Some of the teams participating in the IPL have not even started the sale of tickets. They are still looking for a an appropriate date to start the same. It is very clear that this will create some confusion among the fans. Only a few teams have started their ticket sales in their own cities.

The IPL has already received excessive publicity. Cricket fans are eagerly waiting to see the international stars play alongside national and domestic players – but Indian cricket fans have never been interested in actually paying up and watching domestic tournaments such as the Ranji Trophy. Will they finally bite the bullet and pay up this time?

If teams delay their ticket sales, fans will have to hurry for the tickets at the last minute. Ticket prices are also relatively low. Some teams are selling their tickets for just Rs 50 so that even a common man can afford it. But the franchises have not given enough publicity for the ticket sales.

IPL matches are scheduled in such a way that they would end after midnight. Matches will start at timings varying from 2pm to 8pm. The main factors that will affect the sale of tickets are odd timings and rising heat. It is sure that the fans will take care of the abovesaid factors before they book tickets.

Hyderabad team Deccan Chargers have started their ticket sale on Friday. On saturday King XI Punjab of Mohali started the sale. From Sunday onwards Mumbai Indians began the online selling of tickets.

President and chief marketing officer of Reliance Retail, R. Balachandran, says, “We are glad to announce the sale of tickets online and we look forward for the public to extend their support for the Mumbai Indians. The Mumbai Indians team has a great mix of iconic international players and talented youngsters.”

Almost all franchisees have taken up different approaches to attract cricket fans. All spectators will get free refreshments from Deccan Chargers. Deccan Chargers also introduced a lucky draw scheme with fabulous prizes. The prize list includes a Mercedes Benz, seven Maruti Swift cars, 35 Yamaha motorbikes and 35 colour televisions.

To attract the cricket fans, even team-owners have startded selling tickets personally. Preity Zinta, the co-owner of Kings XI Punjab and Australian paceman Brett Lee sold the tickets along with their autographs.

The home matches would be played in Wankhade Stadium and D Y Patil Stadium at Nerul, Navi Mumbai. Mumbai Indians’ first take on Vijay Mallya promoted Bangalore Royal Challengers in Wankhade stadium on April 20.

Sachin Tendulkar is the captain of the Mumbai team, but his participation is in doubt die to an injury.
Sachin did not play in the Ahmedabad and Kanpur Tests against South Africa.

Mumbai will see two matches – one, at the famous Wankhede stadium at Churchgate, and the other at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

Sachin Tendulkar is the pride of Mumbai – and Mumbaikars turn up to watch Sachin play without fail. So, one can expect a massive turnout for the two matches.

The first match of the Mumbai Indians IPL team will be against the Bangalore Royal Challengers, captained by Rahul Dravid at the Wankhede Stadium on April 20, 2008. The Bangalore Royal Challengers team is owned by liquor baron, airline magnate and F1 team owner Vijay Mallya. The second match will be on April 27, 2008, Mumbai Indians vs Hyderabad’s Deccan Chargers, captained by VVS Laxman.

Expect a publicity blitz for Mumbai Indians in the coming days. Hritik Roshan has been appointed rband ambassador for the Mumbai Indians teams, and he will feature in a promotional video campaign. There will be a Hindi song “Duniya Hila Denge Hum (Let’s rock the world)”, but at this moment, we are unclear if this will be the tam anthem of the Mumbai Indians, or just a song.

For Mumbaikars, the ticket prices would range from Rs 250-500 all the way up to Rs 3000-5000 for the first match. For the second match, ticket prices would range from Rs 200-400 to Rs 1000.

Mumbai Indians captain Sachin Tendulkar sounded confident at the launch of Mumbai Indians in March. However, ever since, he has been low-key. Now that the India – South Africa test series is over, IPL publicity and momentum should pick up, and I guess we would be seeing a lot more of Sachin Tendulkar and the Mumbai Indians brand ambassador, Hritik Roshan.

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.

Titled ‘Manoranjan Ka Baap’, the 75-second commercial is a tribute to the high-on-entertainment movies of the 80s and pitches IPL as the ultimate destination for TV entertainment. The commercial amplifies the expression ‘the Baap of all Entertainment’. The film revolves around a mother and her twin fatherless sons named Mano and Ranjan – . The family is constantly victimised and subjected to barbs by the entire village. Kab aayega tumhara baap? (When will your father come?) is a never-ending taunt. The twins keep retaliating that their father will definitely return one day. The narration builds to a climax with the woe-ridden woman contemplating ending her life and that is when the miracle occurs. Her children stop her just in time by screaming that their father has arrived. Cut to children dancing deliriously and kissing the TV set and the voice over announcing “Aagaya Manoranjan Ka Baap. DLF Indian Premier League. Sirf MAX par”

According to T Gangadhar, Vice President and Head of Marketing, MAX, “From a broadcast strategy perspective, the challenge was to find a unifier that binds the entire country – a lowest common denominator that is compelling enough to take on existing TV viewing habits. And that glue can only be our insatiable passion for wholesome entertainment. This is precisely why the DLF IPL broadcast has been positioned as the definitive and ultimate entertainment destination for those 44 days when the League is in progress.”

The film has been directed by Rajesh Krishnan of Soda Films. The campaign will be aired extensively on television – on SET Network channels as well as other General Entertainment, News, Music and Regional channels across India. The campaign will also run on Radio, Cinema, Outdoor and on the Internet. Max will also promote DLF IPL in 150 towns through on-ground activities.

The Indian Premier League will be telecast in North America, Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean by Willow TV who have acquired the rights for television, radio, broadband and internet.
SET and World Sports Group (WSG) won the IPL broadcast rights for $1.03 billion. Sony will telecast IPL matches in the Indian sub-continent and WSG will explore the international market.

Bangalore Royal Challengers take on Kolkata Knight Riders in the inaugural DLF IPL Twenty20 tournament’s opening match in Bangalore on April 18, the clash will be between two former India skippers and two flamboyant personalities also — Rahul Dravd captains Bangalore Royal challengers promoted by liquor baron Vijay Mallya, while Sourav Ganguly is the skipper of Kolkata Knight Riders, promoted by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.

Pointer: At least on paper, the Kolkata Knight Riders are seen as having an advantage, partly due to the mix of the opposition team.

Bangalore Royal Challengers

The Bangalore Royal Challengers are seen more as a bunch of solid batsmen in the mould of skipper Rahul Dravid, with sound technique, but are not known as big hitters, with the exception of Jacques Kallis and Misabah-Ul-haq, their late catch, bagged in the second auction for $125,000. For starters, the big hitting Pakistani had almost snatched the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup trophy from the Indian Team in South Africa.

Jacques Kallis has played three international matches in Twenty20, scoring just 39 runs, but his strike rate, which counts most in this version of the game, is an astounding 108.33 — that means if Jacques Kallis can stay put in 3-4 overs in the crease, the opposition in in trouble. The other South African in the pack, Mark Boucher has played 9 matches, but his strike rate is a shade less at 89.93. But Boucher makes up for that by doubling as the man behind the stumps.

Skipper Rahul Dravid does not even figure in India’s Twenty20 squad, but the Indian batting mainstay is the only Indian apart from Sachin Tendulkar to have scored 10,000 runs in both Tests and ODIs — the message is that experience counts.

Rahul Dravid scored 1761 in calendar year 1999. That is the third highest by a batsman in a calendar year after Sachin Tendulkar (1894 runs in 1998) and Sourav Ganguly ( 1767 in 1999).

Rahul Dravid has an astonishing career ODI record — 329 matches, 304 innings, 39 not outs and 10,464 runs, with a highest score of 153, an average of 39.48 and a strike rate of 71.16. Twelve hundreds and 80 half centuries have been recorded in his name.

Pakistan’s latest find Misbah-ul-haq,31, has played only 27 ODIs for his country and scored 727 runs at an average of 36.35 with a strike rate of 77.84, figures which mask his utility as a match winner.

But when it comes to the nine matches he has played in Twenty20, his average shoots up to 50.20, scoring 251 runs. The key, however, is his phenomenal strike rate of 127.41, a pointer to the fact that this Pakistani can turnaround matches.

Kolkata Knight Riders

Sourav Ganguly’s Kolkata Knight Riders’ definite advantage is their explosive batting line-up starting from icon player Sourav himself. Sourav Ganguly, like Dravid, is not part of Indian twenty20 and is a former ODI skipper. In M S Dhoni’s scheme of things, Ganguly does not figure much, and hence been ignored from ODI and twenty20 versions of the national squad.

But Sourav Ganguly is among India’s most successful captains. In the 302 ODI matches he has played for the country, the Bengal southpaw has scored 11046 runs, which includes 22 hundreds and seventy half-centuries. His strike rate is 73.60, a tad better than rival Rahul Dravid. Sourav Ganguly can also chip in as a change bowler – he has taken 99 wickets in ODIs at an average of 37.65.

Kolkata Knight Riders have two formidable explosive bats in West Indian Chris Gayle and Australian skipper Ricky Ponting. Christopher Henry Gayle is another batsman who can just shatter any bowling attack and also do a bit of bowling.

In 173 ODI matches Chris Gayle has revelled with the willow, his average is just below 50 but his strike rate is a phenomenal 80.16. The point to note, however, is his Twenty20 strike rate, which is a hundred percent jump – 164.96 in five matches in which he scored 193 runs, including a Twenty20 best 127.

Punter Ricky Ponting is among the most hated figures as far as Indian cricket fans are concerned but his record as a player is par excellence. Ricky Thomas Ponting has scored 11,096 runs in 297 ODIs, and is just 24 short of the 10,000 mark in Tests. Ponting’s strike rate is exactly 50 in ODIs, which jumps to 138.16 in Twenty20. But Ponting hasn’t been that successful in Twenty20, scoring just 98 runs in ten matches. But his massive utility would be as a scheming and thinking cricketer, which Sourav Ganguly should be able to exploit.

Mindgames

With former Aussie coach John Buchanan donning the role of Kolkata Knight Riders’ coach, it is a sure bet that Kolkata Knight Riders would have five strategies lined up for the match, but New Zealander Martin Crowe would not be found wanting in strategic pitches for Bangalore Knight Riders.

Key players, issues and forecast

South African pace sensation Dale Steyn, who was instrumental in handing India a drubbing in the Ahmedabad Test, would be the key bowler in the match as Kolkata Knight Riders Shoaib Akhtar is unlikely to be included in the Kolkata Team following as ban imposed by Pakistan Cricket Board.

Steyn’s menacing pace and nagging line would be difficult to tackle for Kolkata Knight Riders. He would be ably backed by Indian test skipper Anil Kumble. The key for Sourav Ganguly would be to come down the order and display his prowess to throw spinners out of gear and safeguard himself from Steyn’s promised chin music. Gayle and Ponting should be left to tackle Steyn and create some chaos in Bangalore Royal Challengers famed bowling attack, which also has stingy Aussie bowler Nathan Bracken.

Kolkata Knight Riders’ another issue is that Ricky Ponting would be available only for two weeks as he has to report to the Australian training camp by the first week of May, but that wouldn’t be an issue in the first match against Bangalore Royal Challengers. Indian pace sensation Ishant Sharma can be a dangerous bowler to tackle for Bangalore Royal Challengers. Despite being a quality Twenty20 side, Kolkata Knight Riders have now only a slight edge in the initial match against Bangalore Royal Challengers on April 18. Chances of a win for Kolkata Knight Riders against Bangalore Royal Challengers are 51:49 and the margin of error in a Twenty20 match is anybody’s guess.

The Bangalore IPL team, Christened Royal Challengers, is promoted by liquor baron Vijay Mallya of the UB Group.

Rahul Dravid told a news agency that people expect top class cricket in the IPL matches and the Twenty20 competition’s success depends on whether the domestic and international players provide that to viewers.

Rahul Dravid, who will earn around 4 crore rupees, also said he was not sure whether IPL would boost the fortunes in the long run or affect it adversely.

Rahul Dravid says only time will tell how IPL boost cricket’s fortunes, adding the price of players did not reflect the players’ capabilities.

For example, Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting, who would play for Kolkata IPL team promoted by Shah Rukh Khan, would earn less than rookie Indian pacer Ishant Sharma.

Every IPL team can have only four foreign players in the playing eleven. Moreover, teams with icon players like Bangalore (Rahul Dravid) and Mumbai (Sachin Tendulkar) were also at a disadvantage at the players’ auction as icon players had to be paid 15 percent more than the top priced player in the respective teams.

But Rahul Dravid is also elated at the immense opportunity which IPL throws open to the domestic players and the experience they would gain by playing alongside and international stars, apart from the financial benefits.