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IPL

Live SCORE bOARD

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

IPL is perfect platform for comeback: Zaheer

Mumbai: India's left arm strike bowler Zaheer Khan, who is fast regaining full fitness, said playing in the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL) would be the perfect platform for his comeback bid to the Indian team.

"I am bowling five to seven overs on alternate days right now, which I am very happy with. Hopefully, by next week I will be bowling every day. So, by the start of the IPL Twenty20 tournament, I should be ready to play," Zaheer Khan has said in an interview to Mid-Day on Wednesday.

"I feel IPL should be very exciting and a perfect platform for my comeback bid as I will have to bowl just four overs, playing short games and then getting your workload up. In that way it is exciting," he added.

When asked for his impression of India’s new coach Gary Kirsten and Paddy Upton, Zaheer said, he was looking forward to working with them as soon as he is fully fit.

"Whatever interaction I had with them recently in Chennai and Ahmedabad was very productive. I spoke with Paddy about the mental side of things when you go through an injury, for example, what are the mental things you should be careful about, how one should be motivating himself when he is down, has really come handy now," he said.

Stressing that the two Australian tours so far has been 'jinxed' for him personally, as he was injured on both occasions, the left arm spinner said, even though he was disappointed personally, he was happy and proud of his teammates' performances.

"Frankly I think Australia is jinxed for me. The same thing (injury) happened on the 2003-04 tour. I got five wickets in the first Test in Brisbane before picking up an injury and could not continue in the series. Both occasions have been disappointing but you have to take it in your strides," he said.

Commenting on being named among the Wisden’s five cricketers of the year (2007) along with Ian Bell (England), Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ottis Gibson (both West Indies) and Ryan Sidebottom (England), Zaheer said, he is happy to be in Wisden’s top five cricketers of the year, even though he is not a regular reader of the magazine.

"I am indeed happy to be on the list of one of Wisden’s cricketers of the year. It is always an honour to be on this list. Last year was a good one for me in England. It gives me immense satisfaction," he said.

The 29-year-old Mumbai cricketer said he does not read Wisden magazine regularly.

"I read it only some times, mostly when I am in England," said Zaheer, who was informed about the honour by an Wisden official on Monday.

Modi ready to postpone IPL for England

London: The chairman of the billion-dollar Twenty20 Indian Premier League series says he is prepared to move his season forward to accommodate England cricket's big names.

Lalit Modi maintained that England's top players were keen to feature in the IPL series, which has already attracted stars from other Test-playing nations.

The new competition runs from April 18 to June 1, putting it in direct competition with the English season.

"I know a lot of them are interested but we don't want to conflict with the English season," Modi told the BBC. "If that means we have to move our matches a few weeks in advance, we would be happy to do that to accommodate the English players.

"We would like to see a lot of the English players in the IPL but I cannot commit to them until the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) actually finds a window and clears them."

Modi said the first obstacle to overcome for the new league was to establish the competition's place in the sporting calendar. He denied that plans for a second season within the same 12-month period, at the end of the summer, were close to completion.

"We may look at a second season years from now but I don't see a second season (within the same year) in the next three or four years at least," he said.

The English players' representative said Friday that English cricketers should be given the chance to play in the IPL.

Sean Morris, the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers' Association, warned that if a solution to the issue was not found soon "money will talk."

"The value of the cricketer has just increased through what is happening in the IPL," Morris told the BBC. "It's perfectly natural for the PCA to want our members to take advantage of that — it's a unique opportunity."

He was responding to comments from ECB chairman Giles Clarke, who said: "We are not interested in people playing in the IPL."

Clarke said he would not change the English domestic calendar to suit the Indian league and maintained he was "not getting any pressure" from players wanting to sign up for an IPL team.

At present Dimitri Mascarenhas, the Hampshire all-rounder who has played international one-day and Twenty20 cricket, is the only England player signed up for the first season of the IPL.

Websites kept out of IPL's new guidelines

New Delhi: The Indian Premier League (IPL) has revised the 13-page terms and conditions for media accreditations which had come under debate last week.

IPL Chairman and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) vice-president Lalit Modi agreed to relax rules to benefit the print media after discussing the matter with the Sports Journalists' Federation of India (SJFI) and sports editors of mainline dailies on Monday.

Last week, the IPL had announced the media guidelines for accreditation, which a large section of the media houses found unacceptable.

The SJFI, on behalf of sports journalists and photographers, requested the BCCI President Sharad Pawar to resolve the contentious clauses.

"I held a meeting with representatives of different media organisations and discussed the contentious issues. New media accreditation guidelines will be issued soon," Modi said on Tuesday in Mumbai.

He also said that the date for submitting accreditation forms would be extended beyond the present April 8 deadline.

The biggest bones of contention were the conditions that the media cannot use images or photographs in any other publications even if it belongs to the same organisation.

The norms also said newspapers and news agencies cannot use still images, taken by their accredited photographers for their websites and the media organisations have to upload, at their own cost, images they have obtained on the official website of the Twenty20 tournament and IPL can use these photographs without making any payment to the newspapers or news agencies.

However, there is no good news for the websites, as they will not be allowed to cover the IPL matches.

According to the guidelines, websites can only cover pre-match and post-match press conferences, but their reporters and photographers will not be allowed into the press box during the matches.

The websites will not be allowed to upload any pictures of the tournament with even the news agencies banned from selling pictures to websites.

IPL announces plans for second season

New Delhi: As the build-up to the first season of the cash-rich Indian Premier League hots up, organisers on Tuesday announced their plans for the second season in Mumbai.

Lalit Modi, Chairman and Commissioner of the DLF Indian Premier League, announced that the tentative dates for the second season of the competition will be from April 10 to May 29, 2009.

The BCCI vice-president also announced that the format of the tournament will remain the same as that of the inaugural season.

The eight franchises will first play against one another in a league on home and away basis. The top four teams will then figure in the two semi-finals and the winners of the semi-finals will clash in the final.

"The dates of the second season of the DLF Indian Premier League were decided at a meeting of the Governing Council held in Mumbai. I am confident of the inaugural season becoming a huge success and the second season will be even a bigger success," Modi said in a statement.

The inaugural season of the DLF Indian Premier League is ready to kick off from April 18, with some high voltage action expected between Shah Rukh Khan's Kolkata Knight Riders and Vijay Mallya’s Bangalore Royal Challengers at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.

Chennai Super Kings Announces Ticket Sales From Apr 11

The ticket sales for the Chennai Super Kings home matches will be on sale from Apr 11. This was announced today. The tickets prices for the various stands are 200, 500,600, 800, 2000, 4000, 5000 for daily tickets this will go on sale later. Season tickets are available for sale now.

Mumbai Indians Launched Their Website

Okay, it’s official . The Mumbai Indians website at www.themumbaiindians.com website become live today. The site with all the details about the players, the schedule, discussion forums and polls is out for the fans to access and participate in.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

IPL KOLKATA TEAM::KNIGHT RIDERS

· Sourav Ganguly

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Right medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Ishant Sharma

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Chris Gayle

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Off break
Availability: Until May 16
Nationality: West Indian

· Brendon McCullum

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Wicket keeper
Availability: Until May 5
Nationality: New Zealander

· David Hussey

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Off break
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Australian

· Shoaib Akhtar (under doubt now)

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm fast bowler
Availability: From April 27
Nationality: Pakistani

· Ricky Ponting

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Off break, Right medium
Availability: Not in 2008
Nationality: Australian

· Ajit Agarkar

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Murali Kartik

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Slow left-arm orthodox
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Umar Gul

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm fast medium
Availability: From April 27
Nationality: Pakistani

· Tatenda Taibu

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right medium, Wicket keeper
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Zimbabwean

· Salman Butt

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Off break
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Pakistan

· Md Hafeez

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Off break
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Pakistan

· Iqbal Abdulla

Specialisation: Slow left-arm orthodox
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Siddarth Kaul

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

IPL HYDERABAD TEAM::DECCAN CHARGERS

· Andrew Symonds

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Off-break
Availability: Not in 2008
Nationality: Australian

· RP Singh

Specialisation: Left-arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament<>br Nationality: Indian

· Rohit Sharma

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Adam Gilchrist

Specialisation: Left-hand batsman, wicketkeeper
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Australian

· Shahid Afridi

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Leg break googly
Availability: From April 27
Nationality: Pakistani

· Herschelle Gibbs

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: South African

· VVS Laxman

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Chaminda Vaas

Specialisation: Left-arm fast medium, left hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Sri Lankan

· Scott Styris

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right-arm medium fast
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: New Zealander

· Nuwan Zoysa

Specialisation: Left-arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Sri Lankan

· Chamara Silva

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Sri Lankan

IPL JAIPUR TEAM::RAJASTHAN ROYALS

· Md Kaif

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Off break
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Graeme Smith

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Off break Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: South African

· Yusuf Pathan

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, off-break
Availability: Whole Tournament Nationality: Indian

· Shane Warne

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Leg break Googly
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Australian

· Munaf Patel

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm fast
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Younis Khan

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: From April 27
Nationality: Pakistani

· Kamran Akmal

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Wicket keeper
Availability: From April 27
Nationality: Pakistani

· Justin Langer

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Right medium
Availability: Not in 2008
Nationality: Australian

· Dmitri Mascarenhas

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm fast medium
Availability: -
Nationality: England

· Shane Watson

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm fast medium
Availability: Not in 2008
Nationality: Australian

· Sohail Tanvir

Specialisation: Left hand batsman
Availability: Full Tournament
Nationality: Pakistani

· Morne Morkel

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm fast medium Availability: Full Tournament
Nationality: South African

· Ravindra Jadeja

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Slow left-arm orthodox
Availability: Full Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Taruvar Kohli

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: Full Tournament
Nationality: Indian

IPL MOHALI TEAM:PUNJAB KINGS

· Yuvraj Singh

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Slow left-arm orthodox
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Irfan Pathan

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Left-arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Brett Lee

Specialisation: Right arm fast bowler, Right hand batsman
Availability: Not in 2008 Nationality: Australian

· Kumar Sangakkara

Specialisation: Left-hand batsman, wicketkeeper
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Sri Lankan

· S Sreesanth

Specialisation: Right arm fast medium, Right hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Mahela Jayawardene

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Sri Lankan

· Piyush Chawla

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Leg break googly
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Ramesh Powar

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Off break
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Ramnaresh Sarwan

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: Until May 16
Nationality: West Indian

· Simon Katich

Specialisation: Left hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Australian

· James Hopes

Specialisation: Right arm fast medium, Right hand batsman Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Australian

· Kyle Mills

Specialisation: Right arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: New Zealander

· Tanmay Srivastava

Specialisation: Left hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Ajitesh Argal

Specialisation: Right arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

IPL MUMBAI TEAMMUMBAI INDIANS

· Sachin Tendulkar

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Off break, Right medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Sanath Jayasuriya

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Slow left-arm orthodox
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Sri Lankan

· Harbhajan Singh

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Off break
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Robin Uthappa

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Shaun Pollock

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: South African

· Lasith Malinga

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm fast bowler
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Sri Lankan

· Dilhara Fernando

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Sri Lankan

· Loots Bosman

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: South African

· Ashwell Prince

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right medium
Availability:Whole Tournament
Nationality: South African

· Saurabh Tiwary

Specialisation: Left hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Manish Pandey

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm off-break
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

IPL BANGALORE TEAM : ROYAL CHALLENGERS

· Rahul Dravid

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Jacques Kallis

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: South African

· Anil Kumble

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Leg break Googly
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Cameron White

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Leg break Googly
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Australian

· Zaheer Khan

Specialisation: Left arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Mark Boucher

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Wicketkeeper
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: South African

· Wasim Jaffer

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Dale Steyn

Specialisation: Right arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: South African

· S Chanderpaul

Specialisation: Left hand batsman
Availability: Until May 16
Nationality: West Indian

· Misbah-ul-Haq

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: -
Nationality: Pakistan

· Abdur Razzak

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Slow left-arm orthodox
Availability: -
Nationality: Bangladesh

· Ross Taylor

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Off break
Availability: -
Nationality: New Zealand

· Virat Kohli

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, right arm medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

· Sreevats Goswami

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, wicketkeeper
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

IPL CHENNAI: CHENNAUI SUPER KINGS

MS Dhoni

Specialisation: Wicket keeper, Right hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

Jacob Oram

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Right medium
Availability: Until May5
Nationality: New Zealander

Albie Morkel

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Right arm fast
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: South African

Suresh Raina

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Off break
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

Muttiah Muralitharan

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Off break
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Sri Lankan

Matthew Hayden

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Right medium
Availability: Not in 2008
Nationality: Australian

Muttiah Muralitharan

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Off break
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Sri Lankan

Stephen Fleming

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Right slow medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: New Zealander

Parthiv Patel

Specialisation: Wicket keeper, Left hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

Joginder Sharma

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

Makhaya Ntini

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm fast bowler
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: South African

Michael Hussey

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right medium
Availability: Not in 2008
Nationality: Australian

Napoleon Einstein

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm off-break
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

Abhinav Mukund

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Leg-spin
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

Viraj Kabde

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

IPL DELHI: DELHI DAREDEVILS

Virender Sehwag

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Off break
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

Gautam Gambhir

Specialisation: Left hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

Manoj Tiwary

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Leg break googly
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

Md Asif

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Right arm fast medium
Availability: From April 27
Nationality: Pakistani

Daniel Vettori

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Slow left-arm orthodox
Availability: Until May 5
Nationality: New Zealander

Dinesh Karthik

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Wicketkeeper
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

Shoaib Malik

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Off break
Availability: From April 27
Nationality: Pakistani

A B de Villiers

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: South African

Tillekaratne Dilshan

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Off break
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Sri Lankan

Farveez Maharoof

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Sri Lankan

Glenn McGrath

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Australian

Brett Geeves

Specialisation: Left arm seamer
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Australian

P Sangwan

Specialisation: Left arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

Tendulkar to participate in Olympic torch relay















Monday, April 7, 2008

Emerging Media Owner Of Rajasthan Royals

Emerging Media won the rights to the IPL Jaipur cricket team since named the Rajasthan Royals for the next 10 years. Emerging Media is media-property development business with a focus on developing programmes specifically suited for the Indian sub-continent.

Seeing the popularity of talent hunt programs Emerging Media did a program called “Cricket Star”. Their aim is to dominate the talent hunt on TV market. They are next planning a similar program for soccer in India.

Emerging Media is partly owned by Lachlan Murdoch , the estranged son of Rupert Murdoch who owns News Corp - which owns the Fox News Network, MySpace. He owns media properties across the world starting with Australia, Europe, Asia and America.

Emerging Media have big plans for Rajasthan Royals teams. They have appointed Shane Warne as the captain and coach of the Rajasthan Royals team. Shane Warne with his wide international experience and his New Hampshire experience is expected to propel the IPL Jaipur cricket team to the top of the Indian Premier League

IPL - Media Row BCCI Asks IPL To Resolve The Issue.

The IPL guidelines that prevented the media from uploading their pictures on to their online websites and other such restriction resulted in a huge protest from the media organisations. The IPL claimed copyright for all the pictures taken during the event. The media refused to accept such a condition. If the restrictive clauses were not removed they threatened to boycott the event altogether. Even as the row simmered, BCCI stepped in and asked the IPL to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Let’s wait and watch for the IPL response.

Kolkata Knight Riders - Day One of IPL ticket booking at Eden

Tickets became available for members of CAB. Out of 31,000 eligible members only about 239 people booked their tickets. The absence of Akhtar, the court case pending in the lower courts and members being forced to buy tickets have all contributed to the poor response. But the first lucky buyer gets to fly to Mumbai and will be treated to dinner with Shah Rukh Khan.

IPL To Blame? India Crash To Worst Defeat In 50 years

India crashed to their worst Test defeat at home in almost 50 years!! In the first innings they were bowled out for 90 and South Africans made a huge total of 494 for 7. In the second innings though India made 328 they were still by 90 runs and they lost the match by an innings and 90 runs.

With the IPL less than 2 weeks away not many Indian players were focussed on the Test Cricket Series. Most were spending all their spare time attending photo/video/advertisement shoots or attending functions. Not many reported to the nets for practice sessions.

The media was particularly harsh with the BCCI for not even attempting to publicise the India-SA series which is for more important event than a club level domestic tournament like the IPL.

Only a month the Indian team was being feted for having beaten the Australians in Australia in the one-dayers. The Indian team as usual taken its fans on a roller coast ride of emotions. Winning glorious victories one week and crashing to worst defeat the next. Inconsistency, thy name Indian Cricket.

SRK Will Speak To BCCI About Shoaib Akhtar

SRK said he wil seek an appointment with the BCCI. He intends to press for Akhtar’s participation in the IPL. Shah Rukh Khan was keen for the Pakistani speedster’s participation in the IPL even if he was banned in his own country. These things happen and we should try to take the things in the right spirit he said!!

Chennai Super Kings Replaces Injured Sudeep Tyagi

The Chennai Super Kings signed up 24-year old all-rounder Manpreet Gony of Punjab to replace a injured Sudeep Tyagi for the inaugural Indian Premier League match. Gony comes highly recommended by one of national selectors. Gony a 6 foot 4 tall bowler can bowl with reasonable pace and hits the ball hard. He will fit right in with the team of Chennai Super Kings said the VB Chandrasekhar the chief selector for the IPL Chennai team.

Kolkata Knight Riders Face Fresh Headaches

Shoaib Akhtar has been banned by the PCB for 5 years. His contract with the IPL is in jeapoardy. Shah Rukh Khan and Kolkata Knight Riders have a face problem on hands. Will Akhtar be able to play? According to BCCI rules any player banned by any other board can not play in the IPL. There can not be any exceptions. As of now as Shaoib is still going through the appeal process he can play. But once the ban is finalised then there is no way Shoaib Akhtar can play in the IPL.

DLFIPL - Media may boycott the IPL

BCCI and IPL have claimed sole copyright for all the images and pictures clicked by media persons and journalists during cricket matches. They haved the media organisations to upload all such pictures on to the official website of the IPL. This new clause has made the media organisations to see red. Most newspapers and channels have online editions and not being able to upload the pictures clicked by them on to their websites is a serious handicap for the online editions.

If these petty clauses are not removed the media is planning to boycott the event. Restricting our freedom to report the event as they see it has not endeared the IPL and BCCI to the media organisations.

Rajasthan Royals - The IPL Jaipur Cricket Team

Rajasthan Royals is one of the eight teams that will be part of the inaugural IPL tournament. The eight teams will represent eight cities in India - Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Jaipur, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mohali. Rajasthan Royals will play 14 league stage home and away matches against the seven other teams in the tournament.

The IPL is a brain child of Lalit Modi and Bindra office bearers of BCCI and was launched in September 2007. A closed bidding process revealed the 8 winners. All the winners combined had paid nearly 800 million dollars to own the rights to their teams for the next 10 years. The rights to own the IPL Jaipur cricket team, named the Rajasthan Royals went to Emerging Media, partly owned by Lachlan Murdoch.

The media rights to the IPL tournament matches were bagged by the Sony Entertainment Television and deal was worth over $1 billion dollars for a period of 10 years. DLF will be the title sponsor for the IPL. Other partners include Hero Honda, Kingfisher Airlines and ITC Welcome Group of Hotels. The money from these deals goes into the central revenue pool of the IPL.

Rajasthan Royals will get a equal percentage of revenue from the central revenue pool apart from the money earned from selling tickets, merchandise like Rajasthan Royals branded T-shirts, caps, ball, bats and much more.

The franchise owners for the 8 IPL teams are all are big businesses - like Reliance Retail, United Breweries, India Cements, GMR Holdings, Emerging Media, Red Chillies Entertainment, Deccan Chronicle Group and Bombay Dyeing, Dabur and Apeejay Surendra groups. The high profile buyers include Vijay Mallaya, Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta.

The IPL had contracted over 80 international cricket stars from the different cricket playing countries around the world. These players were assured a basic fee over and above which the franchisees had to bid to secure a particular player from the auction pool. After a hot bidding process that lasted over 10 hours Mahendra Singh Dhoni emerged as the highest paid player and was bagged by the Chennai Super Kings. Andrew Symonds the second highest paid player went to the Hyderabad Deccan Chargers.

The eight teams IPL Jaipur team have been allowed to make up the rest of their teams by buying players from their local areas called the catchement areas and the under-22 players. Hot competition emerged for the newly crowned under-19 world cup winners. But the BCCI stepped in to protect the colts from too much money corrupting their young minds. A cap of $30,000 dollars per player for under-22 players was put in place.

IPL Jaipur team - the Rajasthan Royals will have a theme song, brand ambassdors, logo and team colors.

Shane Warne will be coach and captain of the Rajasthan Royals team.