It is being alleged that the players did not focus on the game at hand because they were preoccupied with the cash-rich IPL tourney. Critics have said that most of the cricketers now do not have the motivation to play because they have no fears about their future. Many former Indian players have already questioned the commitment of players in the Indian team. Angry reactions poured in after Anil Kumble’s men succumbed by an innings and 90 runs to South Africa on April 5, 2008. This is India’s worst defeat at home since losing to Australia by an innings and 127 runs in New Delhi in 1959.

The allegation is that Indian players had missed practice due to shooting commercials and attending IPL functions in between matches. There are reports that many team members had skipped net practice before the Ahmedabad Test and joined the inauguration ceremony of IPL franchisees. IPL teams are about to play a 44-day competition between eight city teams from April 18 this year.

While Indian players were busy participating in commercial shoots for IPL franchises after the Chennai Test, South African players had declined to do the same even though they were part of the IPL teams.

IPL had earlier attracted harsh criticism from many media organizations over the new set of regulations imposed on covering this cricket extravaganza. The restrictions prevent media organizations frm displaying match photographs on news websites. The conditions include IPL’s right to use all pictures taken at its grounds for free and without restrictions; the commitment by news organisations to upload on the IPL site, within 24 hours, all images taken at the ground; and the restriction of web portals’ access to images without prior permission from the IPL.

This would be the most highly anticipated match being the inaugural one. Red Chillies is actually fronted by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan – just by being the owner, he has ensured millions of rupees worth of publicity for the Kolkata Knight Riders. The Knight Riders team is being captained by the Prince of Kolkata Sourav Ganguly.

Here is the Kolkata team players list. Remember that only four foreign players can be part of the playing eleven – so we do not know who will actually feature in the match.

Batsmen

David Hussey
Ricky Ponting
Salman Butt
Akash Chopra
Cheteshwar Pujara
Rohan Banerjee
Yashpal Singh
Debabrata Das

All rounders
Sourav Ganguly (Captain)
Tatenda Taibu
Wriddhiman Saha
Brendon McCullum
Chris Gayle
Ajit Agarkar
Mohammad Hafeez
Iqbal Abdulla
Laxmi Ratan Shukla

Bowlers

Ishant Sharma
Shoaib Akhtar
Murali Kartik
Umar Gul
Siddarth Kaul
Ranadeb Bose
Sourashish Lahiri

The Bangalore Royal Challengers is owned by liquor baron, airline owner and Formula One team owner Vijay mallya. The team is captained by former India captain Rahul Dravid.

Rahul Dravid (Captain)
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Wasim Jaffer
Misbah-ul-Haq
Ross Taylor
Arun Kumar J.
Appanna K. P.
Bharat Chipli

Mark Boucher
Shreevats Goswami
Devraj Patil
Jacques Kallis
Cameron White
Sunil Joshi
Akhil B.
Virat Kohli

Anil Kumble
Zaheer Khan
Nathan Bracken
Dale Steyn
Praveen Kumar
Abdur Razzak
Vinay Kumar R.

There has been criticism that the Bangalore Royal Challengers team looks more like a test team rather than an aggressive Twenty20 side. Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble (the current Indian test captain) have both rubbished the cirticism, and emphasized that the team can take on any of the other contendors.

We shall see at the inaugural match between Knight Riders and Royal Challengers in just a couple of weeks from now.

Gary Kirsten said while Test skipper Anil Kumble had earned the respect of team mates, ODI and Twenty20 skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was able to get the most out of his side, akin to Hansie Cronje.
Gary Kirsten also said Sachin Tendulkar was enjoying his game more than ever adding the master blaster could be aiming to score 50 hundreds.

Sachin Tendulkar at present has scored 39 centuries.

Gary Kirsten also said Sachin Tendulkar, who would captain the Mumbai Indians in IPL, was willing to learn even at this stage of his career.

Rahul Dravid will become the only third Indian after Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar to enter the elite-10,000-run club — And only the sixth in the world– if he takes 80 runs.

Anil Kumble, 37, has all ready set the ball on batsmen’s court saying India always took advantage of big scores on home soil. For that, his Karnataka and Bangalore Royal Challengers mate Rahul Dravid along with Sachin Tendulkar will be the key.

In the bowling department, Harbhajan Singh, Rudra Pratap Singh and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth will give him company. And Sachin Tendulkar can bowl a few overs too. Sourav Ganguly is another option for a few overs.

And its only incidental that a South African is taking over the Indian team’s coahing duty when the team takes on South Africa itself.

Gary Kirsten will have to pitch in with all his experience to take on a new-llok South African side, with fresh pacer Dale Steyn looking to trouble the Indians.
Dale Steyn and Mark Boucher also will play alongside Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble for Bangalore Challengers in the DLF IPL Twenty20.

Indian Test cricket captain and Bangalore IPL star Anil Kumble feels the country can become the World Number 1 by the end of this year if the team can maintain the winning momentum.

India went down to Australia 2-1 in the fourth Test after a controversy marred Sydney Test, but went on to win the Perth Test and drew in Adelaide, winning accolades amid accusations of poor umpiring. Later, the ODI team led by M S Dhoni beat Australia convincingly in the tri-series final 2-0.

Australia is scheduled to tour India this year, but India takes on South Africa this month.
Anil Kumble took over the captaincy of the Test Team after his Bangalore IPL mate Rahul Dravid stepped down from captaincy.

Anil Kumble told an international wire agency that the Test team’s performance inspired the ODI team also. Anil Kumble also said he would like to put his team at least near the top slot before he retires. Anil Kumble is now 37.

India’s newly appointed coach Gary Kirsten has said he would also guide seniors of the side to retirement planning in such a way that there is no vacuum felt after they cal it a day.

Indian trio of Sachin Tendulkar of Mumbai IPL, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly of Kolkata IPL are expected to retire during Gary Kirsten’s tenure.