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.

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.

Let me give you a clue . This Superstar was carted by Abhishek Nayar for three sixes in an over before AB de Villiers tore him apart in their Daredevils match .You guessed it right
Will Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, IPL’s two most expensive players, ever think of paying back 2 cents from their fat paychecks by performing for their teams ? Is it the weight of expectations or the mountain of money they will make from the league that has grounded them? Or has the can’t-be-away-from-my-wife-for-long bug struck Pietersen again like it did in the West Indies earlier this year?


Well, whatever might be the reason, the high-flying South African – err Englishman – needs to deliver fast, for we all know Vijay Mallya’s penchant for chopping and changing at the drop of a hat. The boss, as coach Ray Jennings calls him, was simply over the moon after the team won their first game. “Can the critics who ran down my team as the ‘Test’ squad now explain the success of Dravid and Kumble,” he asked? Never mind the fact that he himself wasn’t happy with the ‘Test’ squad.

Anyway, Mallya was terribly sure that the team is surely on it glorious path of the IPL DOOSRA unlike the test team last year . Alas, that wasn’t to be.

Pietersen’s compatriot and friend Flintoff (I assume they are still friends) is in no better situation, though he has fewer excuses than KP for his below-par performance. He is neither captaining the side, nor the pangs of homesickness get to him as quickly. Yet, he’s being taken to the cleaners by just about by anyone.

The management was even thinking of benching Flintoff (before he he helped himself with an injury ) for it would surely hurt to pay the kind of money Flintoff is getting for just warming the bench. They would rather make him sweat a little, if nothing else, to earn the fat purse.

Time is running out for the English stalwarts. They have just a few more matches before they head for national duties to actually earn the money they would be taking home.

Who has the most Economical spell in IPL – Its Fidel Edwards

The West Indies fast bowler, who was crucial in Deccan Chargers’ eight-wicket win, gave away just six runs from his four overs that also included a maiden at an economy rate of 1.5 at the Newlands.

Next to him in the second spot is Bangalore Royal Challengers’ Anil Kumble, the former India skipper, who recorded an economy rate of 1.57 during his career-best 5 for 5 off 3.1 against defending champions Rajasthan Royals Saturday.

The following are the other statistics of the match between Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders:

Pragyan Ojha (2/14), Scott Styris (2/32) and Rudra Pratap Singh (4/22) have registered their best figures in the IPL.

Rudra became the first bowler from Deccan Chargers to capture four wickets in an IPL innings. Thanks to his outstanding feat, Rudra got his first MOM award.

Kolkata (101) posted their second lowest score in the IPL. Against Mumbai Indians, they were dismissed for 67 at Wankhede Stadium on May 16, 2008.

With two stumpings in an innings, Adam Gilchrist became the second wicketkeeper to accomplish the feat in an IPL innings. In the last edition, Wriddhiman Saha was the first to accomplish the feat against Kings XI at Mohali on May 3, 2008.

Gilchrist, with three dismissals (1 catch + 2 stumpings), has recorded his best wicketkeeping performance in an IPL innings.

Deccan Chargers’ eight-wicket victory is their third in 15 IPL matches.

Deccan Chargers’ win is their first in three games against Kolkata Knight Riders.




IPL Franchisee Owners set to make 4-5 times more money than previous edition

Investors who paid top dollar to own a part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) opportunity are now on a good wicket.

Franchise owners expect to earn around four-five times more this year than they did during the inaugural season of the 20-over league in 2008, thanks to a deluge of sponsorships and brand associations, according to estimates put together by Mint after speaking with franchise owners and media buyers .

This comes after initial reports that sponsors and advertisers were sceptical about IPL’s success this year, when it had to be moved to South Africa after the Indian government said it could not provide security cover to the league during the election season, and that many had walked away from earlier commitments.

The team owners will also earn significantly more from the new broadcast deal the IPL management signed with sports marketing company World Sports Group (WSG) and Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd (MSM) this year. Last year, the deal had been signed for around Rs4,000 crore for 10 years, while this year it was renegotiated at Rs8,200 crore for nine years.

While the three partners did not share the details of the new broadcast deal officially, two executives from IPL and WSG said that the new deal has been linked with IPL’s viewership. IPL’s management may only get 33% of the contracted revenues for the first five years. Franchisees will get 80% of this 33%.

Based on this, the eight franchisees are likely to take home between Rs60 crore and Rs90 crore each. Last year, the teams earned Rs20 crore each from broadcast rights.

There will be no change in the income from central sponsorships, because the IPL board could not attract any new sponsor this year. Last year, each franchisee had got Rs15 crore from the sponsorships pool.

For franchisees, however, it has been raining sponsorships and brand associations this year. All franchisees but one have at least nine brand associations or sponsorships this year. The more aggressive ones, Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have, 15, 13 and 12 “partners”, respectively, on board.

“Despite the last-minute move to South Africa, there has been a lot of interest from companies to partner with us for IPL 2,” said Rakesh Singh, chief marketing officer, CSK.

Last year, most franchisees had managed to rope in between three and six sponsors and partners. The most prominent franchisee sponsors this year include cola rivals Coca-Cola and Pepsi, sports shoes and apparel makers Adidas and Reebok, motorcycle manufacturer Hero Honda and mobile handsets maker Nokia India.

Chewing gum maker Wrigley India Pvt. Ltd has picked up sponsorships across the eight teams. “The idea behind partnering with the eight IPL teams was to associate with each of the individual franchisee and reach out to their respective fans,” said Himanshu Khanna, director, marketing, Wrigley.

The only team that has not had such splendid run this time is Bangalore Royal Challengers. The team, which belongs to Vijay Mallya-owned UB Group, only has Wrigleys and its in-house brands sponsoring it but, according to the company, that’s how it had planned it. “We have enough of our own brands to ride on the IPL so why should we share this space with any outside brand,” said Vijay Rekhi, president, United Spirits Ltd, part of the UB Group.

Incidentally, the group’s brands such as Royal Challenger, McDowells, and Royal Stag are sponsoring at least five other teams as well.

Along with the increase in the number of brand associations, the price of the deals has also seen a steep increase this time. “The rates for franchisee sponsorships went up at least 30-40% this year,” said two senior executives of two teams. “There are teams that have signed title sponsorships at 20 times the price they charged in 2008,” one of them said. They both did not want to be named. According to estimates from media buyers and various team executives, deals for associate and title sponsors this year have varied from Rs50 lakh to Rs15 crore.

Teams such as CSK, defending champion Rajasthan Royals, and KKR are, thus, expected to have closed deals worth Rs80-100 crore. Others have also raised around Rs50-60 crore. Last year, the teams had raised around Rs15-20 crore from such associations.

“Some partnerships, such as media associations, are purely in kind terms,” one of the two executives said. The size and the duration of independent deals could not be confirmed.

Franchisees credit this success to IPL’s popularity. “IPL makes it possible for advertisers to reach out to consumers across regions, demography, age groups and gender,” said CSK’s Singh, “…which is perhaps why the move overseas has not made a difference for sponsorships at the franchisee level.”

South Africa is full of wild animals. I saw this particular creature while I was on a South African safari. For some strange reason it was holding a mic and saying ‘extraaaaaaaa innings’. It looked like it was in heat.




Wives of Delhi Daredevils players Sehwag, Mendes and Nehra cheer up during the IPL T20 match in Durban.



Sachin Tendulkar lifts candles off a cake at a surprise birthday party in Durban. Tendulkar celebrated his 36th birthday with friends and teammates in South Africa during the Indian Premier League. (AFP Photo)






When Harry met Sally ?