Recession? IPL II jumpstarts with multimillion dollar auction

Panaji: All talk of economic slowdown and austerity was thrown out of the window Friday as India's obsession cricket put on yet another grandiose display at the 'Players' Bazaar' aka the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction ahead of the second edition of cricket's latest innovation.
There were plenty of Bollywood stars in attendance -- Shilpa Shetty, the investor in Rajasthan Royals; Preity Zinta, co-owner of Kings XI Punjab, and Juhi Chawla, co-owner of Kolkata Knight Riders with Shah Rukh Khan -- at the Fort Aguada resort here.
Pietersen and Flintoff fetch record prices IPL 2009 auction: The complete lowdown IPL 2009
Then there were flamboyant industrialists like Vijay Mallya, Ness Wadia, Raj Kundra and N. Srinivasan, who wears many hats ranging from ownership of Chennai Super Kings to being an official on Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and IPL committees to running India Cements. Yes, not to be missed was Nita Ambani for Mumbai Indians!
A total of 17 players were auctioned from among the 43 available players.
As somebody commented, there was less of cricketing quotient and more of glamour, but many of the players who came under the hammer were not complaining.
While a few pre-auction underdogs like Mashrafe Mortaza and Tyron Henderson were laughing their way to the bank, many others were left wondering if any cricketing yardsticks were applied when it came to some bids.
England's superstars, Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, who at best will be available for half the season, were 'sold' for $1.55 million each, a handy $50,000 more expensive than India's Captain Hero Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Ironically, Flintoff will play for Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings.
The flamboyant Pietersen, who recently was relieved of his English captaincy following his 'me-or-the-coach' controversy, was expectedly picked by the even-more flamboyant owner, Vijay Mallya.
Gambhir, Dhoni set up easy win for India More cricket news
Mallya then declared that the captaincy of his team, Bangalore Royal Challengers, was not a closed issue. That may not go down well with former India captain Rahul Dravid, who led the Bangalore side with little success last season.
Not escaping the attention of many cricket watchers will be the fact that Mallya also picked Jesse Ryder, the controversial Kiwi player who has time and again run foul of authorities for alcohol related problems. Pietersen-Mallya and Ryder with the strong and silent Dravid could provide the main side act for IPL II.
A little while after Mallya sought the man he had come for - he later declared he was willing to go right up to $2 million for Pietersen - bubbly Bollywood star Preity Zinta went head-to-head with Juhi Chawla, on the table for Kolkata Knight Riders which she co-owns with Shah Rukh Khan. The big beneficiary of this bidding war was little-known Mortaza, a Bangladeshi fast bowler, who went for $600,000 after being brought in at a base price of $50,000.
J.P. Duminy, who three months ago was not even on the West Indian horizon, went for $950,000 and he was picked by Mumbai Indians, represented at the table by tycoon Mukesh Ambani's wife Nita.
Another surprise buy was Tyron Henderson, a 34-year-old South African, whose experience is mainly with Middlesex - he helped win the T20 Cup last year in England. After starting at a reserve price of $100,000, he came under the hammer for $650,000 and went to Rajasthan Royals.
Two other English stars, Owais Shah and Paul Collingwood, went to Delhi Daredevils at $275,000 each.
The teams have been allowed 10 overseas players this season, up from eight in the league's first edition. A team could spend as much as $2 million for 2009, in addition to the $5 million they had last year.
A day before the auction when Australia's Michael Clarke, one of the three with a reserved price in six figures, pulled out citing a busy schedule there was some talk of the auction being low-key, but when the gates opened, the horses were ready to bolt.
With the heady mix of cricket, Bollywood glamour and big money in full display, failure and low-key were the last words that came to mind.
The English will be here for the first time - Dmitri Mascarenhas did play last year though - and the Australians will be here only for the last stages. The South Africans will be away for a short period in between and the Pakistanis will stay at home to watch the show on TV and rue the miss in terms of big money.
IPL chairman Lalit Modi, as is his style had the last laugh, at least today, when he said: "Looking at the crowd today and the interest when Shilpa Shetty bought the stake in Rajasthan Royals, it is apparent that these games will attract crowds and will be a success."
"The IPL," he declared, "has defied the recession."
The IPL runs from April 10 to May 29, with the top four teams advancing to the semifinals. SOURCE: http://sify.com/sports/fullstory.php?id=14852867

Flintoff, Pietersen join IPL at record prices

GOA, India (AFP) — England's Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff joined the Indian Premier League on Friday as its most expensive players after being auctioned for 1.55 million dollars each.
Pietersen was bought by liquor baron Vijay Mallya's Bangalore Royal Challengers at a televised auction in this popular holiday resort, while Flintoff went for the same price to Chennai Super Kings.
Both players broke the existing record of India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was purchased by the Chennai franchise for 1.50 million dollars last year.
Pietersen and Flintoff will, however, receive only half their money as England players are available for just the first three weeks of the lucrative six-week Twenty20 tournament.
Tournament rules stipulate that payments are made on a pro-rata basis for matches played. This year's contracts are for a two-year period.
"A player like Kevin is a great buy for us," said a beaming Mallya, whose team finished seventh out of eight teams in the inaugural edition of the tournament last year.
"He is one of the most explosive batsmen in the world and will bring a lot of class to our team."
Indian cricket board secretary N. Srinivasan, who owns the Chennai Super Kings, said he was delighted to have all-rounder Flintoff on board.
"Twenty20 cricket is a game for all-rounders and Flintoff is one of the best in the business," said Srinivasan, whose team entered last year's final where they lost to the Shane Warne-led Rajasthan Royals.
As many as 50 players threw their hat in the ring for the 17 slots available to franchises, but the unlucky ones could still make the grade at a later date to replace the absent Pakistan cricketers.
IPL franchises terminated the contracts of six Pakistanis and put on hold four others after the Pakistan government refused them permission to play in India for security reasons.
Young South African Jean-Paul Duminy confirmed his rising stature in the sport when Sachin Tendulkar's Mumbai Indians, owned by industrialist Mukesh Ambani, bought him for 950,000 dollars.
Rajasthan Royals, partly owned by Bollywood actress and British reality TV star Shilpa Shetty, created a stir when they picked up ageing South African Tyron Henderson for a whopping 650,000 dollars.
All-rounder Henderson, 34, has played just one international match -- a Twenty20 game against India in 2006 -- but has turned out consistent performances for his English county Middlesex.
Bangladesh seamer Mashrafe Mortaza, whose base price was 50,000 dollars, went to Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan's Kolkata Knight Riders for 600,000 dollars despite a strong challenge from Kings XI Punjab.
No Indian player featured in the auction since they were already snapped up last year.
The second edition of the tournament, featuring the eight teams owned by tycoons, film stars and leading business houses, will be played across India in April-May.

Triumph of the underdog

June 2, 2008
Despite its share of controversies and the heady mix of glamour and cricket, the Indian Premier League's first edition would be best remembered for the triumph of the underdog wherein a retired spin legend inspired the cheapest franchisee of the event to an unexpected title win.

Shane Warne, considered by many as the best captain never to lead Australia, led a pack of unheralded players to a Rs 4.8 crore prize cheque, thus rounding off 44 days of a soap opera that had everything -- from drama to emotion -- for prime-time viewers.



An idea that many said was born out of the BCCI's need to counter the rebel Indian Cricket League, IPL was a success story even before a ball was bowled when sponsors and TV channels queued up to get a stake in what was to become one of the richest domestic leagues in any sport.
And when it actually took off, Lalit Modi's brain child only grew bigger with fans readily lapping up the idea of city-based rivalries even if that meant cheering the dismissal of perhaps their most revered icon Sachin Tendulkar.

The cricket dished out was equally exciting and the foreign recruits along with some exciting new Indian faces enthralled the packed stadias of the eight cities where the franchises were based. Source: http://specials.rediff.com/cricket/2008/jun/02sld2.htm

Blasts cast shadow over Jaipur match

The bomb blasts in Jaipur has cast a shadow of uncertainty over Saturday’s IPL match between the Rajasthan Royals and the Bangalore Royal Challengers in the city. Bangalore have offered to host the game at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

“We have conveyed our decision to the IPL council,” Martin Crowe, the Bangalore coach, told Cricinfo from Chandigarh, where the rest of the team is currently staying. “The franchises are discussing the issue. A final decision will be made tomorrow. We are going to Delhi tomorrow and will probably head over to Bangalore after a night’s stay in Delhi.”

However, Fraser Castellino, the CEO of the Jaipur franchise, said he had not heard of this development and didn’t want to comment on the possibility. Bangalore have already hosted Rajasthan in the tournament - on April 26 - in a game that the visitors won by a comfortable margin.

At least five major blasts rocked Jaipur, the base of the Rajasthan Royals, with the death and injury toll on the rise. The Rajasthan team haven’t been affected: most of the team is currently holidaying in Goa and the others have gone back to their respective homes.

Source: http://premierleaguecricket.in/news/blasts-cast-shadow-over-jaipur-match/