Ipl News

Pakistan's IPL hopes left out in cold

2009-04-14T22:51:00.001-07:00

The Indian Premier League will be missing one spicy ingredient from its heady mix in 2009 after Pakistan's exhilarating players were exiled from the money-spinning tournament.

The Pakistan government banned its players from participating in the IPL after political relations with India deteriorated in the wake of November's terror attacks in Mumbai, which New Delhi blamed on militants based across the border.

By the time the IPL was relocated to South Africa, following the Indian government's refusal to provide adequate security, as the event overlapped with parliamentary elections, Pakistani players' contracts had already been either terminated or suspended.

The IPL refused to include Pakistan players even after the relocation, claiming new stars had been bought by franchises as replacements.

Pakistani players were outraged and claimed the IPL had not bothered to inform them about the contract cancellations. They even staged a protest under the banner 'Include us or pay us' in Lahore last week.

They have also threatened legal action.

Former international captain Ramiz Raja believes a consequence will be plummeting interest in the IPL in Pakistan.

"The event's moved out of India, there are no Pakistani players playing, so interest in our country has definitely gone down," said Raja, who as a television commentator, will be the only Pakistani involved in this year's IPL.

Even Pakistan?s two world class umpires, Aleem Dar and Asad Rauf, were left out in the cold.

Pakistan?s limited overs series against Australia from April 22-May 7 in the United Arab Emirates, which clashes with the first half of the IPL, will also divert the attention of television viewers away from events in South Africa.

source : http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gs5ropwWBVhl5OrOX8kwQhJisTwA

Asif to watch few IPL ties in South Africa

2009-04-14T22:51:00.000-07:00

Disgraced Pakistan pacer Mohammad Asif will fly down to South Africa to watch a few matches of the Indian Premier League, his management company said on Tuesday.

"Asif will be going to South Africa to watch a few matches of the IPL," the company said without elaborating whether the bowler has been invited by the organisers or is going there by himself.

Asif, who played for the Delhi Daredevills last year in the IPL, flunked a dope test and was subsequently released by his franchise while the IPL Drugs Tribunal also banned him for 12 months for his doping offence.

Asif will also go to England to attend a rehabilitation and training course to get back to full match fitness before his 12-month ban ends in September.

He will also play for some club in England from May onwards, according to his company.

Asif has been under suspension by the Pakistan cricket Board since last July for his doping offence and is also fighting to avoid further penalties over his 19-day detention in Dubai last year in June while returning home from

India.

Wasim Bari, who heads the PCB Inquiry Committee that is probing into his detention in Dubai, has dismissed claims by Asif that he has submitted the documents asked for by the committee from Dubai authorities.

The committee is expected to meet on April 20 to give a final verdict.

Shah Rukh to fizz it up with new Sprite ad during IPL

2009-04-14T22:49:00.001-07:00

Look who’s set to cock a snook at Pepsi: Shah Rukh Khan. Come next week and King Khan will be seen drinking and promoting Sprite,

Coca-Cola’s clear lemon drink, in TV commercials.

PepsiCo ended its association with its most famous and visible brand ambassador here a few months ago, which led SRK to famously quip: “They have thrown me out and I’m jobless.” Now, he might prove the biggest marketing challenge for the cola major this summer season. Particularly since Sprite’s ‘seedhi baat’ ads always make fun of rival campaigns.

Interestingly, last summer Sprite commercials had spoofed Pepsi’s ‘Youngistaan’ commercial, which had featured SRK.

The new Sprite commercials will break on television next week, and will be aired through IPL matches. Mr Khan will be playing himself in the ad as the owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders team and will be seen offering a tongue-in-cheek ‘seedhi baat, clear hai’ advice to the team manager on how to defeat the opposition. Apart from Mr Khan, KKR captain Sourav Ganguly and Ishant Sharma will be part of the new Sprite commercials. While Sourav was also dropped by PepsiCo last year, Ishant was endorsing Pepsi till now.

Soon after Pepsi decided against renewing its contract with Shah Rukh, Coca-Cola had wrapped up sponsorship of KKR as associate sponsor and pouring partner for Sprite. Under the deal, Sprite has branding rights for players’ apparel and helmet.

In fact, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo had fought a close battle to align with KKR for sponsorship. Coca-Cola is also aligned with IPL broadcaster Sony Max as associate sponsor. In India, Sprite and Pepsi have a history of spoofing on each other. As first reported by ET, Sprite dislodged Pepsi as the country’s second-largest aerated drink late last year.

With this, Coca-Cola has three of the biggest Bollywood stars in its camp: Shah Rukh Khan for Sprite, Aamir Khan for Coca-Cola and Akshay Kumar for Thums Up. Before joining the Coke team, Aamir Khan was a brand ambassador for Pepsi.

source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET-Cetera/Shah-Rukh-to-fizz-with-Sprite-ad-during-IPL/articleshow/4397918.cms

Not many takers for IPL tour packages

2009-04-14T22:40:00.000-07:00

India may be a cricket crazy country but IPL mania is yet to set in. And with tour packages for IPL II -- kickstarting on April 18 --

costing upwards of Rs 1 lakh, watching a match live could well be a pipedream.

Tour packages for South Africa have so far met with a lukewarm response. STIC Travel Group chairman Subhash Goyal said, "We have received several inquiries but firm bookings have not materialised. The situation may improve once the season begins but I feel people don't have an affiliation for any particular team at present to spend so much money in travel."

The IPL season will last from April 18 to May 24 and feature 59 matches. So, watching the entire thing could cost a king's ransom. Not surprisingly, in these times of economic downturn, individual travellers willing to indulge in a sports vacation are few and far between. While travel companies are flooded with calls from diehard IPL fans, just the mention of the cost for a three-night-four-day package is enough for them to vote for live telecast on TV. Just travel for two matches could cost anywhere over Rs 60,000. With visa fees, stay and match tickets thrown in, costs escalate to Rs 1.2-Rs 1.6 lakh.

One of the country's biggest tour operators, Thomas Cook, has designed five packages -- all named after cricketing terms like hat-trick, googly, four and sixes, leg spin-off spin and bouncers and yorkers. Each of these packages -- including airfare, hotel stay, visa fees and match tickets -- will take you to a city for two matches. The googly package (Rs 49,900 and Rs 53,900 for a person on twin sharing basis in three and four star hotel, respectively) will take you to Johannesburg for two matches -- one at 12.30 pm and the other at 4.30 pm.

The other big company, Cox and Kings, is offering packages priced between Rs 18,000 to Rs 1.2 lakh that will have an additional airfare of Rs 40,000-44,000 and a match fee of $15 to $20 for each game. The company's VP Ashutosh Mehere said, "There is a growing interest among customers for our South Africa packages as they feel that they can combine it with the IPL matches. We have received a lot of enquiries and there is a lot of interest for the semi-finals and finals. South Africa is a family destination and the IPL is just a three-hour game and it is a perfect vacation for a large number of Indian families."

Meanwhile, SOTC's cheapest package is a four-day stay in Cape Town for Rs 52,500 per person while a trip to Johannesburg and Durban for the semi-final and final could set you back by a cool Rs 56,000-Rs 60,800 per person. The package for the final even includes one night at Suncity for sightseeing.

source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Not-many-takers-for-IPL-tour-packages/articleshow/4401426.cms

IPL next stop for Kamran

2009-04-14T22:04:00.000-07:00

IPL next stop for Kamran

Kamran Khan, the 18-year old Rajasthan Royals rookie left-arm seamer who has shot into prominence after taking a wicket off a yorker in an IPL warm-up game against the Cape Cobras over the weekend, has expressed his happiness at receiving a US$24,000 contract with the franchise but wished he had received the money sooner as his family struggled with poverty.

"Had this money come two years back, I might not have lost my mother," Kamran told the Indian Express. said having spent his nights on railway stations when travelling for cricket trials, it wasn't easy getting used to five-star hotel comforts in South Africa. "Be it Lucknow or Kanpur, I used to sleep at platforms. I used to buy a platform ticket and spend the night there. Having slept all these years on a rough floor … Neend hi nahi aayee pehli raat [I couldn't sleep the first night].

"I always had monetary problems. I never dared to ask money from my brothers. I had one pair of white clothes for trials."

Kamran was overwhelmed by the change in his fortunes over the last few weeks. "Even until few days ago, nobody knew me. I used to play at the Azad Maidan in Mumbai and just hoped to keep on doing the hard work. I'd gone for trials to every part of UP but without success."

source : http://content.cricinfo.com/ipl2009/content/story/399360.html

IPL gaining popularity

2009-04-08T22:22:00.000-07:00

Today, it is an open fact that cricket is very hit in India. All this is also becoming clear after seeing the increasing popularity of Indian Premium League in India. First session of IPL and only session in this year has already gathered lot of attention of people across world for its games. Most of the IPL games are able to attract lot of fans to the cricket stadiums and even large numbers of people are enjoying these games on the small screen.

Live telecast of IPL games have already registered good TRP and many famous TV soaps are feeling the heat of this tournament. Moreover, there are many chances that popularity of IPL matches will register much hype as game moves towards the final phase. Success of IPL also demonstrates the power of Indian cricket which has forced big guns of cricket world to play in domestic cricket games of India. Second IPL is also giving good career and earning potential to large number of young player in India, those are otherwise not able to find any place in Indian cricket.

Therefore, we can say that IPL has come with lot of good points for the Indian cricket and therefore, it is obvious to see increase in popularity of IPL games. In next two to three years, there are many chances that IPL can completely change the picture of Indian cricket and IPL teams even more popular than the conventional teams.

Ipl 2009 Schedule | Fixtures

2009-04-08T22:12:00.000-07:00

IPL Schedule 2009

The DLF Indian Premier League will be played from April 2009 onwards. Below is the IPL schedule for all the IPL matches games in the IPL.

You can get the IPL match timings also below.

April

16:00 18 April 2009	(H) Mumbai Indians	v	Chennai Super Kings	Newlands, Cape Town

20:00 18 April 2009	(H) Rajasthan Royals	v	Royal Challengers Bangalore	Newlands, Cape Town

16:00 19 April 2009	(H) Delhi Daredevils	v	Kings XI Punjab	Newlands, Cape Town

20:00 19 April 2009	(H) Deccan Chargers	v	Kolkata Knight Riders	Newlands, Cape Town

20:00 20 April 2009	(H) Chennai Super Kings	v	Royal Challengers Bangalore	St George's Park, Port Elizabeth

16:00 21 April 2009	(H) Kings XI Punjab	v	Kolkata Knight Riders	Kingsmead, Durban

20:00 21 April 2009	(H) Rajasthan Royals	v	Mumbai Indians	Kingsmead, Durban

20:00 22 April 2009	(H) Royal Challengers Bangalore	v	Deccan Chargers	Newlands, Cape Town

16:00 23 April 2009	(H) Chennai Super Kings	v	Delhi Daredevils	Kingsmead, Durban

20:00 23 April 2009	(H) Kolkata Knight Riders	v	Rajasthan Royals	Newlands, Cape Town

20:00 24 April 2009	(H) Royal Challengers Bangalore	v	Kings XI Punjab	Kingsmead, Durban

16:00 25 April 2009	(H) Mumbai Indians	v	Deccan Chargers	Kingsmead, Durban

20:00 25 April 2009	(H) Chennai Super Kings	v	Kolkata Knight Riders	Newlands, Cape Town

16:00 26 April 2009	(H) Royal Challengers Bangalore	v	Delhi Daredevils	St George's Park, Port Elizabeth

20:00 26 April 2009	(H) Kings XI Punjab	v	Rajasthan Royals	Newlands, Cape Town

16:00 27 April 2009	(H) Chennai Super Kings	v	Deccan Chargers	Kingsmead, Durban

20:00 27 April 2009	(H) Kolkata Knight Riders	v	Mumbai Indians	St George's Park, Port Elizabeth

20:00 28 April 2009	(H) Delhi Daredevils	v	Rajasthan Royals	Centurion Park, Pretoria

16:00 29 April 2009	(H) Kolkata Knight Riders	v	Royal Challengers Bangalore	Kingsmead, Durban

20:00 29 April 2009	(H) Kings XI Punjab	v	Mumbai Indians	Kingsmead, Durban

16:00 30 April 2009	(H) Deccan Chargers	v	Delhi Daredevils	Centurion Park, Pretoria

20:00 30 April 2009

(H) Rajasthan Royals

Chennai Super Kings

Centurion Park, Pretoria

source : http://www.cricket-highlights.com/view_ipl2009.htm