The tickets are available from Rs 50 to Rs 3,000. Online provisions are also made for buying the tickets.

According to organisers, people can buy the tickets from Mohali PCA stadium today from 3pm. Major cities like Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Amritsar will be provided with new counters from Monday onwards.

“Brett and me are going to be at the PCA Stadium tomorrow to personally sell and autographed tickets to all the cricket lovers. I would personally want to request all the ardent followers of the sport to come tomorrow at the PCA Stadium and buy tickets to be a part of the cricketing action that we are going to witness in the upcoming days in Mohali,” Preity Zinta said.

In order to have a good viewing experience, exclusive corporate boxes are arranged for viewers. One of the best hospitality service catering will also be provided for the IPL matches.

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.

Luke Pomersbach has been quoted as saying by an Australian newspaper that he would try and talk to the game’s best players as much as he can and learn the tricks of the trade. Luke Pomersbach was ultimately taken on contract by Mohali IPL for $54,000, reportedly after coach Tom Moody put in a word.

Mohali IPL team also bagged New Zealand pacer Kyle Mills and Australian James Hopes. Mohali signed Kyle Mills for $150,000, while James Hopes got $300,000. Another Australian in the team is fast  bowler Bret Lee, who was auctioned for $900,000.

Fourteen players were auctioned in the second and final round of bidding for the DLF IPL Twenty20 tournament beginning on April 18, with Australian James Hopes bagging the highest bid of $300,000 from Mohali franchaise owned by Bollywood’s Preity Zinta and friend Ness Wadia.

Dimitri Masceranhas became the first England player to bag an IPL contract, being bagged by Jaipur for $100,000.

Dimitri Masceranhas , however, does not have an England and Wales Cricket Board, contract.

In the first auction in Mumbai’s Hilton, 75 international stars were contracted by various IPL teams.

Misabah-Ul-Haq, who was earlier reported to be with Kolkata IPL promoted by Shah Rukh Khan, has been bagged by Vijay Mallya’s Bangalore IPL team Royal Challengers for $125,000. Pakistan players Salman Butt and Mohammad Hafeez were both bought for Rs 40 lakhs each

Bangalore Royal Challengers, owned by Vijay Mallya, also bought Bangladesh’s left-arm spinner Abdur Razzaq for Rs 20 lakhs ($ 50,000) and Kiwi batsman Ross Taylor for Rs 40 lakhs ($ 100,000). Virat Kohli, the captain of the victorious under-19 Indian team was also taken by Bangalore for Rs 20 lakhs.

The second auction’s highest price of $300,00o is in sharp contrast to the first auction where Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni went for $1.5 million from the Chennai IPL team promoted by India Cements.

Andrew Symonds was second with a $1.3 million bid from Deccan Chronicle, which promotes the Hyderabad IPL team.

Pakistan’s premier batsman Mohammad Yousuf was not contracted by any teams, though he will be paid a retainer fee by the BCCI.

Australian Shaun Tait was not considered eligible for the auction as the player’s offer came late.

Extra from CNN-IBN:

Jaipur, which was fined for not spending the prescribed minimum amount in the first auction, bought all-rounders Shane Watson (Australia) for Rs 50 lakhs, Morne Morkel (South Africa) for Rs 24 lakhs, Dmitry Mascarenhas (England) for Rs 40 lakhs, Pakistani seam bowler Sohail Tanveer for Rs 40 lakhs and a couple of Indian U-19 players in Taruwar Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja.

Auction details

Dmitri Mascarenhas (England) – $100,000 – Jaipur
Shane Watson (Australia) – $125,000 – Jaipur
Sohail Tanvir (Pakistan) – $100,000 – Jaipur
Morne Morkel (South Africa) – $60,000 – Jaipur
James Hopes (Australia) – $300,000 – Mohali
Kyle Mills (New Zealand) – $150,000 – Mohali
Luke Pomersbach (Australia) – $50,000 – Mohali
Misbah-ul Haq (Pakistan) – $125,000 – Bangalore
Ross Taylor (New Zealand) – $100,000 – Bangalore
Abdur Razzak (Bangladesh) – $50,000 – Bangalore
Salman Butt (Pakistan) – $100,000 – Kolkata
Mohd. Hafeez (Pakistan) – $100,000 – Kolkata
Ashwell Prince (South Africa)- $175,000 – Mumbai
Brett Geeves (Australia) – $50,000 – Delhi

Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta have reportedly working been on theme song music videos for their respective IPL teams.

SRK has reportedly signed up choreographer Ganesh Hegde to do a music video for his Kolkata IPL team. Shah Rukh Khan may even act in the video, sources said.

Om Shanti Om music directors Vishal-Shekhar will compose the music for Kolkata IPL’s team song. The team is tight-lipped about the details as Shah Rukh Doesn’t want any other team to do similar things.

The Kolkata IPL teams have international stars, such as India’s former captain Sourav Ganguly, Ricky Ponting, Shoaib Akhtar, Chris Gayle and Misbah Ul Haq.
But Mohali IPL’s Preity Zinta is also doing a similar act. Priety Zinta has apparently signed up the music director duo of Sajid-Wajid to shoot the theme song for her Mohali IPL team. Daler Mehndi has also been roped in to add fizz. The Mohali IPL team is not as star-studded as the Kolkata team – but it has match winners for sure, such as Yuvraj Singh, Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Brett Lee.

The actress, who along with beau Ness Wadia, promotes the team, told a news agency that it would have been nice if the spinner was in the local team Mohali.

That sure makes business sense. Preity Zinta also says she is honing her cricketing skills and boosting her knowledge of IPL formats and modalities. The actress was present during the auction of players in a Mumbai hotel. Preity Zinta also had some words of wisdom when she said teams that did not have to afford icon players made the most of the auction. Sure, otherwise Mukesh Ambani’s Mumbai would have bid for Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India’s current ODI captain.

For starters, Harbhajan Singh was bagged by the Mumbai team.