of attracting a greater number of states into this passion for cricket. On the other hand, funds are also advantageous for home cricket. You will see this opinion shared by many of the members of the IPL Cricket Forum community. One undeniable truth is that cricket is not sports to be played by just anyone. With the IPL, talents are more likely to be noticed; this will also happen faster.

Even more, if you join the IPL Cricket Forum community, most probably you imagine a fortunate day when Indian cricket will practically conquer the hearts of the fans of this sport all over the world. Well, we here on the IPL Cricket Forum ask you if you can imagine a manner of doing this ” of making Indian cricket worldwide appreciated ” that could be better than the Indian Premier League.

If you think about it, the IPL could be such a great first step as to stimulate even other nations to launch comparable cricket unions leagues. In such a way, it could be possible for cricket to develop into an activity as famous as tennis or as football is. While this may look like a foolish far-fetched dream right now, chances are for it to happen, as, at least for the beginning, the entire design seems sensible at the profit level.

What we mean is that money will in fact stream in and investors are highly likely to get back their money value from the games played by their corresponding athletes. On the other hand, there is one risk: investors might pay too much for the better known players, while those that are not so well-known, but are nonetheless truly valuable, will not have the chance to be remarked. Certainly, the Indian Premier League also has a reverse side, just like any other investment in this world does.

Nevertheless, if we blocked for one moment our innate tendency towards being confrontational, we would contemplate for several minutes the situation of the world outside India. If we watch towards the Occident, study the other league matches like NFL, there is one clear reality staring us right in the eye: sports are made marketable. Teams will have reliable and committed players if the players can see wealth, prosperity coming out of them joining these teams.

Indeed, we love a lot the idea of our players actually making their best for their nation, and not for the mere sums thrown in the game. Well, the IPL does not want to do away with the respect and love for the nation. It only places some focus on the effort of the individual player, as well. Even more, stimulated by the money put in, the cricketer is likely to invest more effort and offer a greater level of skill in the game.

Ken Wilson –

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Join our IPL. Is it an effort that will turn out advantageous?

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Amid security fears in the subcontinent, the second Indian Premier League will be hosted in South Africa. The fixtures planned for IPL2 coincided with the 2009 Indian general elections and as such the security forces were unable to cover the cricket matches.

The IPL is a cricket tournament in the twenty20 format and because of the vast amounts of money involved it appeals to many of today’s players. The first tournament was held in 2008 and received a mixed reception – many loved the opportunity to watch some of the best cricketers in the world playing together but the tournament did clash with other leagues around the world as well as international fixtures, meaning some players were banned by their clubs and countries from joining. One such country was England – who wouldn’t let their centrally contracted players go – and as a result there was only one English representative, Hampshire’s Dimitri Mascarenhas, in India.

This year the English Cricket Board has been more relenting and has allowed its players to join the league so long as they put their country first. This proved a happy compromise and Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff were soon making headlines as they became the most expensive players in the auctions, both going for $1.5m. Flintoff was signed by the Chennai Super Kings while Pietersen went to Bangalore Royal Challengers. Mascarenhas will again turn out for Rajasthan Royals – last season’s winners – while fellow Englishmen Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood, Ravi Bopara and Graham Napier will all be in South Africa.

The inaugural tournament was won by Mascarenhas’ team and much of this is put down to the captaincy and coaching of Shane Warne. The final went down to the last ball – with the scores tied Sohail Tanvir hit the winning run to win the match, although much of the credit must go to Yusuf Pathan for getting three wickets and a half century in the match.

With the announcement that South Africa is to host this year’s tournament – still called the Indian Premier League despite its new location – cricket fans have been booking flights to Cape Town to see the opening fixtures – first up is Flintoff’s Chennai Super Kings against Napier’s Mumbai Indians before two more Englishmen (Mascarenhas and Pietersen) come up against each other in the second game of the day. All players will be hoping to end their tour in Johannesburg, where the final will be held; all, that is, except the English Test players, who have to be back in London before the final to take on the West Indies.

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American economist Thomas Levitt said, “Just as energy is the basis of life itself, and ideas the source of innovation, so is innovation the vital spark of all human change, improvement and progress.”

And it was the same maxim that is one of the prime reasons for the success of the Indian Premier League. Started in 2008, the league has a lot of firsts to its name, thanks mainly to the vision and drive of Lalit Kumar Modi.

And as part of his effort to help the game evolve he introduced time-outs during the second edition of the league. The timeout was a strategic break of seven and a half minutes after 10 overs of each innings. IPL Chairman and Commissioner, Lalit Modi, introduced the strategic time-out in 2009 to facilitate teams to pause and re-strategize.

The strategic break was greatly appreciated by the players for being a great opportunity to rejuvenate, look back at the proceedings, change the momentum and for the teams to regroup. But it did receive some flak from fans and commentators.

Unlike many others, Mr. Modi was true to his desire to make the league the Indian People’s League and paid heed to the people’s voices. For the 2010 edition, he changed the strategic time-out to two breaks of two-and-a-half minute each. The rules stated that it was mandatory for the bowling team captain to take a two-and-a-half minute strategic time-out between the over’s six to eight. The batsmen at the crease would then have the option to choose the batting team’s two-and-a-half minute strategic time-out between the overs eleven and sixteen.

Speaking about the modification to the time-out, Mr. Modi had at that time stated, “In IPL 2009 we introduced the strategic time-out and got mixed reactions for the same. Based on the feedback received from the officials, players and franchises and most importantly viewers we decided to modify it…. (The modification) will generate some interest as nobody would know when the time-out will be taken.”

During his interaction with the media, Mr. Modi had elaborated on his reasoning for the time-frame for the time-outs. He said, “Since most teams get together after the over six when the power plays get over they need some time to re think their strategy or to change the field. Also, when the second half of the match begins most teams start setting targets and it is the time when the batsmen in the middle need to consult the coach and the captain. Thus, the timing for the two breaks seemed perfect and also dividing the break into two gave each side a fair chance.”

New Zealand captain and Delhi Daredevils player Daniel Vettori in his column for The Times of India praised the modified time-out. He wrote, “The strategic timeout though really helps, because it works in many ways. You can get a drink of water or just get some time to breathe and listen in to what the dugout is thinking in terms of field placing or bowling changes.”

Ultimately, the innovative break during the fast-paced version of the game has proved to be a game-changer and as Royal Challengers Bangalore master blaster Robin Uthappa put it evened out the contest between the ball and the bat.

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IPL stands for Indian Premier League and this is a Twenty20 Cricket Competition controlled and created by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) which is also the richest cricket board in the world. The first season of the IPL commenced in 2008 with Rajasthan Royals crowing themselves the title. The IPL became one of the most popular events ” thanks to celebrities and their media attention. But besides that in a country like India, where cricket is a sport close to their hearts and Cricketers like demi-gods, such a nice event had to be popular without any reason.

Popularity of the Game

The popularity of IPL has been massive across all cricket loving nations and the shift of the event to South Africa has enabled the sport to earn more media and world attention. One can judge the popularity of the game and the sensation it created from the possible conditions that America where cricket is not a popular sport, planning to host American Premier League is almost similar way like IPL. Thus the game has really been influential to the world. The South African govt. readily welcomed the event when the Indian Government could not assure proper security cover the matches that would have been played during poll days and the management decided to shift it to a foreign location.

Shahrukh Khan and His Contribution

One can guess the popularity of the game when it is said that advertisers are ready to pay more for the AD spots during the matches being played. The second session of IPL is being played in South Africa in different locations. There are different teams in the IPL but the popularity and the most glamorous team of them is the Kolkata Knight Riders. This is a team owned by Superstar Shahrukh Khan, the reigning king of Bollywood and his company called Red Chilles Entertainment. He has tried all his best to take the popularity of the game to the next level. Though in both the sessions his team could not make that mark, but a lot of credit is given by all sections to the owner, Mr. Khan for adding glamour and attention to IPL. He has been first to display the dresses, music videos and then organizing a TV show to choose Indian Cheer Leaders in the IPL.

Besides the star power the team squads too good to see. Almost all the teams of the IPL do have players from almost all countries and this indirectly creates a kind of boding between players that other form of crickets failed. There was sportsmanship too before IPL, but those forms of cricket could not create the chemistry that IPL could create between players.

Opportunities for all

The newly formed IPL has opened opportunities for such non-recognized cricketers to prove their mettle. The teams of the IPL buy players from all countries and all categories. Many players who failed to get recognition or attention of national squad selection commission could put their show through IPL. With the IPL on cards now one can easily say that the game is sure to give something to cricket for near future and make it a popular sport beyond Asia and Europe and Australia.

Summary: The popularity of IPL has been massive across all cricket loving nations and the shift of the event to South Africa has enabled the sport to earn more media and world attention. The game has really been influential to the world. The South African govt. readily welcomed the event when the Indian Government could not assure proper security cover the matches that would have been played during poll days and the management decided to shift it to a foreign location.

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Finally, a decision has been taken for the new IPL format for the IPL next year in 2011. The format was kept on hold for long in order to find a good solutions for the greatest cricketing event in the work ever since its start. The players wanted lesser matches to take care of the fatigue factor, but on the other hand the franchise owners wanted more matches, probably for revenues and more exposure. With 10 cricket teams overall, the format was doomed to create more panic for players, as the matches had to increase. Today, the IPL governing body has come down with a plan which deals with the same number of matches as before, and takes in to context all the 10 teams at the same time. The format will go as follows.

Two groups, with 5 teams each. Each team will play its groups teams twice, i.e. home and away. Then every team in one group will play the 4 teams in the other group once, which will be either home or away. Also, every team in one group will play 1 team in the other group, but home and away. Which team plays the other team twice will be decided by a draw. Then, the top two teams from both groups, will play the semi finals across groups, the winners advancing to the finals.

This way, every team will play the original 14 matches, as has been the case in the previous IPLs. If every team was to play each other both home and away, then a total 94 matches would have been played. Now, the format is limited to only 74 matches, 70 of which will be in the league phase.

Regarding the player retention it has been decided that every team is allowed to retain 4 players, which can be a maximum of 3 Indian players. The players that can be retained must be a registered player of the 2010 squad of the team. The auctions for the next year’s IPL will be taking place in this year November. The franchise and players must both agree on the retention agreement. As far as the two new franchises go, i.e. Pune and Kochi, both of these franchises can retain 4 players, which were not part of any of any of the original 10 teams in the 2010 season. The total number of players in a squad can be no more than 30.

Regarding the foreign players, a franchise can now have up to 10 foreign players in their squads, and can have now up to 4 foreign players field at same time. The limit initially was 3 players, which was a lot debated upon.

The franchises are allowed to spend a total of $9 Million on its 30 players. If, a franchise decides to retain 4 players, it must spend $4.5 million on them. This would lead such a franchise to have $4.5 Million to be spent on the other 26 players.

IPL 2011, will begin on April 7th, i.e. 5 days after the 2011 cricket world cup gets over. The IPL 2011 format has been reserved for the next 3 years of this cricket competition. The only thing that we need to look forward is to see as to whether or not Pakistan players will be included in the next years IPL. With the criticism of IPL last year by Pakistani cricketers last year for non inclusion, to the Pakistan cricket crisis which is currently underway the decision seems to be going nowhere. Although there are two new teams which have a total of 60 slots free, it seems like some Pakistani cricketers like Shahid Afridi will find their way in, but nothing can be said until the auctions take place in November this year.

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Twenty20 cricket has undoubtedly changed the face of the sport. Unlike Test matches that take five days to finish if played to their completion, a T20 game can be over in a matter of hours meaning sports fans can easily catch a game or two in one day.

The format of the game has caught the world’s attention for two major events. One, Stanford’s Twenty20 for $20m, offered the winners of a one-off exhibition match a huge cash prize while the other, the Indian Premier League, is approaching its third year and is a playground for rich businessmen and the world’s top players.

Because of the rising prices of players, a cap was put on the money that could be spent on an individual. The increasing payments started in 2008 when Australian Andrew Symonds cost $1.35m while Indian hero Mahendra Singh Dhoni cost $1.5m. The following year the English pair of Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff topped this as both cost their clubs – Bangalore Royal Challengers and Chennai Super Kings – $1.55m a piece.

This year a cap of $1m was placed on bidding and five players were sold in the $900,000 – $1m price range: Sanath Jayasuriya, Jacqes Kallis, Brett Lee, Irfan Pathan and Ishant Sharma.

Another change for the 2010 season was the removal of the icon status. The previous two seasons saw five of India’s elite players awarded this honour which meant that they would automatically receive at least 15% more than the next best paid player in their team. As well as Sachin Tendulkar, the four players to be labelled as icons were Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh.

Although the restricted bidding process won’t attract the same number of headlines, many of the game’s stars are set to be involved in this year’s IPL. Included in the highest earners are Harbajan Singh, Shane Bond and Chris Gayle, who famously said he’d rather play Twenty20 than Test cricket, much to the displeasure of many of cricket’s traditionalists.

Because of the level of quality on display, many crickets fans the world over will make the trip to India in March or April to see some of the tournament. Because of the high demand, tickets and hotels will be in short supply and many travellers will be looking to book as much as they can beforehand either using the internet or by calling ahead.

But, while phoning India trying to find a hotel can be an expensive task but by checking out all the different offers, it is possible to find cheap calls to India to help cut down costs.

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Cricket is to India what football is to Brazil…Indian cricket always held a special place among all the other sports. The Indian team though greatly unpredictable yet the fan following is by no mean less. The Indian cricket fans are always assured of a fanatic game; credit goes to our players who play in an inconsistent way till the end of the tournament. This erratic nature of the game makes it so very desirable for the supporters and lovers of Indian cricket worldwide.

India never performs alone on the field, the entire country with a population of 967 million plays with them. You could easily sense how passionate the country is about cricket. Playing under an absolute pressure and tense atmosphere, Indian team has some very great moments to cherish. From gully cricket to hosting the tri-color in the global arena, Indian cricket team is among one of the most powerful teams ever.

With the passage of time, there had been a tremendous improvement in the way Indian cricketers performs. The ‘right cricket sense’ is what makes you a great cricketer. The carefully selected team with a perfect combination of young, old and experienced players makes it a balanced team. The entire world had witnessed the way Indian cricket team performed and won in the Twenty20 World Cup held in South Africa a few months back.

Lately the Indian team had been playing lots of cricket and that too remarkably well. Such performances show how well the team has been evolved till now. In other words, you win some and you lose some, that’s the way the Indian cricket is. Youngsters like Dhoni, Pathan, Yuvraj, Ishant Sharma give the team the much needed rage and speed while the players like Sehwag, Sachin, and Dravid provide the team with the much needed perfection and balance to accomplish the highest levels.

The much hyped cricket is a multi-billion affair game due to the popularity it enjoys among the fans. Whenever the Indian team wins, they are heavily rewarded. There is a massive commercial market waiting for all the superstars of cricket. A successful cricketer has every chance to earn big money with the product they endorse. If we see the other side of the picture, each cricketer owe his success to the cricket fans. Talking about Indian fans, they belong to an emotional class. If their favorite cricketers perform well, the fans will treat them like superstars else they don’t mind abusing them their heart out.

The cricket experts and gurus do see lot many potential in the current Indian cricket team, if they remain focused to their games and improve it more with the time; chances are fair that very soon they will be among the most successful team in the international cricket. The only thing which needs to be checked is the excessive commercialization of Indian cricket. The Indian Premier League format is an example of this. Although it gave a helping hand to those players who were dropped out of one day cricket due to non performance and at the same time some new talents emerged out of this cricket extravaganza.

This new format of cricket in the form of IPL is not new to the world, countries like England, South Africa, and Australia do follow it but it should not anywhere affect the originality of the game. India would be hosting the 2010 common-wealth games and cricket world cup; this will be a great opportunity for the Indian cricket team to bring back the world cup home in their home ground. We all wish to witness some great cricket and see if history repeats itself or not.

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Each team had a pool of 16 players, with a maximum of eight overseas players and a min of four U-22 players. The first “Players Auction” was held on the Feb. 20, 2008, giving the iconic status to Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag, great Indian Cricket Icons. All 8 teams played each other 2 times in the round robin system, the top four ranking sides’ progressed to the semi-finals. IPL is all set this year and ready to rock the Cricket fraternity with its glorious and glamorous series to be held within few days.

The 8 franchises of the IPL, with their business tycoons, Bollywood stars and media magnets this year shall include:
Rajasthan Royals: Owned by Emerging India, Lachlan Murdoch, Shilpa Shetty (Winner Big Brother UK) and Raj Kundra.
Mumbai Indians: Owned by business tycoon Mukesh Ambani.
Royal Challenge Bangalore: Owned by Vijay Mallaya of UB Group.
Hyderabad Deccan Chargers: Owned by Deccan Chargers Sporting Venture.
Chennai Super Kings: Owned by Indian Cements (N Srinivasan).
Delhi Daredevils: Owned by GMR Holdings (Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao)
Kings XI Punjab: Owned by Ness Wadia (Bombay Dyeing), Priety Zinta (Bollywood Actress), Dabur and Karan Paul.
Kolkatta Knight Riders: Owned by Red Chillies Entertainment (Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and Jai Mehta.

Indian premier league is expected to bring about US $1 billion over the period of 5-10 years. This revenue will be distributed as 50% will go back to IPL, Franchises 45% and prize money 5%. In the first season, no one was expected to break even, but the success of the first season was so phenomenal that some of the franchises are already profitable from the season 1. Kolkatta knight riders though, did not qualify for the semi finals, made the net profit of 13 Crores due to the successful marketing strategy by its owner Shahrukh Khan, while the Rajasthan royals, the underdogs, who also were the last year winners, made net profit of 6 Crores.

After the highly successful first season, it is reported that 4 new franchises will join the IPL in the season 2010-2011.The new confirmed franchises are Ahmadabad, with Anil Ambani’s name associated wit it, and Kanpur with Sahara group; associated with it. The tentative dates for the second season of the DLF Indian Premier League, had been announced by the Chairman & League Commissioner, Lalit Modi. It has been set from April 10th, 2009 to May 29th, 2009.

The formats of the season will remain the same as the first season. The auction of the players will begin in Goa on 6th. There are 114 players up for grabs in this auction. Indian premier league which was formed on the on the lines of English premier league and national basketball league has also become a Mega Major Sporting event. Will the much hyped T20 championship league be able to continue its success run, or its bubble will burst in the coming years? We shall find out as the series unfolds.

Follow the Cricket livescore and all cricket results at ScoresPro.com

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IPL match match-up would be for Kings XI Punjab VS Deccan Chargers.

Venue of the match: Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala.
Time: 8:00 PM (IST).
Match : 51st T20, IPL3.

Kings XI punjab team still in last position in the Indian Premier League points table. Deccan chargers has played well and won in last three matches. But they are not in first four places in the Indian Premier League points table.

Now, today’s game is very impotant for Deccan Chargers, becuase this team must win against the Punjab and Delhi. Today’s match will be crucial for Deccan Chargers, if they want to reach semi-finals.

Kings XI Punjab VS Deccan Chargers live at IPL 2010.

Kings XI punjab team still in last position in the Indian Premier League points table. Deccan chargers has played well and won in last three matches. But they are not in first four places in the Indian Premier League points table.

Now, today’s game is very impotant for Deccan Chargers, becuase this team must win against the Punjab and Delhi. Today’s match will be crucial for Deccan Chargers, if they want to reach semi-finals.

Kings XI Punjab team :

KC Sangakkara*, YA Abdulla, L Ablish, Amanpreet Singh, AB Barath, Bipul Sharma, MS Bisla†, RS Bopara, PP Chawla, K Goel, JR Hopes, DPMD Jayawardene, M Kaif, B Lee, VS Malik, SE Marsh, IK Pathan, RR Powar, RS Sodhi, S Sreesanth, SJ Srivastava, TM Srivastava, J Theron, Yuvraj Singh.

Deccan Chargers team :

AC Gilchrist*, A Ashish Reddy, Anirudh Singh, AA Bilakhia, HH Gibbs, Harmeet Singh, RJ Harris, VVS Laxman, MR Marsh, MD Mishra, PP Ojha, DB Ravi Teja, KAJ Roach, R Sharma, RG Sharma, RP Singh, DR Smith, TL Suman, B Sumanth, A Symonds, WPUJC Vaas, Y Venugopal Rao, AS Yadav.

More about IPL match at IPL 2010.

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The IPL 2010 is off to a roaring start.Advertisers spent a huge sum of money on cricket adverising last year, and no wonder. It looks like IPL will once again be drawing huge crowds, certainly bigger than the last two seasons. The 2009 season went out with bang. We have been treated to some exciting championship games and if IPL matches is anything like the previous two, we are in for something fantastic this season as well.

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