Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff will be in action on the opening day of the Indian Premier League when its second season begins in South Africa.
Pietersen will lead Royal Challengers Bangalore against Rajasthan Royals in Cape Town on 18 April.
It will be preceded by a game pitting Flintoff's Chennai Super Kings franchise against Mumbai Indians.
Organisers were forced to switch the tournament to South Africa because of security concerns.
But the eight teams will play a full 59-match schedule, climaxed by the final in Johannesburg on 24 May.
The decision to move to South Africa was announced on Tuesday and IPL officials, working in tandem with Cricket South Africa, have taken only four days to produce the new schedule.
As well as Cape Town and Johannesburg, matches will take place in Port Elizabeth, Durban, Centurion, East London, Kimberley and Bloemfontein.
Pietersen and Flintoff, the two most expensive signings made at last month's IPL auction in Goa, along with England team-mates Paul Collingwood, Owais Shah (both playing for Delhi Daredevils) and Ravi Bopara (Kings XI Punjab), can only take part in the competition until 30 April because of international commitments.
It means they will be able to play a maximum of six matches each.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
IPL is commercial cricket: Congress
Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress, in a bid to downplay the Indian Premier League (IPL) controversy, today hit back saying the IPL was just “commercial cricket” and not a national tournament.
Minister of State in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry Anand Sharma tried to quash the hue and cry from different quarters on the government’s inability to provide security to the tournament that resulted into the flight of IPL to South Africa. “What is the effect of the IPL on the government? It is not even a BCCI tournament. It’s just commercial cricket.”
The BJP, meanwhile, had tried to score political points claiming that the UPA government was unable to provide security to popular cricket tournaments in India. The Congress strongly opposed the BJP and asked it not to “politicise” the issue.
Minister of State in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry Anand Sharma tried to quash the hue and cry from different quarters on the government’s inability to provide security to the tournament that resulted into the flight of IPL to South Africa. “What is the effect of the IPL on the government? It is not even a BCCI tournament. It’s just commercial cricket.”
The BJP, meanwhile, had tried to score political points claiming that the UPA government was unable to provide security to popular cricket tournaments in India. The Congress strongly opposed the BJP and asked it not to “politicise” the issue.
IPL:Ganguly on the way out of Kolkata Knight Riders?
Yesterday's announcement by John Buchanan on the usage of multiple captains by Kolkata Knight Riders this season is a massive gamble that threatens to derail their campaign. Aside from the uncertainty and changes in strategy from match to match due to a revolving door, the policy threatens to unleash infighting not seen in Indian cricket since the Chappell-Ganguly debacle three years ago.
As Sourav Ganguly sat next too Buchanan at the press conference, he seemed distinctly uneasy, and when asked whether he was upset by the new policy, he skirted around the question before Buchanan interjected, quipping "Of course he will be upset. He is the Prince of Kolkata."
Ganguly then broke into laughter, but the body language looked distinctly worrying. With two strongly minded individuals in the franchise, it could herald rather stormy times for the Bengal-base outfit.
Buchanan has never been a coach in the serene and low-key mould of a Gary Kirsten or John Wright. On the contrary, he is full of ideas and innovation, whatever one might think of them. And on that front, trouble lurks. Like Greg Chappell, Buchanan can be frank, even to the point of being publically undiplomatic, and is unlikely to defer on an issue in order to placate superstar players.
After the famed Kolkata Test of 2001, when VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid batted for an entire day to pull India out of certain defeat, Buchanan publicly questioned Shane Warne's fitness and said that his weight was a factor as Australia's attack wilted in the same heat. Nor was he perturbed by Warne's anger and defiance when called into question. Last year, having retired from international cricket, Warne lampooned Buchanan and his methods, claiming that he was living in "La-La Land". In a radio interview soon after, Buchanan laughed and joked about the incident. Buchanan was never put off by Warne's vehement opposition, and it's unlikely that he'll bend to Ganguly either, at least without a monumental fight.
Like Chappell and the vast majority of Australians, Buchanan places quite a lot of emphasis on fielding, something which Ganguly famously disregarded. Sooner or later, especially in the most frenetic of formats, this will become a source of added tension, as it did when Chappell brought a flock of youngsters into the ODI team in late-2005.
And on that occasion, one of the most chaotic periods in recent cricket history broke out. Already sensing his demise, the nervous Ganguly played politics within the team, shuffling the batting order around and instilling uncertainty into his teammates. Before the dispute with Chappell was brought into the public, Laxman scored a century against Zimbabwe and muttered about negative vibes from within the team. Given what transpired, it's easy to see who he was referring to. With Ganguly looking over his shoulder again, something that is accentuated by his retirement from first-class cricket and the entailing uncertainty over his form, he could easily revert to his old behaviour and destabilise a team that is already looking weak in the absence of Umar Gul.
It's something that the Knight Riders could well do without. Perhaps it is the prelude to Ganguly's departure. Whatever the outcome, the issue needs to be resolved quickly and decisively.
As Sourav Ganguly sat next too Buchanan at the press conference, he seemed distinctly uneasy, and when asked whether he was upset by the new policy, he skirted around the question before Buchanan interjected, quipping "Of course he will be upset. He is the Prince of Kolkata."
Ganguly then broke into laughter, but the body language looked distinctly worrying. With two strongly minded individuals in the franchise, it could herald rather stormy times for the Bengal-base outfit.
Buchanan has never been a coach in the serene and low-key mould of a Gary Kirsten or John Wright. On the contrary, he is full of ideas and innovation, whatever one might think of them. And on that front, trouble lurks. Like Greg Chappell, Buchanan can be frank, even to the point of being publically undiplomatic, and is unlikely to defer on an issue in order to placate superstar players.
After the famed Kolkata Test of 2001, when VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid batted for an entire day to pull India out of certain defeat, Buchanan publicly questioned Shane Warne's fitness and said that his weight was a factor as Australia's attack wilted in the same heat. Nor was he perturbed by Warne's anger and defiance when called into question. Last year, having retired from international cricket, Warne lampooned Buchanan and his methods, claiming that he was living in "La-La Land". In a radio interview soon after, Buchanan laughed and joked about the incident. Buchanan was never put off by Warne's vehement opposition, and it's unlikely that he'll bend to Ganguly either, at least without a monumental fight.
Like Chappell and the vast majority of Australians, Buchanan places quite a lot of emphasis on fielding, something which Ganguly famously disregarded. Sooner or later, especially in the most frenetic of formats, this will become a source of added tension, as it did when Chappell brought a flock of youngsters into the ODI team in late-2005.
And on that occasion, one of the most chaotic periods in recent cricket history broke out. Already sensing his demise, the nervous Ganguly played politics within the team, shuffling the batting order around and instilling uncertainty into his teammates. Before the dispute with Chappell was brought into the public, Laxman scored a century against Zimbabwe and muttered about negative vibes from within the team. Given what transpired, it's easy to see who he was referring to. With Ganguly looking over his shoulder again, something that is accentuated by his retirement from first-class cricket and the entailing uncertainty over his form, he could easily revert to his old behaviour and destabilise a team that is already looking weak in the absence of Umar Gul.
It's something that the Knight Riders could well do without. Perhaps it is the prelude to Ganguly's departure. Whatever the outcome, the issue needs to be resolved quickly and decisively.
ATN Presents IPL 2009
TORONTO, Mar 26, 2009 (Canada NewsWire via COMTEX) ----Asian Television Network International Limited (ATN: 10.84, -0.4599, -4.07%) (TSX-SAT) announced today that it has secured the exclusive Canadian Broadcast rights for the second season of the Indian Premier League (IPL: undefined, undefined, undefined%).
"IPL is the most exciting new phenomena in World Cricket and we are delighted to acquire the exclusive Canadian broadcast rights," said Shan Chandrasekar, President and CEO of ATN, Canada's pioneer South Asian Broadcaster. ATN is Canada's largest distributor of World Class Cricket including the 2007 ICC World Cup and the Twenty-20 World Cup.
The IPL will start on April 18, 2009. It is a tournament of elite international players in a league of cricket games on par with North America's National Hockey League (NHL: undefined, undefined, undefined%) or National Football League (NFL: 11.74, 0.13, 1.12%). Multinational corporations, entrepreneurs and top Bollywood stars are lending their support to the league's eight teams. The international broadcasting rights for the IPL 2009 were sold for almost a billon US dollars.
ATN will broadcast the 2009 games live on Pay Per View across Canada on Bell TV (Bell ExpressVu), on Rogers Cable in parts of Ontario, and on Shaw Cable in Western Canada.
"We expect that the extraordinary combination of Cricket, big business and Bollywood stars will again make a massive impact on our television viewers," Mr. Chandrasekar said.
The 2nd season of IPL will be held in South Africa and the opening Ceremony will be held in Cape Town, where the defending champions Rajasthan Royals will play the first game. Johannesburg, Durban, Centurion, Port Elizabeth, East London and Cape Town will also be host venues.
The new league continues to attract high profile investors. Shilpa Shetty (former Big Brother winner from British Television and Bollywood actress) and a UK businessman have bought a 12 per cent stake in Rajasthan Royals, last year's winning team which is captained and coached by Shane Warne. They paid $15.4 million USD for their stake, which puts the value of the Rajasthan franchise at around $140 million USD, a significant increase on the $67 million USD that its owners, Emerging Media, paid for it a year ago. Shetty thus becomes the third Bollywood star after Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta to buy a stake in IPL teams.
New players to watch out this year will be English duo Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff who attracted the largest bids at $1,550,000 USD each. Vijay Mallya's Royal Challengers made the successful bid for Pietersen while Flintoff joins Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni at Chennai Super Kings. They also overtook Dhoni as most expensive players in the IPL. He had fetched $ 1.5 million at Chennai last year.
Ownership of IPL new teams is a mix of high-powered industrialists and the flair and flamboyance of Bollywood. Reliance Industries, for instance, paid $111.9 million USD for the Mumbai team while the United Breweries Group shelled out $111.6 million USD for Bangalore. Chennai Super Kings is owned by India Cements. Actor and film producer Shah Rukh Khan paid $75.09 million USD for Kolkatta. Preity Zinta took Mohali for $76 million USD. Emerging Media associated with Lachlan Murdoch, paid $67 million USD for Jaipur.
The season is scheduled to have about 59 games. The league matches will be followed by two semi-finals and a final match. The aim of the IPL is to broaden the appeal of the game. Since matches will take place in the daytime EST the hope is that families including women and children tune in large numbers to watch this new and very popular Twenty 20 format.
"We are very happy to bring Canadian cricket fans an exciting line-up of matches as international and Indian cricket stars offer the very best in Twenty 20 Cricket," said Mr. Chandrasekar. "It's a unique chance to watch elite international players on the same team."
While Canadians of British heritage have long enjoyed cricket, there is a resurgence of interest in the sport with growing immigration from many countries where cricket garners fanatical followers including South Asia (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh) the West Indies, South Africa, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. South Asians became Canada's largest visible minority group in 2006, numbering more than 1.2 million people - a 37% increase from 2001.
ATN operates 14 television channels. ATN also operates ATN Asian Radio on XM 159 the only Satellite Radio serving North Americas South Asian Diaspora. ATN video content is also available on any Bell mobile phone that supports video. ATN has programming alliances with leading international broadcasters. To subscribe to ATN and for more details about the cricket schedules and times of live broadcast please visit www.asiantelevision.com or contact your local service provider.
"IPL is the most exciting new phenomena in World Cricket and we are delighted to acquire the exclusive Canadian broadcast rights," said Shan Chandrasekar, President and CEO of ATN, Canada's pioneer South Asian Broadcaster. ATN is Canada's largest distributor of World Class Cricket including the 2007 ICC World Cup and the Twenty-20 World Cup.
The IPL will start on April 18, 2009. It is a tournament of elite international players in a league of cricket games on par with North America's National Hockey League (NHL: undefined, undefined, undefined%) or National Football League (NFL: 11.74, 0.13, 1.12%). Multinational corporations, entrepreneurs and top Bollywood stars are lending their support to the league's eight teams. The international broadcasting rights for the IPL 2009 were sold for almost a billon US dollars.
ATN will broadcast the 2009 games live on Pay Per View across Canada on Bell TV (Bell ExpressVu), on Rogers Cable in parts of Ontario, and on Shaw Cable in Western Canada.
"We expect that the extraordinary combination of Cricket, big business and Bollywood stars will again make a massive impact on our television viewers," Mr. Chandrasekar said.
The 2nd season of IPL will be held in South Africa and the opening Ceremony will be held in Cape Town, where the defending champions Rajasthan Royals will play the first game. Johannesburg, Durban, Centurion, Port Elizabeth, East London and Cape Town will also be host venues.
The new league continues to attract high profile investors. Shilpa Shetty (former Big Brother winner from British Television and Bollywood actress) and a UK businessman have bought a 12 per cent stake in Rajasthan Royals, last year's winning team which is captained and coached by Shane Warne. They paid $15.4 million USD for their stake, which puts the value of the Rajasthan franchise at around $140 million USD, a significant increase on the $67 million USD that its owners, Emerging Media, paid for it a year ago. Shetty thus becomes the third Bollywood star after Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta to buy a stake in IPL teams.
New players to watch out this year will be English duo Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff who attracted the largest bids at $1,550,000 USD each. Vijay Mallya's Royal Challengers made the successful bid for Pietersen while Flintoff joins Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni at Chennai Super Kings. They also overtook Dhoni as most expensive players in the IPL. He had fetched $ 1.5 million at Chennai last year.
Ownership of IPL new teams is a mix of high-powered industrialists and the flair and flamboyance of Bollywood. Reliance Industries, for instance, paid $111.9 million USD for the Mumbai team while the United Breweries Group shelled out $111.6 million USD for Bangalore. Chennai Super Kings is owned by India Cements. Actor and film producer Shah Rukh Khan paid $75.09 million USD for Kolkatta. Preity Zinta took Mohali for $76 million USD. Emerging Media associated with Lachlan Murdoch, paid $67 million USD for Jaipur.
The season is scheduled to have about 59 games. The league matches will be followed by two semi-finals and a final match. The aim of the IPL is to broaden the appeal of the game. Since matches will take place in the daytime EST the hope is that families including women and children tune in large numbers to watch this new and very popular Twenty 20 format.
"We are very happy to bring Canadian cricket fans an exciting line-up of matches as international and Indian cricket stars offer the very best in Twenty 20 Cricket," said Mr. Chandrasekar. "It's a unique chance to watch elite international players on the same team."
While Canadians of British heritage have long enjoyed cricket, there is a resurgence of interest in the sport with growing immigration from many countries where cricket garners fanatical followers including South Asia (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh) the West Indies, South Africa, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. South Asians became Canada's largest visible minority group in 2006, numbering more than 1.2 million people - a 37% increase from 2001.
ATN operates 14 television channels. ATN also operates ATN Asian Radio on XM 159 the only Satellite Radio serving North Americas South Asian Diaspora. ATN video content is also available on any Bell mobile phone that supports video. ATN has programming alliances with leading international broadcasters. To subscribe to ATN and for more details about the cricket schedules and times of live broadcast please visit www.asiantelevision.com or contact your local service provider.
IPL matches to be played in eight S African cities
MUMBAI: Defending champions Rajasthan Royals will take on Royal Challengers in the first match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at Newlands,
Cape Town April 18.
A glittering opening ceremony will be held at Newlands before the match.
The first semifinal of the 37-day tournament will be played in Centurion, Pretoria May 22.
Wanderers, Johannesburg will host the second semifinal May 23 and also the final and the closing ceremony May 24.
Following is this year's IPL schedule:
April 18: Opening ceremony followed by Rajasthan Royals v Royal Challengers and Mumbai Indians v Chennai Super Kings (Newlands, Cape Town)
April 19: Kolkata Knight Riders v Deccan Chargers (Newlands, Cape Town); Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab (Newlands, Cape Town)
April 20: Royal Challengers v Chennai Super Kings (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)
April 21: Rajasthan Royals v Mumbai Indians (Kingsmead, Durban); Kolkata Knight Riders v Kings XI Punjab (Kingsmead, Durban)
April 22: Delhi Daredevils v Chennai Super Kings (Kingsmead, Durban); Royal Challengers v Deccan Chargers (Newlands, Cape Town)
April 23: Kolkata Knight Riders v Rajasthan Royals (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)
April 24: Kings XI Punjab v Royal Challengers (Wanderers, Johannesburg)
April 25: Kolkata Knight Riders v Chennai Super Kings (Newlands, Cape Town); Deccan Chargers v Mumbai Indians (Kingsmead, Durban)
April 26: Rajasthan Royals v Kings XI Punjab (Newlands, Cape Town); Royal Challengers v Delhi Daredevils (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)
April 27: Kolkata Knight Riders v Mumbai Indians (Newlands, Cape Town); Chennai Super Kings v Deccan Chargers (Kingsmead, Durban)
April 28: Delhi Daredevils v Rajasthan Royals (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria)
April 29: Mumbai Indians v Kings XI Punjab (Kingsmead, Durban); Kolkata Knight Riders v Royal Challengers (Kingsmead, Durban)
April 30: Delhi Daredevils v Deccan Chargers (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria); Rajasthan Royals v Chennai Super Kings (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria)
May 1: Royal Challengers v Kings XI Punjab (Buffalo Park, East London); Mumbai Indians v Kolkata Knight Riders (Kingsmead, Durban)
May 2: Rajasthan Royals v Deccan Chargers (Wanderers, Johannesburg); Chennai Super Kings v Delhi Daredevils (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)
May 3: Mumbai Indians v Royal Challengers (Kingsmead, Durban); Kings XI Punjab v Kolkata Knight Riders (Buffalo Park, East London)
May 4: Deccan Chargers v Chennai Super Kings (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)
May 5: Delhi Daredevils v Kolkata Knight Riders (Kingsmead, Durban); Kings XI Punjab v Rajasthan Royals (Kingsmead, Durban)
May 6: Mumbai Indians v Deccan Chargers (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria)
May 7: Kings XI Punjab v Chennai Super Kings (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria); Royal Challengers v Rajasthan Royals (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria)
May 8: Delhi Daredevils v Mumbai Indians (Buffalo Park, East London)
May 9: Deccan Chargers v Kings XI Punjab (Outsurance Park, Bloemfontein); Chennai Super Kings v Rajasthan Royals (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)
May 10: Kolkata Knight Riders v Delhi Daredevils (Buffalo Park, East London); Royal Challengers v Mumbai Indians (Wanderers, Johannesburg)
May 11: Deccan Chargers vs Rajasthan Royals (Outsurance Park, Bloemfontein)
May 12: Royal Challengers vs Kolkata Knight Riders (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria); Kings XI Punjab v Mumbai Indians (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria)
Cape Town April 18.
A glittering opening ceremony will be held at Newlands before the match.
The first semifinal of the 37-day tournament will be played in Centurion, Pretoria May 22.
Wanderers, Johannesburg will host the second semifinal May 23 and also the final and the closing ceremony May 24.
Following is this year's IPL schedule:
April 18: Opening ceremony followed by Rajasthan Royals v Royal Challengers and Mumbai Indians v Chennai Super Kings (Newlands, Cape Town)
April 19: Kolkata Knight Riders v Deccan Chargers (Newlands, Cape Town); Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab (Newlands, Cape Town)
April 20: Royal Challengers v Chennai Super Kings (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)
April 21: Rajasthan Royals v Mumbai Indians (Kingsmead, Durban); Kolkata Knight Riders v Kings XI Punjab (Kingsmead, Durban)
April 22: Delhi Daredevils v Chennai Super Kings (Kingsmead, Durban); Royal Challengers v Deccan Chargers (Newlands, Cape Town)
April 23: Kolkata Knight Riders v Rajasthan Royals (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)
April 24: Kings XI Punjab v Royal Challengers (Wanderers, Johannesburg)
April 25: Kolkata Knight Riders v Chennai Super Kings (Newlands, Cape Town); Deccan Chargers v Mumbai Indians (Kingsmead, Durban)
April 26: Rajasthan Royals v Kings XI Punjab (Newlands, Cape Town); Royal Challengers v Delhi Daredevils (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)
April 27: Kolkata Knight Riders v Mumbai Indians (Newlands, Cape Town); Chennai Super Kings v Deccan Chargers (Kingsmead, Durban)
April 28: Delhi Daredevils v Rajasthan Royals (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria)
April 29: Mumbai Indians v Kings XI Punjab (Kingsmead, Durban); Kolkata Knight Riders v Royal Challengers (Kingsmead, Durban)
April 30: Delhi Daredevils v Deccan Chargers (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria); Rajasthan Royals v Chennai Super Kings (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria)
May 1: Royal Challengers v Kings XI Punjab (Buffalo Park, East London); Mumbai Indians v Kolkata Knight Riders (Kingsmead, Durban)
May 2: Rajasthan Royals v Deccan Chargers (Wanderers, Johannesburg); Chennai Super Kings v Delhi Daredevils (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)
May 3: Mumbai Indians v Royal Challengers (Kingsmead, Durban); Kings XI Punjab v Kolkata Knight Riders (Buffalo Park, East London)
May 4: Deccan Chargers v Chennai Super Kings (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)
May 5: Delhi Daredevils v Kolkata Knight Riders (Kingsmead, Durban); Kings XI Punjab v Rajasthan Royals (Kingsmead, Durban)
May 6: Mumbai Indians v Deccan Chargers (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria)
May 7: Kings XI Punjab v Chennai Super Kings (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria); Royal Challengers v Rajasthan Royals (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria)
May 8: Delhi Daredevils v Mumbai Indians (Buffalo Park, East London)
May 9: Deccan Chargers v Kings XI Punjab (Outsurance Park, Bloemfontein); Chennai Super Kings v Rajasthan Royals (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)
May 10: Kolkata Knight Riders v Delhi Daredevils (Buffalo Park, East London); Royal Challengers v Mumbai Indians (Wanderers, Johannesburg)
May 11: Deccan Chargers vs Rajasthan Royals (Outsurance Park, Bloemfontein)
May 12: Royal Challengers vs Kolkata Knight Riders (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria); Kings XI Punjab v Mumbai Indians (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria)
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