Lots Glamour, Glitz and IPL is under way; the Baap of entertainment is half way mark and we all ready have lots of ups n downs on the points table and well yeah the emotions as well; All teams want to win it….lot of them do have re-enforcements in the from of NZ & Aussie Players who were tied up with Trans-Tasman series and some of them tied up the Shield games in back in OZ.
Half way mark and we have lot of things to talk about; those isn’t any major controversy this time; but for the first time 7 out of 8 IPL teams are fighting it equally to get the semi berth. The Punjab Horror show is by no means ending and adding to that is the controversy of Yuvraj and his tussle with owners and his form. Different teams have different state of minds at this point of time; RR after being crushed in 3 games won 4 in a row and made their presence felt; Delhi lost its way in between but are back on winning track. MI has started IPL-3 as Mr Ambani would have forecasted the profits before venturing into any business that is huge profits; they are looking good but want to see the team perform if the openers went out for cheap and one of the 3 strike bowlers didn’t fire up. DC is a good team much like Black caps who are no short of eligibility but loose the game at crucial juncture but still love watching the cohesiveness of the team.
KKR is the team which every one is looking forward to; they have re-branded themselves post Buchanan era and started the campaign with 2 wins and lost the way out in 3 and are in mix shades. The fear of failure is haunting them and they need to play fearless cricket. Lots of chatter bout Ganguly and his leadership skills but even at the age of 38 he still has point or so to prove which he did while batting like Ganguly of 2000 against DC.
Next leg of this IPL is going to be more interesting as all the teams know their targets and the requirement to reach the Semis. Like CSK would have to win atleast next 4 or 5 out their 6 allotted matches. These contests would be close fought and only the balanced teams would make it to top 4.
Meanwhile apart from IPL in the neighboring state; another storm has hit its cricket after slicing and dicing the administration now its time to do the same with the team members as well; Mohmmad Yusuf has announced his retirement once again; There is nothing unusual about that, except that few others before him actually announced it that way. Guess this is the final time he is doing it; although sports do have history of people making comebacks Many great players across eras have retired and returned. Jordan did and Schumacher has and Yousuf's great countryman Imran did. While you never know what tomorrow brings in Pakistan cricket, you cannot help get the feeling that this is it for an extremely classy player, who for all his grace and style and runs always had a cloud hovering above him. So with Inzamam gone, and presumably Younis and Yousuf too, you have to wonder who will carry the legacy of great Test batsmen from Pakistan.
Pakistan loves being in news may it be through its terrorism or through sports; this week Pakistan's Out of favor former captain Shoaib Malik & Overrated Indian tennis hottie Sania Mirza who is news more because of her T-shirts rather than her game; walked in front of media and promised to get married . This opened up a new Pandora's box for Shoaib Malik who is already married to some one here in Hyderabad. Lets wait and watch if his continuous efforts of being Damad (Son-in-law) of India materializes or not. A fact that Malik in the same manner that Pakistan denies its role in 26/11 and the fact that it has had its ass handed to it in 1971 and 1999.
It sounds ridiculous to be reprimanded and fined for speaking your mind; Gambhir’s statement did mention what was reality. To fine who would mean that cricketers would not be able to speak their mind and we would all the more boring comments like the way we get it in Newspaper columns supposedly written by players. Guess some one needs to argue on this policy and get it right. Diplomacy does not bring out the truth and real situation.
Last but not the least Midway into season three of the Indian Premier League, the dollar signs have got larger, the hype louder and the gossip and side stories even more complicated. This year's tournament has been almost taken over by the numbers being discussed for next year and the drama being anticipated as the IPL jumps orbits from eight teams to 10.
Two new franchises were sold on March 21 Pune went to the Sahara business group for US$370 million, and the Rendezvous Sports World consortium won the rights to Kochi for US$333 million. That aside, all IPL teams will now be allowed to spend up to US$7 million a year each to recruit players. This would include money spent on direct hiring, retaining some of the players contracted for the first three seasons - subject to rules to be framed by the IPL council - and buying new players at a razzmatazz sequel to the inaugural auction in Mumbai in February 2008. The new cap is US$2 million above the previous one.
Finally, with the next round of auctions would be in September, most of the young Indian players are, quietly and not-so-subtly, lobbying for a place with the Chennai Super Kings. Just the way the quickest way to a man’s heart is not through his stomach, it’s now common knowledge that the quickest way to the Indian team is not through the Ranjis. It’s through the Chennai Super Kings team. Vijay, Badri, Balaji, Goni, Tyagi, Ashwin to name the last few.
You can love IPL or you can hate it, but you can’t ignore it. And that’s just the way Lalit Modi likes it.
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