Sanjay Dutt shows interest in buying IPL franchise

Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt had shown interest in buying an Indian Premier League franchise when he met the cash-rich Twenty20 League Commissioner Lalit Modi here.

"Yes, he met Lalit Modi yesterday to get details about buying an IPL team," top sources in the Cricket Board said.

Dutt is trying to follow the footsteps of Bollywood celebrities Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Juhi Chawla and Shilpa Shetty in buying stakes in IPL franchises.

Shah Rukh is the owner of Kolkata Knight Riders in which Juhi Chawla has stakes while Preity and Shilpa have stakes in the Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals franchises respectively.

Dutt is the second Bollywood celebrity after Salman Khan to have met Modi recently to discuss about buying an IPL franchise.

Last month Khan had met Modi and evinced interest in buying one of the two new franchise teams which are to be added in the 2011 edition of the tournament and for which auctions are planned to be held next summer.

PTI

NEW DELHI: As expected, heads are rolling in the Knight Riders camp following the team’s dismal performance in IPL 2. The first one on the chopping
block is none other than head of cricket operations John Buchanan, the former Australia coach whose controversial stint, according to sources, is set to come to a premature end.

In a bid to hit upon a winning formula for next year’s tournament, co-owner Shah Rukh Khan has decided not to renew Buchanan’s contract. Many members of Buchanan’s core coaching staff are also likely to get the axe. These include Buchanan’s son Michael, who was hired by the team as a strength trainer, coach Mathew Mott of New South Wales, fielding coach John Deeble, assistant coach Brad Murphy and wicket-keeping coach Wade Seccombe.

The franchise is expected to take some tough, swift decisions in the wake of the debacle in South Africa, where KR, with Brendon McCullum at the helm, finished last among the eight teams on the points table. Even in the inaugural edition of the T20 tournament, their performance wasn’t much to crow about. Now, the team management might finally be in the process of pulling out all the stops to ensure that investors and fans are better rewarded.

Sources suggest the team is keen on someone with prior experience of coaching in the subcontinent, either an Indian or a foreigner. Names like former Bangladesh coach Dave Whatmore, who is now at the National Cricket Academy, ex-Pakistan coach Richard Pybus and even former players like WV Raman and Paras Mhambrey are doing the rounds.

‘‘It too early to say who will come in as a replacement but Buchanan is certainly not going to carry on next year,’’ sources told TOI

http://ipl.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Knight-Riders-all-set-to-dump-Buchanan/articleshow/4601566.cms

Shah Rukh slams Gavaskar for criticising Buchanan

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Shah Rukh slams Gavaskar for criticising Buchanan

MUMBAI: Kolkata Knight Riders owner Shah Rukh Khan took a dig at former India captain Sunil Gavaskar for ridiculing John Buchanan's multiple-captain theory saying he bought the team and would run it the way he wants.

Former Australia World Cup winning coach Buchanan, who is now manager of Kolkata Knight Riders, had suggested the four captain theory for the second season of the Indian Premier League that has ruffled a few feathers, including that of former India skipper Sourav Ganguly.

"I have great respect for Mr Gavaskar. I have grown up enjoying his performance as well as KR Vishwanath and Kapil's. We all respect him too much but having said that I would like to say that please give it (the multiple-captain theory) a breathing space to try now. If we fail we can always go back to the traditional way," Shah Rukh said at a media conference in Mumbai on Sunday to announce new initiatives with Team sponsors Nokia.

The Bollywood star said he has spent a lot of money in buying the team and would like to run it as he deems fit.

"I have spent lot of money on my team. If you have a problem then you buy your own team and run it the way you want," he said, in an obvious response to Gavaskar's comments.

India's batting legend Gavaskar, in a newspaper column, had criticised Buchanan's theory saying too much importance is being accorded to the Australian, who is a failed first-class cricketer and is only trying to get lucrative jobs for "his Queensland pals".

"To comment on his multiple skipper theory is to give it the importance it doesn't deserve but what does require comment is how he has got his Queensland pals lucrative jobs with KKR.

"They have a very big support staff which includes his son and most of them are from Queensland. The owners - poor souls - have little idea that they are being milked," Gavaskar had written.

Shah Rukh, meanwhile, said he would rather try the multiple captain idea and fail than not giving it a chance at all.

"Twenty20 cricket is a new format and last time we did not do well after going by the traditional way (one captain). This time Buchanan will try multiple captaincy in the practice game before the IPL starts in South Africa and see whether he succeeds or not," the Bollywood star said.

Buchanan's concept has generated lot of controversy ahead of the April 18 to May 24 IPL to be held in eight cities of South Africa.

Sourav Ganguly, who led the team last year, had expressed resentment to the multiple captain idea.

The former India captain and Buchanan have had lengthy discussions with Shah Rukh at his residence to thrash out the issues.

Shah Rukh on Sunday pointed out that the concept had been tried out last year itself by Kings XI Punjab.

"It was tried out last year itself by the Mohali team which had a fielding captain (Kumar Sangakkara), a batting captain, a bowling captain and an overall captain Yuvraj Singh," he said.

The Bollywood star gave the example of cricket's cousin baseball which has coaches giving instructions from outside the field to the pitchers, batters and others.

Shah Rukh also expressed hope that his team would perform much better than last year.

"All our players like Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Sourav Ganguly, Brad Hodge, Ajantha Mendis, Ishant Sharma, Mashrafe Mortaza are available," he said.

"Almost 97 to 98 per cent of the players are available and it's a strong line-up. I hope the team performs better than last year," Shah Rukh said.

Source: http://ipl.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/SRK-slams-Gavaskar-for-criticising-Buchanan-/articleshow/4362502.cms

Now, KKR target Bangladesh

NEW DELHI: After bagging Bangladesh pacer Mashrafe Mortaza for a whopping $600,000 at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction in Goa, Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders are hoping to build on their increasing popularity across the eastern border by staging some practice-cum-exhibition matches in Dhaka next month.

The matches will be staged before actual IPL action kicks off on April 10.

According to IPL sources, the KKR team management and the Bangladesh cricket board are in talks to organise these matches, with the dates to be confirmed in due course. ‘‘KKR is yet to confirm the dates, but they are certainly planning to visit Bangladesh for three to four days to play some practice games,’’ an IPL source told TOI on Sunday.

Will KKR also cash on the team’s merchandising prospects in Bangladesh? Source say KKR got a call from the Bangladesh cricket board a couple of days ago and King Khan’s men were told about the team’s popularity in that part of the world.

‘‘We know that Bangladesh loves it’s cricket. If the Kolkata team featuring a local player like Mortaza plays a match against Bangladesh, cricket fans are going to enjoy every bit of it,’’ a source said.

Prior to these proposed exhibition cum practice matches, KKR will also have a conditioning camp in Kolkata to select a preliminary squad of 22 from 50-odd players. The camp is tentatively scheduled from March 16.

http://ipl.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4096375.cms

IPL becomes Bollywood's latest blockbuster

By Nick Hoult in Mumbai, Last Updated: 1:40am BST 31/05/2008

The stifling 95 degree heat in Mumbai this weekend cannot be purely put down to the onset of the southern Indian summer. The self-satisfied glow of the organisers of the hugely successful Indian Premier League must also be ratcheting up the temperature a degree or two.

Built on a mountain of cash from some of India's richest individuals, the IPL began 44 days ago with a vision for the future that seemed almost as crackpot as the idea that India would boast one of the world's booming economies.

Suspicion and scepticism greeted its beginning, but ever since Brendon McCullum set alight the opening match, the tournament has gathered strength and exceeded expectations. "It has been an unprecedented blockbuster," said one of the franchise owners, Vijay Mallya - and his Bangalore team bombed dismally.

The tournament culminates in the IPL play-off weekend, ending with tomorrow's final, where the organisers will be desperate to show the world their gleaming new toy. VIPs gathered from the world of cricket will be told how the IPL have broken their own targets in the first year.
The franchises expected to break even after year three. For the majority, it has happened in year one. Television viewing figures are astronomical, even by the standards of a country with a population of more than one billion. The huge advertising revenues have enabled people to ignore the inconvenient fact that 20 to 30 per cent of match tickets have been given away.
Finding a critic of the IPL is hard. The few dissenters within the Indian cricket board have been silenced by the £40 million they are set to make from the IPL's first edition.

"It has been sensational," said Kepler Wessels, coach of the Chennai Super Kings. "I've coached and played all over the world and over different eras and this reminds me very much of the Kerry Packer World Series that I played in. That was when cricket became professional and there is a similar vibe here. This has been a tremendous tournament and it will grow from strength to strength."

That strength has been built on decent cricket, looking good for the cameras and appealing to the masses. Preity Zinta, the Bollywood actress and owner of the Punjab franchise, flashes her smile on cue, while one obsessed fan fell from the stands at Eden Gardens trying to get a glimpse of Kolkata owner, the superstar Shah Rukh Khan.

But this is India and cricketers are also kings. New stars have emerged, and predictably, they are mostly Australian. Shaun Marsh, the Western Australian batsman, was a snip at $30,000 (£15,171) for the Kings XI Punjab and is the tournament's leading run scorer with 593. Over at the Rajasthan Royals, Shane Watson has shown what he can do when he stays fit, while Marsh's team-mate Luke Pomersbach has biffed the ball at will.

It is a serious business for the players, who, for the first time in their careers, have had to publicly account for huge salaries.

"I remember lots of lads laughing and joking in the first year of T20, but people are taking it very seriously now," said Jeremy Snape, the former England one-day player who is performance coach for the Rajasthan Royals. "Five years later it is having a big impact on the game."

Off the field the talk is of reconciliation. Players who clashed while competing for their countries have been forced to get on or get out as they share dressing rooms with old foes. There was no greater rivalry than that between Graeme Smith and Warne. But at the end-of-tournament party, held at Mumbai's Grand Hyatt on Thursday night, the pair were seen swapping altogether nicer sentiments.

"So many different combinations have come together," said Warne. "We don't normally get to share ideas and methods and that has been one of the lasting memories for me."
There is one thing missing from the finals weekend - the home side. There were longer queues yesterday afternoon at screenings of the new Indiana Jones movie than there were at the Wankhede Stadium ticket office.

The IPL's decision to hike prices for the day did not help on that front, with the top tickets set at £140. A quick rethink led to a 50 per cent reduction. Swathes of empty seats do not look good on television, and looking good on screen is what really counts.

THE GOOD:

The rejuvenation of Shane Warne: He has revelled in his role as leader and father figure to the unfancied Rajasthan Royals, whom he guided to surprise leadership of the group-stage table.
The crowds: It is no surprise that fans have flocked to the games, what has come as a shock is how they have swapped national allegiance for supporting their local franchise.

The money: The Indian Cricket Board are projected to make more than £40?million from the first IPL season as sponsorship has soared.

The cricket: In India the batsmen are kings and Brendon McCullum's 158 in the tournament's opening match set the bar. Sanath Jayasuriya, Adam Gilchrist and Shaun Marsh (right) have all reached three figures.

The glamour: From Bollywood actresses to the Washington Red Skin cheerleaders and glitzy after match parties, the IPL has aped Formula One in its pursuit of the opulent. 1. The racism charge. Two British cheerleaders made accusations of racism, claiming they were told they could not perform at a match because they were black.

THE BAD:

The slap: Harbhajan Singh of the Mumbai Indians slapped India team-mate Shanthakumaran Sreesanth in the face after a match against the Kings XI Punjab. Harbhajan was later banned for the rest of the tournament.

The sulking: Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan never missed the chance to appear on camera while his side Kolkata Knight Riders were doing well. When their fortunes nosedived he was less conspicuous.

The arrogance: Heady with success the organisers are now talking about two IPL seasons a year. What about Test cricket?

The fickleness: Failure to qualify for the semi-finals left some doubting the futures of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, two true greats.

AND THE NUMBERS:
1,629 Fours
593 Sixes
67 Lowest total (Kolkata Knight Riders v Mumbai)
84.62 Win percentage for Shane Warne of the Rajasthan Royals
21 Balls for fastest fifty, by Yusuf Pathan (Rajasthan Royals)
31 Boundaries hit by Sanath Jayasuriya, the highest in the group stage.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/05/31/scindi131.xml

Akhtar nothing but a problem: Ex-PCB chief

Shoaib Akhtar may claim to be a perfect team-man but former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar Khan says the maverick pacer has been nothing but a “problem” for captains and coaches who have worked with him in the past couple of years.

Khan feels the pacer, who is fighting a five-year ban imposed on him for disciplinary violations by the PCB, has only himself to blame for the problems that he is facing right now.

“In the last two years he was a problem for the coach, captain and the board and we could see he was more interested in playing for himself rather than the team and this attitude was having a bad effect on others,” Khan said.

Khan felt it was better not to have Akhtar in the team as it has always done well without him.
“When he didn’t play the team did well and won. I think the fame and pampering he got early on in his career got to his head and he couldn’t handle it maturely,” he stated.

The former PCB chief said the only way left to deal with Akhtar was involve his family in counseling him.

“The best way to handle him is to sit down and talk to him or ask his family members to talk sense into him and he would come around,” he told ‘Geo TV’.

Apart from the Akhtar, Khan said the PCB should also give some attention to the plight of cricketers banned by it for participating in the rebel Indian Cricket League.

Khan felt the PCB should lift the ban on these players and allow them to earn their living.

Source: http://premierleaguecricket.in/news/akhtar-nothing-but-a-problem-ex-pcb-chief/

It's 'do or die' situation for Knight Riders and Daredevils

IANS Thursday, May 22, 2008 2:23:57 PM

Delhi Daredevils have their nose ahead of Kolkata Knight Riders in the race for a berth in the Indian Premier League (IPL) semi-finals.The two play their penultimate matches in the league phase here Thursday. However, both teams will be looking over their shoulders how the Mumbai Indians are faring in their remaining matches as they look good to join Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab in the semi-finals with Chennai Kings almost getting there. Punjab are as good as through after their exciting one-run victory against Mumbai Indians Wednesday.

Chennai Kings are better placed to make it, leaving Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata to battle it out for the fourth spot in the semis.Knight Riders, after their loss to Rajasthan Royals Tuesday night, now need a miracle to help them qualify for the semi-finals as they not only have to win their last two games by big margins, but also hope the lowly-placed and the top two teams produce unexpected results.Both Knight Riders and Daredevils have played 12 matches each. Knight Riders have won five while the Daredevils six. Daredevils have an edge over the Knight Riders after their comfortable five-wicket win over Bangalore Royal Challengers Monday.

The Knight Riders are in troubled water as they have lost three-consecutive matches and the rumours of a rift between team owner Shah Rukh Khan and captain Sourav Ganguly have not done any good to their morale before a crucial away game.In the first meeting between the two sides in Kolkata, the Knight Riders' Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar laid the Daredevils low, rattling their top-order batting. The Pakistani missed Tuesday's match as he was not match-fit, but onThursday Sourav will be pinning his hopes on Shoaib to recreate the Eden Gardens magic and keep the side in the hunt.

The Daredevils, too, will be charged up to get full points from this match, and they are depending on captain Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir to continue their splendid batting upfront.Daredevils' bowling also fared better than the Knight Riders', with Australian Glenn McGrath spearheading the attack. The legendry fast bowler has also shepherded the bunch of young fast bowlers to get the best out of them.

Teams: Kolkata Knight Riders: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Aakash Chopra, Ajit Agarkar, Ashok Dinda, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Debabrata Das, Iqbal Abdulla, Ishant Sharma, Laxmi Shukla, Mohammad Hafeez, Murali Kartik, Salman Butt, Siddarth Kaul, Shoaib Akhtar, Tatenda Taibu, Umar Gul, Wriddhiman Prasanta Saha (wicket-keeper).

Delhi Daredevils: Virender Sehwag (captain), Rajat Bhatia, AB de Villiers, Shikhar Dhawan, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Pradeep Sangwan, Daniel Vettori, Gautam Gambhir, Brett Geeves, Dinesh Karthik, Glenn McGrath, Farveez Maharoof, Shoaib Malik, Tejashwi Yadav, Yo Mahesh, Mithun Manhas, Amit Mishra, Mohammad Asif, Yogesh Nagar, Manoj Tiwary, Mayank Tehlan

Source: http://in.sports.yahoo.com/cricket/ipl/news/news_20080522_458.html

IPL - the new blockbuster in Kolkata

Source: http://sify.com/sports/fullstory.php?id=14677240

Monday, 19 May , 2008

The Indian Premier League (IPL) has undoubtedly become the latest and hottest blockbuster in the city - leaving the usually teeming city multiplexes and single screen cinema halls virtually empty throughout the Twenty20 series.

With Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) owner and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan promising that he would give his audience the "multiplex experience" with three hours of action-packed entertainment live on the fields every match night, theatre owners are reporting an alarming drop in earnings.

"Kolkatans are getting the chance to catch Shah Rukh Khan live in action and are not at all bothered about visiting theatre halls during the IPL," Arijit Dutta, owner of Priya Cinemas and Star theatre, told IANS. "As a result, we hardly have a handful of people for our matinee and evening shows; the night shows literally run empty."

"Our collection has come down to 20 percent of the normal days. We can hardly manage six percent revenue per show," Dutta said.

Shravan Shroff of Shringer Cinemas that runs the Fame plexes echoed the complaint. "Our business is affected by about 20 percent. We hardly have audience for films like the Akshay Kumar-Kareena Kapoor-Saif Ali Khan starrer 'Tashan' and Amitabh Bachchan-starrer 'Bhootnath' that were released during the IPL."

"Thankfully there are no big Bollywood releases till June 6 (when the Amitabh-Abhishek-Aishwarya starrer 'Sarkar Raj' releases). The final of the IPL is scheduled for June 1. So we hope our business will be restored with 'Sarkar Raj'," Shroff said hopefully.

The IPL has all that it takes to keep the crowd on edge.

There is action like the hits and misses of players, Shoaib Akhtar's scintillating bowling, drama like the Eden blackout on KKR's first home match, emotion like SRK garlanding world bard Rabindranath Tagore's portrait on his birth anniversary before starting the match, music and dance by the cheerleaders and Shah Rukh Khan assuring that every KKR home match has new celebrity guests with him.

"Is there any reason to go to the plexes and waste time when we can catch all the action live and for half the cost. Besides, there is a chance to meet stars like SRK, Juhi Chawla, Arjun Rampal and Malaika Arora Khan and take their autographs," said 23-year-old Rusha Sen, a regular at all KKR matches at Eden Gardens.

The craze of the IPL has spilled among the television-watchers as well. The Television Audience Measurement (TAM) rating on April 18 - the first match of the IPL played between KKR and Bangalore Royal Challengers - was 8.21. The rating has maintained an average of seven for every KKR match since then.

Shah Rukh upset by ICC directive

May 19, 2008 10:09 IST
Bollywood superstar and Kolkata Knight Riders owner Shah Rukh Khan on Sunday expressed disappointment at the ICC Anti Corruption Unit barring him from going to the team dug out and dressing room in the remaining matches of the Indian Premier League.

"I like to hang around with the boys. I am very energetic. I am very disappointed that the ICC has stopped me. I don't know the ICC rules. I will tell only one thing. Nobody dare stop me from coming to Kolkata. I will be here whenever my team plays a match at the Eden," Khan said on Sunday night.

Earlier in the day, the Anti Corruption Unit officials had cautioned the actor about going into the dressing room and the team dug out during the IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings.

Sources said later they directed the matinee idol to stay away from these areas in the remaining matches of his team.
Asked about the Knight Riders' defeat against the Chennai side, he said, "You play the game to win. We feel sad when the boys lose. But such things happen.

"I work hard. I want them to work harder. I would have liked the Kolkata Knight Riders to reach the final," he said.

On the Knight Riders's success as a brand, SRK said "With the help of colleagues we have done something for this. Still there is a long way to go before it becomes the number one sporting brand".
Khan said he is overwhelmed by the response of the Kolkata public and conceded the gate sales had fetched him twice the amount he had expected. Source: http://www.rediff.com/cricket/2008/may/19srk.htm