Dhoni, who recently got married in a hush-hush ceremony, has signed a deal with sports management company Rhiti Sports, which is the icing on the cake of his long list of successes. This deal surpasses the one that Sachin Tendulkar made with Iconix in 2006, which was for Rs.180 crore. According to Rhiti’s statement, this move puts Dhoni in the same league as Tiger Woods.

The two-year deal with the management company is worth $42 million (Rs. 200 crore), is the biggest marketing deal ever signed by an Indian sportsperson. The management company is a joint venture of Rhiti Sports Management and Mindscapes Maestros. According to the deal, the company will handle all of Dhoni’s endorsements, advertising and digital rights, merchandise and visibility on social networking sites. The cricketer is currently associated with almost 22 leading brands like PepsiCo, Godrej and Reebok among others.

Sources at Rhiti say that the amount that they have arrived is one that they are happy with, and that they are confident of recovering a good value from the deal. Management companies usually make 30% of the endorsement amount that its client makes. According to them, the minimum guarantee amount is Rs.200 for 3 years, but this figure can easily go up. It is clear that this is something that is expected to happen, considering that Dhoni is enjoying tremendous success and has a growing brand value quite unlike any that India has seen before.

According to a Forbes study published last year, MS Dhoni is at the top of the world richest cricketers list – apparently earning an annual figure of $10 million, of which $8 million reportedly came from endorsements. Sachin Tendulkar was in second place with $8 million.

Sources say that Dhoni charges up to Rs.6 crore for an endorsement a year. In 2008, Dhoni split with the sports management company that he had a long term deal with – Gameplan Sports Private Limited. The cricketer alleged that the company had cheated him of Rs.10.5 crore and files a lawsuit regarding the same.

Rhiti Sports is a company that was set up in 2007 by former Ranji Trophy player Arun Pandey. Mindscape Maestros is a celebrity management firm, started in 2008. Dhoni has been Mindscape’s star client for some time now. The company also manages Bollywood actor John Abraham, cricketer Rohit Sharma and handles the marketing of the IPL Chennai Super Kings.

Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has said that its too early to predict which team would win the DLF IPL tournament. According to Dhoni, the team that gels well early would win the series.

MS Dhoni said, “The teams have played just one or two matches. You cannot make any assessment on this basis. There are lots of matches left. There will be ups and downs. The team which gels well throughout will be the winner.”

Dhoni has a point there. So far, the teams which looked like they were playing as a unit have won. Rajasthan Royals, Deccan Chargers have looked haphazard so far, despite the presence of some experienced players.

Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians

The main problem that worries Mumbai Indians is the fitness of their captain Sachin Tendulkar. He missed the team’s first match against Bangalore Royal Challengers because a groin injury. It is not known till now whether Sachin would be able to play in tomorrow’s game against the Chennai Superkings. Harbhajan Singh had captained Mumbai Indians in the absence of Sachin.

If Sachin Tendulkar is absent, then it would be Harbhajan Singh who would be leading the side just like the last game. All eyes would be on the ongoing rivalry between Matthew Hayden, the Chennai Super Kings batsman, and Harbhajan Singh, the Mumbai Indians spinner. Well, it is not as bad as the rivalry between Harbhajan SIngh and Andrew Symonds for sure.

According to Dhoni, the start of DLF IPL has been just perfect. “The start has been great, Brendan McCullum’s batting has been a solid one. Fans also got what they wanted. They saw some huge sixes, dance by cheerleaders, teams piling up huge scores and bowlers taking wickets. It provided excitement for the fans.”

The Chennai Super Kings captain also rubbished the possibility of him opening the innings in tomorrow’s match. On the other hand, if Sachin Tendulkar is available for play tomorrow, we may get to see tendulkar opening with Sanath Jayasuriya – that would be an explosive combination.

Matthew Hayden is now playing in the The Chennai Super Kings IPL team, under Indian captain MS Dhoni is is captaining th Chennai side.

The veteran batsman said IPL was the start of an incredible journey and the initial matches of the DLF IPL tournament has set very high standards for the rest of the tournament.

DLF IPL has so far seen some high scoring matches, except the one match that was played at Kolkata’s Eden gardens between the Kolkata Knight Riders and Hyderabad Deccan Chargers.

Chennai Super Kings in its inaugural match defeated the Kings X1 Punjab, captained by Yuvraj Singh, for 33 runs.

Matthew Hayden, who was involved in some ugly on-field chats with Indian spinner harbhajan Singh during India’s tour down-under, said he always maintained a “soft corner for India”.  “I first visited Chennai in 1997 with the A team. Walking out to bat, I looked around at this stadium and dreamt of the day I will play for the Australian team. I have always had a soft corner for India and now, playing for Chennai Super Kings, my life has come a full circle as this city will be my base during the IPL.’

When asked about his bitter rival Harbhajan Singh and their ongoing rivalry, hayden said, “We have had a few fantastic battles in Australia, and now I am looking forward to renewing my rivalry with Harbhajan.’

Matthew Hayden described Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain of Chennai Superkings, as a fine thinker and a confident individual.

Hayden said he has had serious run-ins with Harbhajan and such a contest on the field would be electrifying for the whole world.

Matthew Hayden also said the IPL Twenty20 format brings back memories of Kerry Packer’s breakaway league which threatened to split cricketing fraternity, but said cricket as a game would benefit immensely from IPL.

But what happens as the Australians are to pack their bags from IPL in the first week of May for their training camp against West Indies?

Hayden does not seem perturbed. He says the big hitting Albie Morkel from South Africa can replace him in the Chennai squad.

Hayden is also all praise for Mahendra Singh Dhoni, saying the Ranchi-lad has a fine cricketing brain.
Matthew Hayden also said big scores would be the order of the day in IPL.

Dhoni seems to be comfortable in his own skin with the Chennai team – especially if you see the Tamil ads he features in for Sonata Watches. Despite initial apprehensions, having foreign players in city teams have not seemed to matter much at all – except that they are much mroe consistent tan our local players and take away the shine.

As an euphoric Chennai Super Kings led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni welcomes Mumbai Indians for the home match, both the teams will have plans knit around the presence or absence of one man – Sachin Tendulkar.

In their first match against Bangalore Royal Challengers, Mumbai Indians may not have missed Sachin Tendulkar as a batsman, but the absence was evident as a skipper, and of course his aura, which would have pumped in an extra dose of adrenalin into the Mukesh Ambni-owned side.

True opening batsman Luke Ronchi did not last long in the Mumbai stadium, but the big hitting Australian can be pardoned for this was his first match in the Indian sub continent. And Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka, who first mastered the art of hitting over the top while field restrictions are in place, did not let Mumbai Indians team down.

But imagine the prospect of Sachin opening with Sanath Jayasuriya for Mumbai Indians. That is one thing which even the agile thinking of Indian ODI and Twenty20 – and now Chennai Super Kings – captain MS Dhoni and the master cricketing brain of Chennai Kings coach Keppler Wessels would not relish much, even though they would have thought of umpteen plans to tackle such a scary scenario.

Mumbai Indians did fall short of another ten fifteen runs against Bangalore Royal Challengers but Robin Uthappa showed his prowess to be dangerous.

Thronley got retired hurt with more than a dozen stitches, which means he is almost out of the Mumbai Indians squad. This also means Sachin Tendulkar can make a quiet entry into the squad without much of a reshuffle. Sachin Tendulkar can also chip in with Sanath Jayasuriya for a spell of bowling, who went for 39 runs in his four overs, to give some variety to the bowling attack.

Abhishek Nayar showed that he is an exciting prospect with his willow as well as some stunning catches.
Bowling would be Mumbai Indians’ main worry and Sachin Tendulkar needs to do some damage control and may be try and bowl his entire quota without much damage. India discard Ashish Nehra was wayward, but he was taking the field after a huge gap.

Among the Mumbai Indians bowlers, Shaun Pollock was spot on with an amazing 4.17 runs per over rate, at one point bowling five dot balls to Bangalore Royal Challengers’ skipper Rahul Dravid, but The Wall would rather fend him off than try cut loose and throw his wicket.

This time also, Chennai Super Kings would not do some thing foolish, but the likes of Matthew Hayden and Dhoni would definitely try and upset Pollock’s rhythm early on, lest he unleashes his nagging accuracy and make life difficult.

Shaun Pollock did play a cameo 28-run knock of 12 balls while batting for Mumbai Indians, and the South African would be mighty pleased and eager to carry on from were he left.

After the initial success of getting Rahul Dravid when he was looking dangerous, Mumbai Indians bowler Harbhajan Singh did well to get another key man Jacques Kallis, but the pressure of captaincy did show. If Sachin Tendulkar comes into play, Harbhajan Singh would have a different take and might relish reviving his love-hate relationship with Matthew Hayden.

Mumbai’s Dhaval Kulkarni also did a decent job with the ball, though he would be getting pearls of wisdom to improve his approach to the game from coach Lalchand Rajput, Sachin Tendulkar and Shaun Pollock himself as the tournament progresses.

Chennai Super Kings are riding on a wave of success unleashed by Michael Hussey and and Matthew Hayden, M S Dhoni and Suresh Raina to it apart from Parthiv Patel and you know why they have emerged as bookies’ favourites.

Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttaiah Muralitharan would have to do more than the job of containment and he is capable of that also. Jacob Oram, M Goni, Amarnath and Sharma weren’t impressive at all during the high scoring match against Kings XI, but they have time to make amends.

In the absence of a testing bowling attach, Chennai Superkings would want to bat anyway and put up a mammoth total on board before hoping for the Mumbai Indians to buckle under pressure.

So the role of Hussey, Hayden and Dhoni is vital for Chennai Super Kings. But you cannot expect Michael Hussey to perform another big innings simply going by the law of averages and also because that was a sort of once in a lifetime exploit. It can’t be repeated every other day.

But Hussey would undoubtedly want some big hits for himself and would not allow himself to be bogged down. Its either a hit or a walk back as the Aussie doesn’t trust dot balls.

Dhoni has so far failed to perform with his bat, and this is the big match for him to unleash his hard-hitting fury. Chennai Super Kings needs a valiant effort from the Indian Twenty20 skipper.

Suresh Raina played a cameo and he will be expected to do that again or may be even promoted up the line-up if Parthiv is dropped. Stephen Fleming may also get a look in.

The verdict is that there is no clear edge for Chennai SuperKings vs Mumbai Indians as is perceived.

Teams:

Chennai Super Kings
MS Dhoni, Muttiah Muralitharan, Jacob Oram , Albie Morkel , Suresh Raina, Matthew Hayden, Stephen Fleming, Michael Hussey, Parthiv Patel, Joginder Sharma, Makhaya Ntini, Nuwan Zoysa, R. Ashwin, S. Anirudha, Sudeep Tyagi.

Mumbai Indians
Sachin Tendulkar,Sanath Jayasuriya, Harbhajan Singh, Robin Uthappa, Shaun Pollock, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Loots Bosman, Ajinkya Rahane,Abhishek Nayar, Yogesh Takawale, Pinal Shah, Ashwell Prince.

Yuvraj’s close pal and Indian skipper M S Dhoni is also the captain and icon player of Chennai Super Kings.

Yuvraj , who is the icon player of Preity Zinta promoted Kings XI, said friendship cannot be taken to the field. Mohali is Yuvraj’s home ground.

Yuvraj Singh also said there was no issue in portraying the contest as a Yuvraj vs Dhoni tussle. The Punjab Kings XI skipper said such comparisons would only increase the popularity of the Twenty20 competition.

The dashing Indian batsman also said IPL does not make the players’ calender too crowded as there will be only 59 matches in 44 days.

Kings XI Punjab has a bunch of international players including Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka and Simon Katich of Australia.

Yuvraj’s prize catch among young Indian players include Karan Goel and Uday Kaul. Yuvraj Singh has also lined up a formidable bowling attack with Aussie pacer Brett Lee set to open with either S Sreesanth or Irfan Pathan.

This makes Yuvraj’s Mohali eleven as one of the most competitive sides among the eight teams in IPL. Yuvraj acknowledged that he was happy with the composition of the team, pointing to the fact that his bowling attack was capable of putting any opposition on the defensive.

And on the batting side Yuvraj himself is the spearhead – remember he has hit six sixes in an over in the inaugural Twenty20 ICC World Cup in South Africa last year and hopes to do it again this time in IPL.

Yuvraj Singh also agreed with Mumbai Indians’ skipper Sachin Tendulkar’s view that IPL offered an excellent opportunity for young Indian players to rub shoulders with the World’s best.

Former Sri Lankan coach Tom Moody, the coach of Yuvraj’s Mohali team, wants the team to open the IPL on a winning note. Mohali will host seven matches and Yuvraj Singh was confident that people from all over Punjab will turn up to see the matches.

The key worry for the Kings XI Punjab team is that Brett Lee will have to leave the competition after two weeks as he would have to take part in the training camp ahead of Australia’s West Indian tour.

Indian pacer and Yuvraj’s team mate in Kings XI Punjab Ifran Pathan said the seamer-friendly track would help him exploit the extra bounce.

Chennai Super Kings led by Indian ODI and Twenty 20 skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni will miss the two star foreign players Makhaya Ntini and Albie Morkel in their inaugural match against Kings X Punjab in Chandigarh on Saturday.

Makhaya Ntini and Albie Morkel of South Africa are expected to join the team only for the match against Bangalore Royal Challengers on April 26, it is reliably learnt.

This means M S Dhoni’s side would also miss the services of Makhaya Ntini and Albie Morkel for their match against Mumbai Indians on April 23.

But Chennai Super Kings have a battery of foreign players to make up for this : Stephen Fleming and Jacob Oram of New Zealand, Michael Hussey and Matthew Hayden of Australia and spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka can make up for this.

This is exactly why they took on so many foreign players on board, despite criticism. Only four foreign players can be part of the playing eleven as per IPL rules. A key recruit, Laxmipathi Balaji, may also be ruled out following injuries.

This, however, makes Chennai Super Kings’ bowling look a tad weaker than it should have been, with options getting limited.

Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, captain of the Mumbai Indians IPL team, is excited to be part of Twenty20 as it gives him an opportunity to take on colleagues Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and M S Dhoni, as well as team up with his India mates Harbhajan Singh and Robin Uthappa.

Sachin Tendulkar said the IPL is going to be a challenge and after team owner and Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani spoke to him he was convinced to take it up.

Sachin Tendulkar also denied reports hinting that his side – Mumbai Indians – was one of the weakest teams, saying it had a nice blend of youth and experience.

Sachin Tendulkar said spinner Harbhajan Singh would be an asset to the team, revealing the hopes that he has pinned on the Turbanator.

A key aspect of Mumbai Indians is its option to have two of the most explosive opening bats on its side – Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya – and Sachin Tendulkar himself is delighted at such a prospect.
Sachin Tendulkar, a former India skipper who has taken ten thousand runs in both Tests and One Days, also fancies the prospect of facing Shane Warne. Shane Warne is the skipper and coach of Jaipur team.

Sachin Tendulkar also said the IPL opens a window of opportunity for young players like Abhishek Nayar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Ajinkya Rahane and Ankeet Chavan to take on some of the game’s best players like
Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting, Shaun Pollock, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid.

Sachin Tendulkar would also celebrate his birthday in the middle of the IPL – he turns 35 on April 24.

But the only worry that is nagging him is his injury. Sachin admitted that he is not fully fit, though a final assessment on his ability to play will be taken later. It really would be a disappointment for all the Mumbai Indians fans if Sachin could not play – pray it doesn’t happen!

The 23-year-old Parthiv Patel, says, “Of course, it is great to get such an opportunity as I am sure there will be a lot of people watching your performance. I hope to do well in this tournament (Indian Premier League).”

To make a good entry in the Indian team, Parthiv, the Ahmedabad-based player is aware about the hard work he will have to do.

Parthiv Patel has been out of the Indian ODI for a long time now, and even when he was playing he had been in and out, never settling in. Playing in the India Cements owned Chennai Super Kings IPL team will give him a chance, especially as he is playing under Dhoni. Play well, and Dhoni might bat for you during selection. It’s all up to him, really now.

In 2002 at Trent Bridge against England, Parthiv Patel made his first entry in Indian team as a late replacement for an injured Ajay Ratra. Through his first entry he become the youngest wicketkeeper ever in Test history.

Parthiv Patel failed to hold his position in Indian team even though he played for 19 Tests and 14 ODIs. Parthiv’s chance of coming back to Indian team became unsuccessful when Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik entered into the team.

“It is always tough when you get dropped from the Indian team. However, I took this in my stride and worked harder on my technique, both batting and wicket-keeping besides my overall fitness. Hopefully, I will get an opportunity to get back into the Indian team,” said Parthiv Patel.

“Basically, it was my concentration that I need to work on and also my overall fitness,” Parthiv said about the past four years hardwork that he has done. He admitted that the two years with the national team was but a “learning curve” for him.

Parthiv says, “When I look back, I feel it was a matter of keeping your concentration over a long period of time that matters most in wicket-keeping. And to do that, fitness is the key. Like I said, I have since put in a lot of effort to improve in these areas.”

In 2007 Parthiv Patel did not disappoint the selectors. By playing against South Africa “A” team and in the Irani Trophy, playing for Rest of India, Parthiv has recorded five consecutive centuries.

“Yes, the five centuries have boosted my confidence and I look to the IPL to further prove my fitness and form,” Parthiv added.

The Indian film fraternity is being actively woed by the franchises as the Indian Premier League (IPL) dates approach. The latest to join the crowd is Akshay Kumar, who has just been appointed brand ambassador for Delhi Daredevils captained by Virender Sehwag.

In a bid to give new vigour for the parting teams, the owners of IPL franchises have already appointed high- paid film stars to endorse their brands. The owner of the Chennai Super Kings, India Cements started the trend by roping in south Indian matinee idols Vijay and the sexy Nayanthara as their brand ambassadors. These stars are now in the frame to popularise the Indian one day team captain Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings. The stars were heavily paid by the India Cements for endorsing the team.

The other IPL teams are also thinking about roping in big personal brands in film field to popularise the game and promote themselves. There is news that actors Katrina Kaif and Deepika Padukone might endorse the Bangalore IPL team, Royal Challengers.  Rahul Dravid, former Indian captain, is the captain of Bangalore Royal Challengers.

The Delhi Daredevils team is owned by infrastructure developer GMR Group. Akshay Kumar belongs to Delhi and has big star value in the Hindi heart land. The Virender Sehwag-led Delhi team will now get a new face to promote their brand in the coming Twenty20 matches. Gautum Gambhir, Mohammed Asif and Shoaib Malik are also members of the Delhi IPL team.

Shah Rukh Khan’s ownership of Kolkata Knight Riders automatically lends it publicity. Preity Zinta on the other hand has given a new face to her Mohali IPL team by appointing Daler Mehndi, and music duo Sajid-Wajid to endorse the team. They will come out with a new album promoting the Mohali team. SRK’s Kolkata Knight Riders has signed up Vishal-Shekar and dance master Ganesh Hegde for its promotional activities.

It is expected that IPL will become a big business and additional revenue source for film stars as the cricket war enters the next phase. Different companies and individuals owning IPL franchises are ready to spend as much as money possible to popularise the IPL tournament and reap the financial rewards.