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IPL: A New Dawn?
Teh Indian Premier League got kicked off today:
[q=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/7352278.stm]IPL launched with exotic ceremony
The Indian Premier League, with its potential to transform world cricket, began on Friday with a spectacular floodlit match in Bangalore.
Acrobats and Bollywood stars took part in a lavish opening ceremony featuring fireworks and cheerleaders. The match was officially a 55,000 sell-out.
The first contest featured teams led by Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, both former captains of India.
The Kolkata Knight Riders were batting with gold pads and gold helmets.
Two hours before the match was due to start, music was pumping out of giant speakers at the M Chinaswammy Stadium.
Long queues gathered outside, though most of the stands were already full.
Fans cheered as the eight captains, all smartly dressed in suits, were introduced.
Board of Control for Cricket in India chairman Sharad Pawar said: "This is a historic day for world cricket.
"The world is watching what is happening in Bangalore.
"In 44 days, 123 Indian players and 73 overseas players are going to play 59 matches in eight different places.
"I am confident there is an opportunity for the world's senior players to teach the new young players which will build a strong future team for India."
Acting International Cricket Council president Ray Mali thanked the Bangalore organisers and said cricket "was being taken to the next level".
IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, vice-president of the BCCI, said: "We will be treated to some of the most exciting sport this country has ever seen.
"There has never been a more talked about sports event in India and the eyes of the world are on us."
The contests between eight teams will feature nearly all of the top names in the game. And they will be closely watched in England, the birthplace of Twenty20 cricket.
The ECB is in talks with an American billionaire to set up its own version of the IPL, but on Friday the attention is squarely on India.
The match between Dravid's Bangalore Royal Challengers, and Ganguly's Knight Readers sets the six-week tournament in motion.
With the final in Mumbai on 1 June, fans should see some mouthwatering cricket with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai), Ricky Ponting (Kolkata) and Matthew Hayden (Chennai) facing the bowling of Brett Lee (Punjab), Shane Warne (Rajasthan) and Glenn McGrath (Delhi).
The stars will get around £100,000 a week during the tournament, putting them on similar pay to the world's top footballers, albeit for a limited period.
But the BBC's Rahul Tandon said the rushed build-up to the matches had created a sense of confusion for Indian fans.
He said: "The organisers wanted to do this quickly in response to the Indian Cricket League but they are not completely ready for it.
"It's hard to pick up merchandise - I didn't see one person in Kolkata with a Knight Rider shirt."
However, there are enough cricket fans desperate for tickets. Angry scuffles broke out in the build-up to the opening match in Bangalore when fans wanting tickets were turned away.
The airline and brewery tycoon Vijay Mallya has enlisted the services of the Washington Redskins cheerleaders to add some glamour to his Bangalore team.
They were the main attraction on Thursday for many of the journalists covering the build-up to the inaugural match.
And there have also been reports that Mallya is keeping a staggering 40% of the tickets for Friday's first match to give to his private business associates - that may explain why it's sold out.
It will certainly be a new experience for the fans.
BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew said: "The success or failure of the IPL lies with the Indian supporters who are fanatical about cricket but only until now about the national team.
"If a supporter of the Punjab franchise celebrates wildly when Lee shatters Tendulkar's stumps in Mumbai for a duck then the IPL will have broken new territory."
One dampener is that there are some notable absentees for the first few matches.
Star names Tendulkar, Anil Kumble and Nathan Bracken are injured and out of the opening exchanges.
The most exciting fast bowler around, South Africa's Dale Steyn, is playing domestic cricket for the Titans back home and will also miss the start.
Meanwhile, England's only representative, Dimitri Mascarenhas, will only be released from Hampshire duty for a fortnight some time in May.
The IPL may be a vivid symbol of the new wealth in India.
But one team owner, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, has admitted to having "sleepless nights" about how the League might pan out.
Another aggrieved party is the editor of the Cricinfo website, Sambit Bal.
His journalists have been barred from entering the press box, and agencies will not be able to sell them match pictures.
Bal wrote in an editorial: "The IPL's outrageous regulations are a brazen assault on the concept of freedom of the press by a sports body apparently drunk on its sense of power."
The Federation of International Cricketers' Associations also has concerns of a different nature.
It has begun investigating how many players have not received their initial IPL fees and has warned if the problem is widespread they could walk away from their contracts.
David Hussey, who sold for US$625,000 in February, is one of the Australians who has not received the 15% payment for their auction price, which was reportedly due on 1 April.
"It's been an absolute nightmare in terms of the paperwork required to get the players there," Hussey's manager Rick Olarenshaw told The Age.[/q]
GO BANGALORE!!!!11
[q=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/7352278.stm]IPL launched with exotic ceremony
The Indian Premier League, with its potential to transform world cricket, began on Friday with a spectacular floodlit match in Bangalore.
Acrobats and Bollywood stars took part in a lavish opening ceremony featuring fireworks and cheerleaders. The match was officially a 55,000 sell-out.
The first contest featured teams led by Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, both former captains of India.
The Kolkata Knight Riders were batting with gold pads and gold helmets.
If a supporter of the Punjab franchise celebrates wildly when Lee shatters Tendulkar's stumps in Mumbai for a duck then the IPL will have broken new territory
BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew
BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew
Two hours before the match was due to start, music was pumping out of giant speakers at the M Chinaswammy Stadium.
Long queues gathered outside, though most of the stands were already full.
Fans cheered as the eight captains, all smartly dressed in suits, were introduced.
Board of Control for Cricket in India chairman Sharad Pawar said: "This is a historic day for world cricket.
"The world is watching what is happening in Bangalore.
"In 44 days, 123 Indian players and 73 overseas players are going to play 59 matches in eight different places.
"I am confident there is an opportunity for the world's senior players to teach the new young players which will build a strong future team for India."
Acting International Cricket Council president Ray Mali thanked the Bangalore organisers and said cricket "was being taken to the next level".
IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, vice-president of the BCCI, said: "We will be treated to some of the most exciting sport this country has ever seen.
"There has never been a more talked about sports event in India and the eyes of the world are on us."
The contests between eight teams will feature nearly all of the top names in the game. And they will be closely watched in England, the birthplace of Twenty20 cricket.
The ECB is in talks with an American billionaire to set up its own version of the IPL, but on Friday the attention is squarely on India.
The match between Dravid's Bangalore Royal Challengers, and Ganguly's Knight Readers sets the six-week tournament in motion.
With the final in Mumbai on 1 June, fans should see some mouthwatering cricket with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai), Ricky Ponting (Kolkata) and Matthew Hayden (Chennai) facing the bowling of Brett Lee (Punjab), Shane Warne (Rajasthan) and Glenn McGrath (Delhi).
The stars will get around £100,000 a week during the tournament, putting them on similar pay to the world's top footballers, albeit for a limited period.
But the BBC's Rahul Tandon said the rushed build-up to the matches had created a sense of confusion for Indian fans.
He said: "The organisers wanted to do this quickly in response to the Indian Cricket League but they are not completely ready for it.
"It's hard to pick up merchandise - I didn't see one person in Kolkata with a Knight Rider shirt."
However, there are enough cricket fans desperate for tickets. Angry scuffles broke out in the build-up to the opening match in Bangalore when fans wanting tickets were turned away.
The airline and brewery tycoon Vijay Mallya has enlisted the services of the Washington Redskins cheerleaders to add some glamour to his Bangalore team.
They were the main attraction on Thursday for many of the journalists covering the build-up to the inaugural match.
And there have also been reports that Mallya is keeping a staggering 40% of the tickets for Friday's first match to give to his private business associates - that may explain why it's sold out.
It will certainly be a new experience for the fans.
BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew said: "The success or failure of the IPL lies with the Indian supporters who are fanatical about cricket but only until now about the national team.
"If a supporter of the Punjab franchise celebrates wildly when Lee shatters Tendulkar's stumps in Mumbai for a duck then the IPL will have broken new territory."
One dampener is that there are some notable absentees for the first few matches.
Star names Tendulkar, Anil Kumble and Nathan Bracken are injured and out of the opening exchanges.
The most exciting fast bowler around, South Africa's Dale Steyn, is playing domestic cricket for the Titans back home and will also miss the start.
Meanwhile, England's only representative, Dimitri Mascarenhas, will only be released from Hampshire duty for a fortnight some time in May.
The IPL may be a vivid symbol of the new wealth in India.
But one team owner, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, has admitted to having "sleepless nights" about how the League might pan out.
Another aggrieved party is the editor of the Cricinfo website, Sambit Bal.
His journalists have been barred from entering the press box, and agencies will not be able to sell them match pictures.
Bal wrote in an editorial: "The IPL's outrageous regulations are a brazen assault on the concept of freedom of the press by a sports body apparently drunk on its sense of power."
The Federation of International Cricketers' Associations also has concerns of a different nature.
It has begun investigating how many players have not received their initial IPL fees and has warned if the problem is widespread they could walk away from their contracts.
David Hussey, who sold for US$625,000 in February, is one of the Australians who has not received the 15% payment for their auction price, which was reportedly due on 1 April.
"It's been an absolute nightmare in terms of the paperwork required to get the players there," Hussey's manager Rick Olarenshaw told The Age.[/q]
GO BANGALORE!!!!11
~RS~a~RS~International~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~03~RS~)
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