Dwayne Bravo joins Mumbai Indians

Dwayne Bravo, the West Indian all rounder, has signed up for the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) which started on April 18. Dwayne Bravo has joined the Mumbai Indians team with Sachin Tendulkar as captain and Lalchand Rajput as coach. On Sunday, Mumbai Indians will play its first match against Banglore Royal Challangers.

Bravo joined the team as a replacement for Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga. Malinga is recovering from a knee injury. “we got a report that his recovery might take a further two to three weeks. So we decided to have a back-up”, said Mumbai Indians coach Lalchand Rajput regarding the selection of Bravo.

The 24-year-old Dwayne Bravo will not play in the Carib Challenge Shield Final against Jamaica which will be held next week. Trinidad and Tobago team manager Colin Borde supported Dwayne Bravo since he knows well that the Indian Premier League will benefit the national team.

Every body is excited about Bravo, playing with Sachin, Harbhajan Singh and Shaun Pollock, said Colin Borde.

since Bravo is the first guy from from Trinidad and Tobago to play in the IPL, he must be very proud, said Borde.

April 20th, 2008 | Posted in Mumbai Indians | No Comments

Virender Sehwag’s Delhi Daredevils hold slight edge against Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals

Delhi Daredevils hold slight edge against Rajasthan Royals

Delhi Daredevils led by Virender Sehwag takes on Rajasthan Royals led by Shane Warne in DLF IPL on Saturday at New Delhi. Virender Sehwag’s fine form with the bat is what Delhi Daredevils count most apart from the perceived advantage of the home turf at Feroz Shah Kotla. Delhi Daredevils suffered a setback due to the unavailability of Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Malik, due to their international assignments and hence Sehwag would be under tremendous pressure to cut loose. In form opener Gautam Gambhir would also have to make his willow do the talking and giver his skipper Virender Sehwag able assistance. In the bowling department, Sehwag can afford to relax. Aussie Glen McGrath and Daniel Vettori are the best bets in any form of the game. Vettori’s intelligent spin would not be an easy proposition to any batsmen. McGrath on the other hand is known for his nagging accuracy.
Captain and Coach Shane Warne leads the Rajasthan Royal Challengers charge against Delhi Daredevils. But Rajasthan Royal Challengers are also missingsome key players – South African captain Graeme Smith and his team mate Morkel as well as Pakistan’s Younis Khan.
But Shane Warne is hoping that all rounder Shane Watson will fire from all cylinders. Shane Watson is known to be a big hitter. Mohammad Kaif gets a chance to prove his skills with the bat and on the field for Rajasthan Royals.
Bookies give Delhi Daredevils a slight advantage but one explosive innings can swing the match as Brendon McCullum showed in Bangalore the other day.
Teams
Delhi Daredevils
Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Bret Geeves , Glen McGrath, Shoaib Malik, Daniel Vettori, AB de Villers, Farveez Maharoof, Tilakaratne Dilshan, Mohammed Asif, Manoj Tiwari, Dinesh Karthik, Mithun Manhas, Pradeep Sangwan, Shikhar Dhawan, Yo Mahesh, Amit Mishra, Mayank Tehlan, Rajan Bhatia.

Rajasthan Royals
Shane Warne, Graeme Smith, Younis Khan, Shane Watson, Sohail Tanvir, Kamran Akmal, M Morkel, Justin Langer, Mohammad Kaif, Yusuf Pathan, Munaf Patel, Pankaj Singh, Mahesh Rawat, Sidharth Trivedi, Taruwar Kohli, R JadeJA, Niraj Patel, Swapnil Asnodkar, Anup Revandkar, D Salunkhe, Sumeet Khatri, Aditya Angle, Jaydev Shah, Parag More.

April 19th, 2008 | Posted in Delhi DareDevils, Foreign Players, Rajasthan Royals - Jaipur | No Comments

Brendon McCullum explodes, Kolkata Knight Riders beat Bangalore Royal Challengers by 140 runs

Brendon McCullum explodes, Kolkata Knight Riders beat Bangalore Royal Challengers by 140 runs

Brendon McCullum hit 13 sixes, smashed 158 in 73 balls and demolished Bangalore Royal Challengers in front of Vijay Mallya’s home crowd to guide Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders the first victory in the first match of the inaugural match of the DLF IPL Twenty20 championship.

So much was the domination of Brendon McCullum in the match that no other player from either sided is worthy of mention in the score card.

No player from Bangalore Royal Challengers crossed double digits with the exception of Praveen Kumar, who scored 18.

Brendon McCullum who had a Twenty20 strike rate of more than 121 finished the match with a strike rate of 216.43. Brendon McCullum was bought for $700,000 and that seems to be a modest sum given his heroics, showing scant respect for Bangalore Knight Riders attack.

April 19th, 2008 | Posted in Bangalore Royal Challengers, Kolkata Knight Riders | 2 Comments

Kolkata Knight Riders demolish Bangalore Royal Challengers - first match results

This was a collapse as none could have predicted it, and the man who had the time of his life was Shah Rukh Khan. He sang and danced through the whole show, while his team Kolkata Knight Riders went about systematically demolishing first the Bangalor team’s bowling attack, and then their batting lineup.

The man who has had the worst time of his life - Rahul Dravid, captain, Bangalore Royal Challengers. And probably Vijay Mallya, the team owner.

Brendan McCullum put on the show of his life when he attacked with fours and sixes, ending with the best Twenty20 score ever. Compare that to Bangalore Challengers, where no one even managed to cross into the double digits. Team captain Sourav Ganguly and teammate Ricky Ponting were barely noticed as McCullum’s onslaught was on.

Bangalore 58-8 (11.4) Runs Balls 4s 6s SR
*R Dravid b Sharma 2 3 0 0 66.67
W Jaffer c Ponting b Dinda 6 16 0 0 37.50
V Kohli b Shukla 2 6 0 0 33.33
J Kallis c Kartik b Agarkar 8 7 0 1 114.29
C White cSaha b Agarkar 6 10 0 0 60.00
M Boucher c Kartik b Ganguly 7 9 1 0 77.78
B Akhil c Ponting b Agarkar 0 2 0 0 0.00
A Noffke run out (Agarkar) 9 10 1 0 90.00
P Kumar not out 4 5 1 0 80.00
Zaheer Khan not out 1 3 0 0 33.33
S Joshi
Extras: 12 ( b:0 lb:6 nb:0 w:6)
Total: 58-8 (11.4) | Curr. RR: 4.97 |
Req. RR: 19.80
FOW: *R Dravid (4-1, 1.1), V Kohli (9-2,
2.2), J Kallis (24-3, 4.5), W Jaffer (24-4, 5.2), M Boucher (38-5, 7.5), B
Akhil (38-6, 8.2), C White (43-7, 9), A Noffke (56-8, 11.1)
Kolkata O M R W Nb Wd RPO
L Shukla 1 0 4 0 0 1 4.00
I Sharma 2 0 4 1 0 0 2.00
A Dinda 2 0 4 2 0 0 2.00
A Agarkar 4 0 25 3 0 4 6.25
*SC Ganguly 2.4 0 14 1 0 1 5.25

Rahul Dravid, from the beginning, looked nervous - but the he always looks nervous. He was scalped by Ishant Sharma who seemed to enjoy great camaraderie with his arch enemy from Australia, Ricky Ponting. Agarkar too put on a spectacular performance.

Between these two, the demolition of the Bangalore Royal Challengers was complete.
All is not lost, thankfully it is a league, and there are more matches to come for the Bangalore Royal Challengers. Great show today, and great start, Kolkata!

April 18th, 2008 | Posted in Bangalore Royal Challengers, Kolkata Knight Riders | No Comments

Brendan McCullum star of the first IPL match for Kolkata

As of the 17th over of the first innings of the inaugural IPL match of Kolkata Knight Riders vs Bangalore Royal Challengers, the undisputed star of the show is Brendan McCullum - whom most of us in India have never heard much about.

Brendan McCullum, who opened with a distinctly scratchy Sourav Ganguly, is now at 113 runs off 59 balls. In this blistering innings, he distincly overshadowed all his batting partners, whether its a Ganguly or a Ricky Ponting. McCullum hit 8 fours and 8 sixes - and if he continues, may hit a few more!

| Posted in Kolkata Knight Riders | No Comments

IPL teams’ points table and standings

Points standings as on 2 May, 2008 at 12 PM.

Things have really changed a lot, hasn’t it? Mumbai has a first win, Delhi is doing good, bangalore and Deccan Chargers languish, Kolkata has three consecutive defeats… man, I love Twnety20!

*
IPL Teams Matches Played Won Lost Run Rate Points

Kolkata Knight Riders

5

2

3

+0.259

4

Delhi Daredevils

4

3

1

+1.431

6

Chennai Super Kings

4

4

0

+1.054

8

Bangalore Royal Challengers

5

1

4

-1.487

2

Mumbai Indians

5

1

4

-0.654

2

Deccan Chargers

5

1

4

-0.088

2

Kings XI Punjab

5

3

2

+0.372

6

Rajasthan Royals

5

4

1

+0.452

8

April 18th, 2008 | Posted in Points table | 1 Comment

Sanath Jayasuriya thrilled to open batting with Sachin for Mumbai Indians

Sanath Jayasuriya, former Sri Lankan opener, cannot wait to play with Sachin Tendulkar in the coming match of Mumbai Indians on Sunday. Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya are the twin weapons of Indian Premier League team Mumbai Indians owned by Mukesh Ambani.

Sanath Jayasuriya said that he was very happy to play with Sachin. Jayasuriya also said that he was delighted about the opportunity that he got to open with Sachin Tendulkar.

During a charity match in England, Sanath Jayasuriya had got his first opportunity to play with sachin. Now IPL has given him another chance to play with veteran Sachin Tendulkar.

When asked about how he felt playing with youngsters at the age of 38, Jayasuriya shot back,” I do not think so. I am still a young player both on and off the field.”

The Mumbai Indians team were all prepared for the coming T20 tournament, said Jayasuriya.

“We know our strengths and weaknesses. We are also preparing to counter the opponents in every match. We will try to keep the Mumbai flag high,” Jayasuriya said.

April 17th, 2008 | Posted in Foreign Players, Mumbai Indians | No Comments

Bajaj Allianz to be the lead sponsor for Rajasthan Royals

Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company has announced its association with the Indian Premier League team Rajasthan Royals. Bajaj Allianz will be the lead sponsor of the IPL franchise owned by the London-based businessman Manoj Badale. The Rajasthan Royals from Jaipur are coached and captained by Shane Warne.

The sponsorship of Bajaj Allianz has increased the number of fans of Rajasthan Royals. With the slogan “Halla Bol” more than 300,000 Super Agents and over 25,000 employees in over 1000 offices across 900+ towns all over India have joined as die hard fans to to cheer for their team.

To build team spirit & motivation of the T20 tournament for the coming financial year, Bajaj Allianz has begun its own internal program across 1000+ offices.

Rajasthan Royals is a mix of youth, experience and emerging talent which will provide strong competition and great enjoyment to the cricket fans, said Kamesh Goyal, Regional CEO Allianz & CEO Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance.

When the IPL starts on April 18, 1000+ offices of Bajaj Allianz will become ‘Fan Stations’ as they go about cheering and building support for the team.

April 17th, 2008 | Posted in Business, Rajasthan Royals - Jaipur | No Comments

Unpaid players in IPL could revolt

The head of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) and the former Australian cricketer, Tim May, has started investigating how many players have not yet received their initial Indian Premier League fees as per the contract.

Tim May also warned that they could walk away with the contract if the problem is widespread.

May said that the hurry to set up the competition has led to some short-term troubles. May is very much concerned about the absence of the important documents and financial transfers.

Tim May said that some players have not received their signed copies of contract. “We need to get a good feel on how widespread it is. If it has just alienated a couple of players I’m sure the thing can be worked out reasonably sensibly,” said May.

Tim May, says, “There may be a significant amount of players and their managers who, if obligations from the employer have not been honoured at this stage, the player, if he’s taken the proper procedures to recover these obligations, might want to walk away from the contract or not take part in the game. That is a long shot at the moment. We need to get a feel for the size of the problem and then try to address it properly.”

Australian cricketer David Hussey who has been purchased by Kolkata franchise for US$ 625,000 is the one who has not received the 15% payment for their auction price. “It’s been an absolute nightmare in terms of the paperwork required to get the players there. I don’t think it’s anything sinister. We’re expecting to have all the paperwork done and Huss will be ready to play,” said Rick Olarenshaw, manager of David Hussey.

April 17th, 2008 | Posted in Controversy, Foreign Players, General | No Comments

SRK says he would lose money from IPL

According to Kolkata Knight Riders owner, Shah Rukh Khan, all the  franchisees in the Indian Premier League (iPL) would not gain any money from the first year of T-20 cricket series.

King Khan is sure that the T20 tournament will be a success in the coming years. According to Khan, this is the first time and as a business venture it takes some time for its development.

Regarding the reports that the franchisees felt cheated by the IPL, SRK, says, “All of us know that there are going to be losses to a certain level and if God forbid the losses are huge, then I am sure the IPL will look into it.”

Shah Rukh Khan has already spend Rs.300 crore for owning the IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders. SRK is worried about the the repeated demands for money from the stadium authorities in the form of entertainment tax, municipality tax and the cost of providing security cover through the police forces.

Shah Rukh Khan said that if he would get 10 per cent from ticket price, then it is enough for him. SRK also added that he is not going to gain money fom the tournament.

The franchises were not informed about the restrictions on media and this is a western concept which would soon come to India, said Shah Rukh Khan. “The content or the bi-product of the league matches in the west are a value addition and the e-media buys it for exclusivity,” SRK said .

April 17th, 2008 | Posted in Business, Kolkata Knight Riders | No Comments

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