The other day I happened to meet some of the top observers of cricket at a informal drink and dine evening . Among other topics , the T20 world cup was also discussed . The observers who were present on the occasion to express their views included a former batsman Tejoe , cricket observer and a key think tank to the Indian cricket strategies Venkatesh Kumar and S Saini from COTN .

The ICC World Twenty20 kicks off in 6 days with amazingly lop-sided looking groups. Considering this mega event and the different it has made to the world cricket order and to the careers of some of the cricketers like Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh. The top probables which was unanimously reached to were 4 teams India , Pakistan , South Africa and Black Caps New Zealand.


First up Venkatesh said that the two teams he could put his money were New Zealand and Pakistan . He discounted India echoing his opinion as par with Vengsarkar. He said that India and South Africa have played too much of Cricket last 6 months and are fatigued.
He said

I think Pak are one of the favorites definitely.. not only do they have a very good 20-20 record (better win-loss ration than all international teams) but they also boast of the 2 top wicket takers in all T20 internationals - Gul and Afridi.Plus they are also the runners up.

His arguments against S Africa were that very pinpointed . He said " Have they ever won a World Cup? Knowing their luck, rain, a silly run out, or a blazing West Indian bat will keep them away from the title. In the recent past Johan Botha has captained South Africa in T20s. Smith is going to have a hard time taking over.

The final punch that he gave was "South Africa usually start every championship as one of the favorites, and we all know where they end up.I don't see why this time will be any different."

We he had a point well made that 12 of South Africa's world t20 squad members appearing in 7 different IPL teams, its going to be one hell of a confusion-galore dressing room with tons of strategies that neither Arthur nor Smith will know how to comprehend.

Ace batsman Tejoe on the other hand said that it has always been in the T20 form that the underdogs have taken the limelight and eventually win the crown . Eventually it will boil down to which of the unpredictable performers make their day and change the course of the game .

He says

I honestly believe any of the top8 can win, except for England who I just can't see winning 2 games in a row . India and SA are probably strongest on paper but it is being played in English conditions so I'd hesitate in backing India, Zaheer Khan will be key . I'd put my early money on SA but then again I'd never bet on 2020 as it's a bit of a lottery sometimes . My money is on the Black Caps NZ ... looks like a bunch of great guys who are very talented and unpredictable ... should be the series that makes Ross Taylor and Ryder into superstars in my opinion

.

Tejoe was harsh in his evaluation of Australia . He said that it will be interesting to see the Australian squad when it comes out. There has been no assemblance of a settled T20 squad for Australia since it's inception. Seems anyone who can hold a bat or roll the arm over has had a game in the last few years.

Another top Ranji star from North Zone S Saini had the final wrap up comments on India's chances

He said

I think its a good squad, the only change I might have made would've been to have Abhishek Nayar in the side instead of Jadeja, as the squad already has plenty of spin options, another medium-pace all-rounder would have been handy (especially in English conditions).

Who ever wins , seems like another fest for the Cricket fans across the globe . COTN will be closely following the tournament and will bring all the views and analysis.

To comment on the views expressed by the expert panel, send your feedback to cricketonthenet@gmail.com

Kevin Pietersen is on a serious mission after making his most shocking admission to date: "I'm not very good at Twenty20 cricket, am I?"

On the eve of the World Twenty20 in England, Pietersen made the searingly honest appraisal of his short form career so far, but has vowed to make amends next month.



Despite being one of the world's finest batsmen in Test and one-day cricket, Pietersen's Twenty20 career lags too far behind for his liking and he is determined to do something about it.

In fact, Twenty20 cricket hasn't been particularly kind to him at all on the field and for a player of Pietersen's talents and mindset, serial failure simply won't do.

He has made just one Twenty20 50 for England, averaging just 26, and even though he became the most expensive player in the Indian Premier League his record there wasn't much better.

Bangalore Royal Challengers paid $1.55million for him to be their inspirational batsman and captain, but he could only muster two wins from the six games he played, and when he returned home to resume England duties the team reached the final without him.

"I made a great captain didn't I" chuckled Pietersen. "We won two out of six when I was there and then Anil Kumble took over and they got to the final.

"People are going to take pot shots at me over the IPL and the money I earned in two weeks, but it was such a great experience. I loved it.

"To captain the side four days after arriving and not knowing what some of the guys did and not knowing most of their names made it a huge task for me. I wasn't as focused on my batting as I was on trying to learn guys names and what they did.

"The more you play T20 cricket the better you become and I haven't played a lot of it, and I'm not very good at it.

"The more I play it though the more I'll catch up with my records in Test and one-day cricket definitely. I just know that I will get much better at it. I've worked out some new theories about how to go about my batting in T20 and that will make a difference, hopefully starting next week!"

Thankfully for England fans it is rare for Pietersen to consistently fail and the World Twenty20 that begins a week today against Holland is the perfect time to put things right.

Usually when Pietersen puts his mind to something he succeeds, in fact he is probably guilty of switching off when the pressure and intensity is not great enough. He is a big match player and he knows this World Twenty20 will be as big as it gets.

It was less than two years ago that Pietersen called Twenty20 a 'silly game with silly shots' but he admits his attitude to the game has since changed.

If he can start firing and the rest of the side can make their home advantage count, not even the missing Andrew Flintoff should dampen England's chances of glory.

He added: "The way T20 has now turned into a huge, huge business and the way that it has grown into having World Cup T20 tournaments, playing for your country means that my opinion of it has changed hugely.

"You have to be serious about it. You're playing for England in a World Cup at home, that is serious. It is no longer a silly game with silly shots, I want to win it full stop.

"The standard of cricket in the first tournament probably wasn't as good, whereas now the seriousness with which the guys are putting their heads to it means that the standard is going to be really high.

"I'm so excited about this tournament, it is going to be huge. It is a massive event, and since we have never won one of these global tournaments, it is about time we did and that is why it is such a big thing for me.

"It is a shame that Fred is not available, but we can definitely win the T20 World Cup if we play good positive cricket consistently."

PIETERSEN RECORD

Tests: 52 RUNS: 4494 AVE: 50.49 100s: 16 50s: 14

Odi: 92 RUNS: 3127 AVE: 46.67 100s: 7 50s: 20

T20: 15 RUNS: 379 AVE: 26.78 100s: 0 50s: 1

1. Rod Marsh & Ian Botham : When Botham took guard in an Ashes match,Marsh welcomed him to the wicket with the immortal words: "So how's your wife & my kids?" Botham replied: Wife's good but your kids are retarted."

2. Robin Smith & Merv Hughes: During a 1989 Lords Test Hughes said to Smith after he played & missed: "You can't *****ing bat". Smith replied to Hughes after he smacked him to the boundary: "Hey Merv, we make a fine pair. I can't *****ing bat & you can't *****ing bowl."



3. Merv Hughes & Javed Miandad: During the 1991 Adelaide Test, Javed called Merv a fat bus conductor. A few balls latter Merv dismissed Javed. "Tickets please", Merv called out as he ran past the departing batsman.

4. Merv Hughes & Viv Richards: During a test match in the West Indies, Hughes didn't say a word to Viv, but continued to stare at him after deliveries. Eventually Viv said, "This is my island, my culture. Don't you be staring at me. In my culture we just bowl." Merv didn't reply, but after he dismissed him he announced to the batsman: "In my culture we just say ***** off."

5. Ian Healy & Arjuna Ranatunga: Healy's legendary comment which was picked up by the Channel Nine microphones when Ranatunga called for a runner on a particularly hot night during a one dayer in Sydney... "You don't get a runner for being an overweight, unfit, fat c*nt!!!"

6. Shane Warne & Daryll Cullinan: As Cullinan was on his way to the wicket, Warne told him he had been waiting two years for another chance to humiliate him. "Looks like you spent it eating," Cullinan retorted.

7. Glenn McGrath & Eddo Brandes: After Brandes played & missed at a McGrath delivery, the Aussie bowler politely enquired: "Oi, Brandes, why are you so fat?" Brandes retorted, "Cos every time I ***** your wife she gives me a biscuit".

8. Ricky Ponting & Shaun Pollock: After going past the outside edge with a couple of deliveries, Pollock told Ponting: "It's red, round & weighs about 5 ounces." Unfortunately for Pollock, the next ball was hammered out of the ground. Ponting yelled to Pollock: "you know what it looks like, now go find it."

9. Steve Waugh and Parthiv Patel : Amidst all the hype surrounding his farewell match, Steve Waugh had to contend with an unexpected dose of his own medicine from a player half his age. As Waugh fought a grim battle to stave off defeat in the series-deciding fourth Test in Sydney, 19 year-old Indian wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel tried to unsettle the veteran batsman through some banter.

The baby-faced Patel egged on the 38 year-old stalwart to play one of his sweep shots one last time. The India 'keeper was saying, 'Come on, just one more of the famous slog-sweeps before you finish' Waugh replied: 'Look, show a bit of respect. You were in nappies when I debuted 18 years ago' .

10. Special Mentions:

Inzamam-ul-Haq once told Brett Lee to " stop bowling off spinners".

In the recent Karachi Test when Irfan Pathan came to bat in 2nd Innings Afridi shouted two times " O mera Shehzada aaya ! " (Oh! my prince has come) .

Hoggy: Welcome to My World: The Peculiar World of Matthew Hoggard (Hardcover)
by Matthew Hoggard (Author)
I can’t pursuade you enough. Having a Memorial Day long week gave me a chance to read some books, and Matthew Hoggard’s is one that I’m making my way through. It is like no sporting biography I’ve encountered before, which is just as well: most are tedious and premature. Hoggy, on the other hand, has written his with an England career behind him.


Like the man himself, it is unashamedly bonkers and refreshingly obscure. There are scribbles and cartoons (of his wife, Sarah, though they look as though his toddler son Ernie drew them), and whole paragraphs dedicated to his dogs. He attributes his run-up to a quirk in the layout of his garden when he was young. And he is surely the first cricketer, nay sportsman, to mention masturbation as a key aspect of surviving long tours overseas.
I can’t urge you enough to read a paragraph << CLICK TO READ of it . It’ll surely bring a smile to your face

Ashes 2009 is drawing close and the itinerary for Ashes 2009 is announced for the good news of Ashes followers.

The England and Wales Cricket Board, Chief Executive David Collier and Cricket Australia James Sutherland announced the Ashes 2009 schedule.

David Collier says in a statement, “already there is great expectations surrounding the nPower Test series (Ashes) which will follow the twenty20 World Championship in an exciting summer of cricket.”

Now that’s true! The 5 test Ashes series begins from July 8 2009 at the Sofia Gardens in Cardiff, the new stadium, and the second test will be at the Lords (this has been that way; very much conventional), the next at Edgbaston, the fourth at Headingley and the 5th at Oval will complete the Ashes series.

One cannot forget the Ashes 2005 as it still ticks my memories to be one of the fiercest cricketing battles I ever witnessed and England regained the Ashes with a 2-1 after 18 years. Remember Andrew Flintoff’s form in the series? The interest generated for Ashes from then on has been multiplying every year in England.

This year; however, Australia will be missing 3 biggies including Shane Warne (one cannot think of separating Ashes from this amazing spinner. Can you?), Glen McGrath and Adam Gilchrist (I am a big fan of this wonderful ambassador of the game).

Intentionally, the bad boy fame Andrew Symonds is not picked for the Ashes 2009.

With 3 all time greats and attacking all rounder Andrew Symonds not featuring in the Australian team, what can you expect?

Well, the new Australian line up will be showing fresh, young blood raring to go; that’s the spirit Ashes generates between the 2 teams if not anything less.

While England also is in the transitional phase. Ashes might not see the 4-man pace package of Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff playing together for England.

Instead, there will be Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad continuing the pace proceedings and we can only hope to see Andrew Flintoff coming after his surgery.

2009 Ashes Series Schedule
1st Test (8 July - 12 July) England vs Australia (SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff)

2nd Test (16 July - 20 July) England vs Australia (Lord’s, London)

3rd Test (30 July - 3 August) England vs Australia (Edgbaston Cricket Ground, Birmingham)

4th Test (7 August - 11 August) England vs Australia (Headingley Stadium, Leeds)

5th Test (20 August - 24 August) England vs Australia (The Oval, London)

The month long twenty-20 extravaganza has come to end and it is now clear that the shifting of venue could not affect IPL Season 2. Starting from the franchisers to the broadcasters and every single stake holder, IPL Season 2 ended in a happy note. Everybody including the champs and the finalist and also those who could not quite make it to the top layer - all of them seemed to manage higher revenues, thanks to a re-worked deal between BCCI and Multi Screen Media (MSM) that owns Sony channels.

Since the very beginning it was marred in controversies. Finally the tournament had to be relocated for security concerns. Those who predicted that Indian Premier League outside India will die like fish outside water are now left with eggs on their faces. For not only every stake holder has made a profit this year, they also managed to increase their revenues despite the increased logistic costs.

And not only the Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers that have made profits on the merit of their performance - every single team has been reported to have made a profit out of this year’s tournament. Knight Riders, the team that finished off at the bottom of the league table, has managed to make the third-highest profit of Rs 25.8 crore in IPL Season 2. The highest profit maker of the season however, is Team Jaipur which has made a cool profit of Rs 35.1 crore at the second season of Indian Premier League.

The prize money for the winner is Rs 4.8 crore, Rs 2.4 crore for the runners-up and 1.2 crore each for the losing semifinalists; Rs 80 lakh for the team that finished fifth (Kings XI Punjab), Rs 70 lakh for the sixth placed (Jaipur), Rs 50 lakh for the seventh (Mumbai Indians) and Rs 40 lakh for the lowest one. However, what has really helped the franchises accumulate such huge revenues is the sharing of the common pool of the broadcasting rights.

According to the renegotiated contract with WSG, BCCI got about Rs 335 crore, which is straight 90% jump from the figure in the original contract that was signed for ten years.

BCCI’ s profit from last year’s IPL was Rs 350 crore, while Sony’s profits from ad-sales alone stood at Rs 270-280 crore for the last season. But this year, both the entities decline to divulge the exact figures. “We are yet to calculate the profits,” said a BCCI official from South Africa. This year Sony has doubled its air-time rates to sell the 10 second spots for anything between Rs 3.75 lakh and Rs 4 lakh. While the MSM officials confirm the rise in the revenues, they too refuse to disclose the actual figure. “We have increased our revenues significantly over the last year, but can’t disclose figures,” MSM president (network sales) Rohit Gupta said.

However, it was the unlikely rise of the Royal Challengers to the prominence that sent the punters on tenterhook, while leaving the bookies all smiling. One bookie described the tournament as worse than race betting with no pre-tournament favorites having made it to the finals. In all, over Rs 5,000 crore were exchanged during the championship, informs a bookie on condition of anonymity. With hardly any pre-tournament tips working in their favor, punters could make little money, while it was really the day for the bookies when Deccan Chargers beat the Royal Challengers in the final.

In a nutshell, it was Deccan Chargers that won the title, but each team tasted success-that is on the cash side.


** With Inputs from Cricket360

Results are Unpredictable: Sometimes bottoms up
I think 20-20 is such a game that we can't predict the result.It can be the team's day when that day is any player's day of the team.I do agree that sticking to the basics would do better and the reason why the Deccan chargers have made it is the same reason.RP and Rohit came in touch with bowl and bat respectively and later also made it with bowl at some instances and Symmo will always contribute in team's performance.But the jackpot for the DC is the Gilly's form.It has been a consistent performance from Adam, and has impressed a lot with gloves.In fact all of the team members has contributed a lot when required.

Muti dimensional players are a farce
One of the reasons why DC lost last years was that they selected too many multi dimensional players, Afridi, Symonds,Styris, Rao. These days there is hardly a true all rounder in the world who can take care of both batting and bowling consistently, Afridi everybody knows he can’t bat anymore, Symonds failed with the ball bigtime,Styris I don’t know why he was hired in the first place, Rao batted well but his bowling was not that good.Bits and pieces players failed to execute their roles and in the absence of quality bowlers they failed to defend even decent totals.Laxmans personal form also didn’t help much.But I have always maintained that the Chargers always had 4 foreigners,RP Singh, Rohit Sharma and Laxman as the players in the side. Rest were making up the numbers.

Wham Bham licence does not work always
I think DC management must have now realized the difference between a slogger and a quality batsman,the definition of a T20 specialist batsman has been changed.Anybody can bat like Afridi, give them a Wham Bham licence and a little net practice even your tail enders will loft the ball for a few boundaries. The risk associated with such batting is always high and only those players who have wide range of shots will be more successful as it has been proved by Gambhir, Marsh, Sehwag, and Sharma.I think DC will trade a few of their players this year.
This season of IPL 2 was very exciting. Deccan chargers, who was at the last place in the year 2008, has finally proved its vigor by clinching the title of this season. Certainly, the captaincy of Gilchrist proved to be a boon for DC. No doubt, the Banglore Royal Challengers have given a good fight to DC, but at the end of the day "jo jeeta wahi sikander."


Soccerisation of cricket in process
What I dd not like was the owners Rami Reddy , Dr Mallya, SRK and Preity Zinta sharing the dugout with players . It puts them in even more pressure than there actually is, it doesn't make one bit of a difference in the matter of inspiring them to even bigger heights.They are way better off minding their own business and sit tight and let the players do their job. This is in a way soccerization of cricket what Roman Abramovich trying to do to Chelsea's .

Captaincy matters
Talk about change of guard like DC and KKR and BRC , all have changed their captains in due course . One of the reasons why DC won was the fact that the change of captaincy was done with least fuss unlike the multi episode dramatic transition in Knightriders and the marginally less so change of guard in the Royal Challengers. Both Shahrukh Khan and Vijay Mallya should take lessons from DC . Shahrukh in particular should understand that showmanship may win superstar status but does not win cricket matches. Neither do abrasive blogs and potshots at living legends.

KISS (Keep It simple stupid )

RR were amongst the highest runs as well as lowest totals but what DC did was to stick to the winning formula was of sheer simplicity and back-to-basics attitude. The good old cricketing wisdom of runs, catches and wickets winning matches holds good for any form of cricket let alone bonsai cricket. Laptop analyses do not take you to beyond the KKR heights is now proved.

League maturing up
4 of the 8 captains in the league were foreigners and the conversion to win the cup for the foreign captains has been 100% . Also on the tactics front the DD captains faltered midway goes on to say that the players and captains alike are still learning their basics on the job . some imported talent has worked for some franchisees but wont continue for long . Eventually the next generation has to take on the rains and relieve the icons from the game . Bonsai will remain bonsai till the next line to guard does not mature up and demystify the fact that this form is for the retired players . The likes of Pathan , Jadeja , Rohit and also Kohli need to come forward and prove the fact that IPL is a league and not a retirees den to make gold in 30 days for 3 years .


What say folks ??

Battle lines are drawn to take the star studded trophy and Lalit Modi si all set to preside over the second edition of IPL on Sunday . Lets take a peek at the four finalist . Go thru this and predit who will be the IPL2 winner . Remember the Poll here closes on Saturday 2400hrs Pacific Time .

Delhi Daredevils: This is Viru or Virender Sehwag’s team with some very good combination of experience and young talent. Although this time it missed the aggression of Pakistan players it there are seasoned campaigners in Daniel Vettori, Gautam Gambhir, and Ashish Nehra and lately Dinesh Karthik coming back to form is a big plus. They play with attitude and true cricketing spirit. Although there have been some losses, the team is a strong contender for winning IPL 2009 title. VIRU and GAUTI both looked dangerous in todays clash . Good for them and the game.

Chennai Super Kings: The team looks one of the very impressive ones with handful of talent as well as star power. It has experienced players like Hayden who is playing well in every match and with a captain like MS Dhoni any franchise can rest assured to have great show. His current form although is not amazing, he can still prove most valuable on his day. Muralitharan, Jacob ram, Michael Hussey and Makhaya Ntini (didn’t play yet) add strength and solidity to this team. It has all qualities to clinch the title

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Vijay Mallya surely tried to impress bringing in captaincy change. The team now doesn’t look like a test squad even though it has veterans like Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis playing. In fact, Kevin Pieterson left IPL 2009 half way around and it is Anil Kumble who is reviving the team with superb bowling performance. Ross Taylor is playing very well and so Jesse Ryder. Praveen Kumar adds strength to bowling If you think that this is batsmen rich, you are wrong they won some on batting and some games by bowling. It will be interesting to watch how the team of experienced lot will invent ways to win the IPL 2009 title. Wasn’t suprising about the RCB to try Manish at the top and take a risk . Kumble is a hppy man after the first Indian to hit a ton in T20.

Deccan Chargers: One of the no-hopers of IPL 2008 surprised everyone this DLF IPL 2009 season. Change in captaincy changed the way it played and they are now a team with electrifying charge and spirit under Adam Gilchrist Symonds joining late still proved that he can add immense value to the team. There are again West Indies’ Dwayne Smith and Fidel Edwards. Pragyan Ojha is a new found and is performing very well.


Teams with nerves of steel will win from here on and I take a stand that it will be a close finish between the predicted finalists Delhi and Chennai. But I will put my money on Chennai guys. What say folks . If you consider yoruself a cric buff and that you have invested enough time from home and office over the last one month, put in a one liner comment to predict the winners.

Dhoni says “…. we witnessed some of the worst bowling in the IPL..”as the Super Kings lost to the Knight Riders. Infact Kolkata actually won! McCullum fired 12 games too late, he certainly salvaged some pride for his team. Dhoni’s outburst was probably targeted at Balaji and to some extent at Morkel. They actually did bowl leaving their brains in warmer conditions, bowled and fielded with cold hearts and hands, no desire to win. I still wouldn’t panic though, CSK is more than likely through to the semi-finals. This game, however, showed the sharp contrasts in talent and intelligence that captures this side. Dhoni’s presence of mind in standing ground to ensure he retained strike after Raina was caught, his moving to the outfield to lend some speed to the fielding unit, Murali’s brilliant spell and Raina amazing batting were examples of sheer brilliance. Badrinath’s poor fielding, Balaji’s stroll in the park (Morrison’s calls this village cricket), Jacob Oram’s clueless presence on the field were the contrasts.
Dhoni calls his a safe side without any exceptional talent. He is probably true. They are batting heavy and miss a strike bowler to support Murali. They should seriously consider looking out for some pacemen for IPL 3 and onward. I also feel that they still do not have the right team on the field. They should consider playing Ntini instead of Oram in the next game, bring in Gony for Balaji and bring Vijay back for Parthiv Patel. It will take a herculean effort for Chennai to outplay the Daredevils to contemplate winning IPL 2.
Lost favorites , Mumbai Indians, were quite disappointing towards then end. They blew several opportunities to move to the next stage of the tournament, thanks to inexperience, some strange captaincy, and constant changes to the team. They did miss Zaheer Khan sorely in the final games and Jayasurya hasn’t fired at all in the tournament. They should consider trying to acquire Rohit Sharma, somehow, and strengthen their middle order. This would allow Tendulkar to go back to the top of the order, reduce the dependence on Duminy and Nayar, and bring an added spinning option.
At the end of it all, three of 4 teams from IPL-1 should make it through to this year’s semi-finals also. Deccan Chargers seem most likely to replace the Royals as the 4th team. It should be an interesting finale to the IPL-2.

The Fake IPL Player’s blog is great fun. Each post gets tonnes of (deserving) comments. Whoever is behind this blog has hit upon a brilliant idea
Take this .. About John Buchanan, he writes: "I think he wants to send his laptop in to bat the next time, given the amount of time he spends with it. Maybe if he spent half that time with us players, we may win a match or two"
He reserves the most acerbic comments for Appam Sreesanth: "Appam has this uncanny ability to piss off anyone who’s unfortunate enough to come within 2 kms of him."
How popular is the FIP ?
So far, 41,502 people have voted on the fake IPL player blog(Fakeiplplayer.blogspot.com), to determine whether the anonymous blogger, purportedly a member of Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team, should disclose his identity. Needless to say, 64% of the voters feel he should stand by his word and disclose his identity at the end of the popular Twenty20 cricket tournament.
The blog, which has been offering visitors dressing room gossip, occasionally peppered with interesting accounts of life in the KKR team, has taken the online world by storm since it was launched on 18 April. The blogger’s inclusiveness and pointed irreverence certainly are selling points among cricket buffs who rarely have the insider’s view on what is considered a gentleman’s game.Firms are now paying attention to blogs, using them as an informal network to get the opinion of customers

Why is he a runaway sellout ?
Let’s face it, we as a society love our reality shows and love gossip…we’ve never had access to gossip on cricket and the blog is catering to that need. While much of the content on the blog could be classified as fiction, it was something that readers could relate to, much like the book The Zoya Factor by Anuja Chauhan, which tells the story of an advertising executive who is regarded as a good luck charm by the Indian cricket team. Even Times of India tried to encash teh popularity by runnng a column saying “Here you get to hear from the ‘Real IPL players’,” it read.

The Fake IPL player blog had at its peak, on 26 April, 150,000 visitors, who each spent 15 minutes on the site—which adds up to about 37,000 hours spent on the blog in one day. Putting it up there with popular individual led blogs such as Aamir Khan’s blog at its peak with about 170,000 visitors. Much of the interest in the fake IPL blog has stemmed from cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore, even though the blogger apparently belongs to the Kolkata team.

Why is he spitting venom ?
Well the whole idea of a negative blog is to say: you have a right to your own opinion. The last time it happened in India involved Barkha Dutt of NDTV . The media company took a blogger to court for criticizing Barkha Dutt on her coverage of the terror attacks in Mumbai, and won. Internationally, Domino’s Pizza Inc. faced a lot of flak after a video on YouTube showed an employee preparing a food order with cheese he had put up his nose. The company failed to act in time, losing a crucial opportunity to contain the crisis.

While both the management of IPL as well as KKR have tried to maintain a silence on the fake IPL player blog, its growing popularity is likely to a definite impact on the brand KKR and their sponsors. In this tough competetive times all publicity is good publicity; specially these economically challenging days, when notoriety is also aspired for however, at times, when negative publicity is relentlessly targeted at a certain individual or a brand; that too by a nameless, faceless Internet entity, then it can have very serious implications. In this case, it generates mistrust among teammates thereby causing a rift in the team and to continue to be happy with the association despite the fact that the team hasn’t fared too well would definitely be tough .

My two cents...
My bet is on this concept being the brain child of some media manager or PR expert from the team. Good to see non-traditional media being used to create excitement around the event. What say friends ?

Think about it .. there has been so much in so little a time that the mind at times takes a sigh . Multi captain theory ,Dada – no dada , Fake IPL player , security concerns moving making IPL Internatinal Premier League,Strategic breaks , Million dollar english sand babies flopping . first ball goldern ducks , beer sipping fielders and McGrath sitting out . Fixing scandals and Miandad’s “joke” All this and more makes me think if it is a “league”

The Indian Premier League 2009 was in troubled waters even before its start, when the Government of India had refused to provide security to the extravagant tournament due to its clash of dates with the General Elections.

There was anger all over with rumours about the second edition being scrapped due to security issues. But before something unfortunate happened, Cricket South Africa came to the rescue of the tournament and its fans. Political parties making hay terming it as a “national shame ”. However the first edition was a winner hands down! It had the perfect start with a mammoth 158 flowing out of Brendon McCullum’s bat in the very first match. And there was a dream ending too – a mighty close encounter between eventual champions Rajasthan Royals and MS Dhoni led Chennai Super Kings. No one, in their wildest dreams would have thought that the de-glam squad of Rajasthan would lay their hands on the gorgeous trophy.

Things haven’t changed much even now in the sense that there still prevails uncertainty in the extravagantly lucrative tournament. The 2009 edition has been full of surprises so far and there have been incidents that have left a bitter taste in the mouth of fans forcing them to draw comparisons with IPL 2008. Let us have a look at a few mis-hits of the second edition.

Kolkata Flight Riders


No one expected Kolkata Knight Riders to take the exit route even before half the number of games in the competition was played. No ‘build up’ to the series, no PR activities, no advertisements and no star power worked. No one Korbo-ed anything, so the lorbo and jeetbo part remained out of the question, completely. And yes, the over hyped ‘Multiple Captains Theory’ did not work, or better, was a blunder.

Depriving Ganguly of captaincy, calling in Sanjay Bangar and keeping the expensive Mashrafe bin Mortaza to warm the benches in the cool Kingsmead were only a couple of the innumerable mistakes that the SRK owned team committed. Keeping one of the most successful captains of international cricket away from the helm of all action is something that no management in proper mental sanity would do. Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan had once said on national television that Sourav Ganguly would remain the captain till the time he owns KKR. Talk about a change of heart…Bollywood style!!


Strategic Time-Out


This one is a complete torture, honestly. Seven and a half minutes of stoppage time after 10 overs in every innings takes away the seriousness and the set mood of the viewers. Such a long break in a micro format is absolutely not required. It is not good for the spectators and not even for the players. It has already received flak from all corners of the cricketing fraternity and the irritation is spreading big time amongst its audience.

The strategy break might work in favour of either team in the match. The break gives both the teams to analyze their progress in the match and change their approach if required. The gap breaks the concentration of the batsman and as we have seen, in almost every match, there has been a wicket or two falling in the 11th over of the game. The strategic time out might work for the team that has been on the backfoot as they get the time to resurrect their plans while it might put brakes on the team going all guns blazing.

The main objective, however, is to generate revenue. Seven and a half minutes of break gives the IPL generate ample revenue from its advertisers, twice in a match. Lalit Modi, the chairman and commissioner of the IPL, has said that it will definitely be a part of the ongoing season. As of next year, it will be decided after the tournament.

Competitive Pitches, Dropped Catches


First ball ducks and wickets in the 11th over (thanks to the strategic break) have become a common sight in the latest edition of the IPL. There are bets being laid on first ball ducks and inning scores of less than 150. Being a T20 game, the spectators expect a cracker of a match with runs flowing out of the blade like water from a broken dam. They do not want to see wickets at regular intervals and scores of 120-140 being chased for victory.

The 20 over format has, more often than not, been a high scoring format and that is what is expected out of it. We want to see the bowlers being thrashed and bashed out of the park. Ironically, this IPL has seen only one score of over 200 in all.

Catches are dropped more than they are taken. Run-out opportunities missed in a fashion that can be related to gully cricket, or even worse. Till the 33rd match of the IPL (Rajasthan v Bangalore), 55 catches had been dropped, with Kolkata (ahem, ahem) leading the table.

Flop Shows
Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff…whew…! Big names, small show. The above are only a few to name. The English duo of KP and Freddie were the most expensive catches at 7.5 crores each, but neither could do much for their respective teams, and now, have returned with their hefty pay packets to their homeland to play West Indies.

Delhi Daredevils captain Sehwag and his deputy, Gambhir, are known to be tailor-made for the 20 over format. Fearless hitting is their characteristic, bludgeoning the opposition, their charisma. But both have failed to give their team a rock solid quick start. Thanks to the middle order suspension, they have sustained the top order shocks and scares comfortably. Gambhir, however, looked like getting back to his best when he won the Man of the Match award for his 71 off 57 balls versus KKR (31st match).

Brendon McCullum’s stint in IPL can only be remembered by his 158 n.o in the very first match of the IPL in 2008 - a perfect start that a tournament like the Indian Premier League could get. Nothing could have been better. Chris Gayle set the stage ablaze with a scintillating century in the first match of the T20 World Cup in 2007, but it seems like someone has poured a bucket of water on his fiery blade in the IPL.

With the bigwigs (in context to both names and age) like Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Matt Hayden, Dravid, Adam Gilchrist and Gibbs performing well, it would be great if the rulers of the format come to the fore and take the series to a different altitude altogether.

DLF Maximum or CITI Moment of Success?

Is it all about money honey? Yes it is. IPL is all about money, money and more money. Millions of dollars to buy players, hefty advertising costs, security budget etc. It’s raining cash in IPL.

The latest addition is the renaming of a SIX. It is now known as the ‘DLF Maximum’. A crucial wicket is called a ‘Citi Moment of Success’. Gone are the days when commentators spoke just for the love of the game. Sadly, it is just about the commercial proliferation and we get capitalist fabricated emotions to hear when an exciting moment comes in a game. Needless to say, it takes away the beauty of the effort and leaves us with an incomplete feeling. But as they say, ‘In Rome, do as the Romans do’, we must also take a cue and leave the poor commentators do their ‘job’ of making their sponsors happy and keep the money flowing.

Australian Rajasthani for Beer

Hopefully, you readers know what is being talked about here. Yes, it is the ‘sip of beer’ on the boundary lines by none other than the very cool and mischievous, the Australian Rajasthani, Shane Warne in the match against the Royal challengers Bangalore.

The spin legend was captured on camera gulping a mouthful of beer from a mug that was supposedly offered to him by a spectator. Now if that is something to be angry over, be amused or just enjoy the video, is up to the viewers to decide.

Did the Kolkata Knight Riders deliberately lose their IPL match against the Bangalore Royal Challengers?

The Knight Riders scored 173. Till the 15th over of the Bangalore innings, Kolkata looked set to win. Then, it all fell apart.


Someone has brought to Modi's attention that the match might have been fixed, while the BCC! has brought to my attention that the match might have been fixed.

The amusing thing is that the reason explained in this article, for the match being potentially fixed, is that Brad Hodge was not playing and was sitting in one of the hospitality boxes.

What connection exactly does sitting in a hospitality box and match fixing have?

And while they're at it, i.e. investigating match fixing in the IPL, maybe they should pay some attention to last night's match as well - the one that Deccan Chargers lost to the Delhi Daredevils.



Well if scoring 52 runs of the final 4 overs to win a match cannot be achieved without some match fixing, then how can 7 wickets for 12 runs be?

And why stop there?

Investigate today's match as well.

Because it looked like some players of the Royal Challengers Bangalore had fixed the match and wanted to lose it.

While some of them pulled a Rashid Latif and snatched a victory from the Chennai Super Kings.

Go on, give the ACU, or whoever the anti-corruption lot are at the IPL, something to do.

Cricket is often a great metaphor for life. And we like this newest format of the game, T20, because it can teach us a lot about how to manage our investments. Here are 10 things we have learned from the IPL about investing.
Start early: T20 does not reward late starters - teams must start putting runs early in their innings. Otherwise, it can get to late and the batsmen are always playing catch up. Similarly, we must also start investing and saving early. This allows us to benefit from compounding of capital, as well as allows us to "keep the scoreboard ticking" in order to move closer to our goals. Additionally, we have seen how batting sides take advantage of fielding restrictions early in the innings. Similarly, early in our innings during our youth we must also take advantage of the freedom to do things that we might not be able to later in life. One of these freedoms is to start building our financial resources when we have very few other financial obligations
Risk and Reward tradeoff: T20 is all about taking high risks and ensuring that the team gets rewarded for it - whether its aggressive opening batsmen, or field placing or taking risks in trying out new bowlers. Similarly, finance is all about risk and reward. One must understand that one cannot get very high returns without taking on risk, just like a batsman faces the risk of being caught at the boundary if he is trying to hit a six. We should not be surprised if we get out trying to reach for extraordinarily high returns on our investments because these are of the most risky kind. Also, just like not every ball can be hit for a boundary, not every investment will turn out to be a goldmine. Sometimes singles are equally important
Be ready for the unexpected: In case of rain or weather related delays, the Duckworth-Lewis method gets used and can lead to unexpected outcomes that might be highly unfavourable to one of the teams. The only way out is to have already got enough runs on the scoresheet. Similarly, our investments must also always be ready to deal with unexpected situations that life might throw at us. We must have enough of a margin of safety to be able to protect ourselves against the proverbial rainy days
Strategic break: Teams take a strategic break to review their progress and plan for the remaining overs. Similarly, as individuals we too must do the same. Unless we regularly review how well our finances our doing and how we must tackle the challenges that the future will throw our way, we might not end up meeting our targets
Balance: Just like a T20 teams needs the right balance of big hitters, anchors and effective bowlers, our investment portfolio also needs the right balance of investments. Too much of growth or aggressive funds, without adequate support or backup, might end up with too much imbalance that can hurt us. We must recognize that our investments should be diversified across sectors and different assets, and not be concentrated in any one area
One bad over: One bad over can change the direction of a game and can often make it difficult to recover if a team does not have enough runs on the board (if you are batting) or enough wickets already (if you are bowling). Sometimes in life one also goes through a "bad over" which could take the form of a job loss, or serious injury or illness. If we do not have an adequate safety net then our personal financial situation can be beyond repair
Consistency gets rewarded: The Purple cap or Orange cap are given to the best performing bowler or batsman respectively. To win these awards, a player needs to consistently be a good performer. We too must strive to get this Purple or Orange cap when it comes to our personal finances. What matters most is that we have consistent performance over a long period of time. There is no point in investing in a fund that is really hot in one year, but a poor performer at all other times
Coaching helps: Whether its a team coach or a specialist bowling or fielding coach, T20 has shown us that some guidance and direction, especially an objective view from the outside, can help in improving a team's performance and meetings a team's goals. Similarly, our investments can also benefit from some guidance and expertise, especially to get a check on whether we are doing the right things and not making careless mistakes that might hurt us later on in life
Distractions can be entertaining but ultimately the score matters: T20 is highly entertaining not only on the pitch but also because of all the music and dancing. But, ultimately a team wins or loses on the back of the score that it has made. Similarly, in investing distractions like the hottest investments or the flavours of the month will come and go, but what matters the most is that our "investment scorecard" shows a healthy average. We must focus on what matters and ignore the distractions
Winning attitude: The IPL has shown that even young players with lesser talent or resources than the great cricketers can do well if they bring the right attitude to the pitch. Similarly, investing is not just about being rich or already having lots of money. We can start with few resources and little experience but over time make a fortune for ourselves through a positive attitude and willingness to learn from our mistakes. We should not get disheartened if one of our investments has lost money. Just like a young cricketer who believes in himself, we should believe in what we have invested in and stick it out. If we have put in the right kind of preparation, we will also come out the winner over the long run

As they say in cricket, or in any other game, you need more players with character than with just talent. Talent may ‘deceive’ you in tricky situations, but players with character will raise the bar in difficult times and win you more matches under pressure.

Before the inaugural edition of IPL, no one knew Yusuf Pathan or Ravindra Jadeja. They were, at that time, raw materials which needed complete support from seniors, so that they could believe in their abilities and play their natural game.

Here are some of the lesser known stars who have shone in the limelight making me believe that league churn out the best talent available in a vast country like India .
Left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati was the unlikely hero for Chennai Super Kings in their crucial Indian Premier League game against Delhi Daredevils at the Wanderers Stadium on Saturday. He claimed four wickets to help Super Kings register an 18-run win.


The 28-year-old Goa player struck two vital blows to tilt the match in his team's favour as Daredevils' David Warner and Dinesh Karthik threatened to take the game away from Super Kings. Jakati broke the rollicking 74-run partnership by having Warner stumped for 51 on the fifth ball of the 15th over. Thereafter, he removed the hard-hitting Karthik to reduce Daredevils to 132 for six.

Jakati took four wickets for 24 runs, which also included wickets of T Dilshan and Pradeep Sangwan to walk away with the Man of the Match award.

Abhishek Nayar is a Mumbai Indian player , a left-handed batsman known for his long-standing and hard-hitting capabilities, and he is also a medium-paced bowler. Abhishek Nayar has a unique batting style and his ability to bat at any position of the batting has helped his team enormously. The anonymous, inexpensive Abhishek Nayar can smite Andrew Flintoff, the most expensive IPL player, for three sixers in one over.


That character was shown by another young man from lowly Madhya Pradesh, Naman Ojha. Though he has scored aplenty in the domestic circuit, IPL has proved to be a completely new arena for him.
He failed in his debut match against Delhi Daredevils, scoring a golden duck. Any other captain might have dropped the rookie after that match. But Warne saw in him a champion match-winner, and the seeds of his wisdom germinated in the very next match, when coming as an opener Ojha surprised one and all by smashing 68 against Kings XI Punjab and forging a 135-run opening stand with Graeme Smith. He provided an encore with another fifty in the next match to steer his team to victory over Bangalore Royal Challengers.

The name list could be endless . some are taking their chances while some are not that lucky this time but all I can say that they are all headed in the right direction . However strong might be the halo of the foreign players but their representation cannot be effective without the support of local talent . had it not been for Raina , CSK would not be topping the charts just due to Hayden . AB De Villiers continues to impress .. some day it is the local SA knowledge of conditions but that wouldn't have been possible without the bowlers Mishra and some local talent support . Hail IPL .. churn out hard and good .

"I think he is an overrated bowler and so I think he was a great target for us to go at. He always loses his cool under pressure and I think tonight was a good example of that,"


In yet another cricket controversy for the DLF IPL 2009, we now have Australian Matthew Hayden calling Sreesanth an overrated bowler. Sreesanth went for a lot of runs when he was bowling to Hayden. When he finally got the big Aussie out by getting him caught at the personal score of 89, Hayden did not take kindly to the words that Sreesanth addressed to him as he walked back to the pavilion.


Matthew Hayden specializes in using choice epithets for some of the hapless bowlers that have the misfortune of bowling and he reserves the choicest ones for Indian bowlers: about a year ago Hayden’s comments about Harbhajan Singh were much in the cricket news, when India was touring Australia. Readers will recall it was a particularly acrimonious tour with allegations of racial slurs and counter allegations of name calling.

At that time, Hayden had very famously called Harbhajan an obnoxious little weed. “It’s been a bit of a long battle with Harbhajan, the first time I ever met him he was the same little obnoxious weed that he is now”, Hayden had said on Brisbane radio. Then there was also the allegation that he called Bhajji a ‘mad boy’ which he countered by saying that he said ‘bad’ not ‘mad’ which Bhajji should be “flattered” by since it was a clothing range.

Hayden had also famously referred to Ishant Sharma as a “stringbean paceman” and had expressed the desire to meet him in the boxing ring. “At the end of the day you are 19, why don’t you just worry about your bowling for a while,” Hayden was reported in the cricket news as having told Sharma

This latest cricket controversy also is caused by the wonderful compliments that Hayden seems to reserve for Indian bowlers who seem to get under his hide with shocking regularity. So when Hayden was in full flow and was stopped in his tracks at 89 by Sreesanth, the bowler seemed rather overwhelmed and as he often does, he overreacted. He hurled some abuse or harsh words at Hayden, and Hayden then responded with his withering scorn, the contempt that he keeps especially for Indian bowlers.

As for Sreesanth, this is far from his first run in with cricket controversy. Readers will remember last year’s IPL which saw Sree in floods of tears because Harbhajan Singh allegedly slapped him. This is just the sort of thing that Indian players need to avoid, such a display of childish immaturity. When our chaps behave like this, can you really blame Hayden for taking pot shots at them!

At a time when cricket-lovers across the world are excited about the Indian Premier League matches held at South Africa, a blogger has been giving a headache to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team.


www.fakeiplplayer.blogspot.com, where inside stories of the Knight Riders team and the tussle between players and the coach are aired on a daily basis, has been one of the major hits online these days.

The blogs have been appearing for two weeks now under the name IPL Anonymous and are believed to be posted by a player of the Riders team. The blog has become so popular that in this short span of time it has earned 5644 followers! The blog has mentions about almost everyone in the KKR team and players from other IPL teams. While Knight Riders team owner Shah Rukh Khan is called Winnie Dildo, former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly is Lord Almighty, David Hussey is 'Chikna Pussy' and coach John Buchanan is ‘Bhookha Naan.’ Even local boy Sreesanth has found a prominent place in the satirical writing.

Irritated by the blog posts where the inside stories of the team are aired openly, the team management blocked laptops inside the dressing rooms. Interestingly, fakeiplplayer has been reporting the events even after the team management took all precautionary measures.

What’s more? He keeps posting even about the tactics of the officials in their efforts to trace him! It goes like this.

“Since the posts have been coming out, guys are making their own small groups and going out to places without informing others. No one wants Fake IPL Player to land up there and broadcast their nefarious activities to the whole world. In fact, the blog has affected the nocturnal lives of IPLers in more ways than one would have expected. Teams are now trying to find out beforehand where our team is headed after the match to ensure that they don’t land up at the same place”. The tremendous response to the blog is visible with the number of comments it receives for each post.

While the first one itself has about 150 comments, the last post ‘Bye Calypso. Thanks for entertaining us’ has received 458 comments so far. The blog posts generate a feeling that the author could be one of the Indian players in the team or someone closely associated with an Indian player.

However fakeiplplayer has decided to make his identity known after the South Africa IPL.

He has given a couple of footnotes at the end of his last post on April 30. Here go those footnotes.

“P.S. I think some website’s been advertising that I am appearing for a live chat. That’s not true. Under the circumstances I can’t live chat at all and nobody knows who I am.”

“P.P.S. Some people are replying to comments posing as IPL Anonymous. It’s not me.

I haven’t participated in the comments section.

Pls don’t believe the guy posing as me.”

“P.P.P.S. I have heard that Dildo’s PR team has decided to degrade this blog by posting malicious and critical comments and also by spamming in the comments section. If only this energy was seen in building the team.”

“P.P.P.P.S. The focus has shifted to the Support Staff. The management is now convinced that the Fake IPL Player is not a player but a support staff member. Let’s see where this trail takes them.”

“P.P.P.P.P.S. I have decided to retire from all forms of cricket after IPL. I will disclose my identity on our last match day.” Anyway, as fakeiplplayer himself points out in his post ‘Battle of the losers,’ it’s going to be a highly memorable trip for team Knight Riders.

“It was a short and sweet trip to Port Elizabeth.

We went in, we got ******, and we came out. Pretty simple and a highly memorable trip indeed.”

With 250 days of cricket in the year, and soaring ratings, this has become the surest way to draw in advertisers.

Cricket may be the game of glorious uncertainties, but as far as the advertising industry is concerned, it seems to be the game of glorious certainties. With crowds continuing to flock in to watch the second season of IPL, to their TV sets if not to the stadiums in far-away South Africa, advertising for cricket continues to pick up in sharp contrast to other advertising which is falling. Believe it or not, the stage is even set for a hike in ad-rates for cricket-related shows, again something unheard of at a time when all media are discounting ad-rates for even the best of their shows. And yes, saas-bahu serials are passé, as are talent contests. For the last 18 days and the another 232 days during the year, the only thing you’re going to hear advertisers talk of is cricket shows/properties: Last ball ka captain, Kaun dega prize, Connect with your stars, Meal khao South Africa jaao, and so on.




According to media-planners, with 250 days of cricket on television this year, the share of cricket-related advertising is likely to double. After the IPL, there’s the Twenty-20 World Cup in London and then the Champions Trophy — all told, these big tournaments will ensure cricket grabs around a fifth or more of the television advertising pie of Rs 8,000-odd crore. That’s virtually double the proportion from last year when, of the Rs 7,200-crore advertisements, around Rs 700 crore were cricket-related. In 2007, when IPL wasn’t around, the figure was around 7 per cent of a total advertising of around Rs 6,500 crore on television.



Apart from the huge reach cricket has — viewership for the 21st to the 24th matches in South Africa exceeded 155 million as compared to 129 million in the same season last year. No other programme has anywhere near the same reach. And, given the time taken for each match, and the total inventory of prime-time space that cricket offers, it’s not surprising cricket is a natural winner — the 59-match IPL-2, for instance, has 100-120 prime-time slots of 30 seconds each on a daily basis as compared to around 70-80 in the top five or six general entertainment channels. That is, cricket accounts for around 60 per cent of the daily prime-time spots available during the season.

As for the length of the season, it’s gone up from around 150-175 days in a year, three years ago, to around 250 days now. Two years ago there was no IPL or 36 days of cricket in a year, three years ago there was no Twenty-20 World Cup. And since the Champions Trophy was postponed in 2008, this has added to the overall inventory in 2009.

Which is why telecom giants Airtel and Vodafone, consumer electronics’ majors Samsung and LG, and beverage rivals CocaCola and Pepsi are jostling for IPL-space on TV. How hard the jostling is can be seen from the fact that about 80 per cent of the IPL TV-inventory was booked by the big boys of the business before the tournament began. Indeed, even companies that were not into cricket advertising — electric switch manufacturing firm Havells, for instance, has just started advertising on cricket and plans to spend Rs 25 crore this year on IPL TV-advertising.

According to the TAM ratings for the week ending April 25, six of the top 10 shows were all IPL matches, with ratings ranging from 3.96 to 4.91 — the closest the general entertainment programmes got was 3.94. During this period, the channel with the highest TV Viewership Ratings (TVRs) across all TV-homes was SET Max which airs the IPL matches. According to aMap, another TV-rating, the total number of viewers watching IPL-2 is up by 21 per cent as compared to IPL-1. Not surprisingly, SET Max has already made Rs 400 crore from IPL advertising; and though the tournament will be a lot shorter, ESPN Star Sports hopes to make around Rs 250 crore from the Twenty20 World Cup in June.

The big question is where does cricket-advertising go from here? It seems difficult to see how more than 250 days of cricket can be achieved, especially since monopolists like the BCCI are squeezing rivals like the Indian Cricket League out of existence. The fact that IPL’s organizers chose to take the tournament abroad when the government said the security needs of the elections would not allow it to provide similar cover for IPL is a sign of just how full the cricket calendar is — had the organizers kept IPL in India, the earliest it could have had the tournament was in the next season thanks to the conflicting calendars of top cricketers.

By Surajeet Das Gupta: 20:20 ways to beat the slowdown

Check it out!

Some might be wondering what does teh areticle on advertising to do with Cricket. Well dear friends , it has a remote connection .I love the simplicity and creative appeal these ads have. Its a great idea to use humans as animated characters.
There are a series of commercial ads rangind from 25 to 35 seconds which I would archive shortly for you to injoy .

ZooZoos are the most entertaining and intelligent things on TV. Or so we thought until we learnt they’re not things at all but thin, young people transformed into TV commercials for Vodafone. Well, they could and have fooled us. Anyone who thinks those flat, white, elastic creatures without a bone or curve in their bodies are human, hasn’t seen the male or female form, lately.

Not that it matters. We love ‘em. So much so, we wish they would replace IPL (where the ads appear most often) as the main attraction. Zoozoos are inventive, unexpected; most IPL matches are predictable. We don’t know what zoozoos will do next; we’ve seen what’s happening most often in IPL. The team batting first has struggled but manfully put up a woefully low score so we switch channels only to be lured back by the sight of half of the team batting second being out halfway through and the last over deciding the match when, as commentators say, “We have a match on our hands”.
Vodafone international roaming ad uses words which are basically Kerala dishes - 1. Parota (Similar to Chapatis made from Maida) 2. Puttu Kadala (Rice cakes with chana) 3. Kappa meen (Fish and tapioca)

So we are just one day away from the first test between England, and the team from Caribbean at Lords. To start with it will be interesting to see how the windies will adapt to the conditions in England and I have to say that till now they have not come out with good performances in the warm up games.


Windies have been further hampered by Gayle joining the team late as he wanted to play one more IPL game! well being the captain of your national team it does not look good.

As far as selection issues are concerned they are probably still debating on who will be the third seamer and in the race are Richardson, Baker, and Sammy and for the all rounder slot Bernard will likely fit in.

For England as we know that it will be the first game for Flower as a permanent coach and he would like to start on a good note. As far as the team is concerned it looks straightforward what with Panesar likely to miss out and Bresnan as well as Onions getting their first chance in tests. I am actually impressed by Onions as he can generate good pace from a short run up and gets late swing also he is reasonably accurate.

I do think that England are the favourites as the Windies team do not look well prepared. For England I expect Anderson to be the key as if there any swing he will trouble the top order. Strauss is in good form and of course KP is also there. It would be interesting to see how Bopara will play at 3 which has become the problem area for England.

For them their openers namely Gayle, and Simmons have to fire but Simmons's habit of closing his face off the bat and Gayle being struck in the crease early on may mean that if there is some movement bowlers like Anderson can trouble them but if they do get a good start then the strong middle order can come into play, of course both Edwards, and Taylor have to fire with the ball too.

Shahrukh Khan has found an alternative way to earn money. After his team’s dismal performance at the IPL, SRK is back home not only for voting but another reason which brings him back to India is the wedding of builder Kanti Govani’s nephew. Shahrukh Khan has been paid a whopping amount of 3 crores to perform at the wedding.


As Shahrukh failed to earn profit through IPL, to compensate the loss he went to shake his legs. SRK never denied that he loves his fame, popularity and of course money and if not though acting, he went ahead to earn some big bucks through his dancing skill.

Along with him, Rani Mukherjee, Emraan Hashmi, and Bipasha Basu will also be performing at the wedding ceremony. Neil Nitin Mukesh, Celina Jaitley and Neha Dhupia will all be part of the Sangeet ceremony. The wedding cards have been printed and names of the performers are mentioned. The actors will dance and also perform some stunts to entertain the guests.

Rajasthan Royals threw its weight behind pacer Kamran Khan, who has been reported for a suspect bowling action, and said it would do everything to help the left-arm bowler come out of the crisis.


Rajasthan Royals captain-cum-coach Shane Warne said he was impressed with the pacer and hoped the crisis would soon be over.

"Kamran has made a big impact in this IPL. He is a young man with a great work ethic and a huge appetite to learn. With these attributes in mind, we are confident that this issue will be resolved very quickly," Warne said.

"However, our first priority is a swift recovery from his knee injury from the last game. We currently await a full medical report after his MRI scan today," he said.

Chairman and co-owner Manoj Badale echoed his view and said, "The Royals have always been about finding young talent and supporting them all the way with holistic development and the best specialists in every field.

"Kamran is a great example of that and within our coaching setup, we will ensure that we support him to the next phase of his development," he said.