IPL Countdown Begins

The countdown to the biggest extravaganza cricket has ever known starts now. The fixtures are advertised, the teams are assembled, the prize money's ready ($3m), the adverts are airing, the public are salivating. Only the bowlers - who face a regular pummelling in the power-orientated twenty20 format - are viewing it with slightly less than total enthusiasm.
In an extensive interview to the Kolkata-based Anand Bazaar Patrika, Shah Rukh Khan , who owns the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise, said he is "quite disappointed" at the poor audience response.
The first day, when I heard this, I was really surprised that only 237 tickets had been sold at the counter," Khan told the Kolkata paper. "I am truly finding it difficult to accept this. I have never, till date, requested my fans to go and see my films. Never ever done it. I am a bit surprised as to why, despite keeping the ticket prices low, people are not showing any interest."
Khan said he is "very tired" by the IPL experience. "I never thought so many problems would crop up when I bought the Knight Riders. I was not prepared for these circumstances. A rosy picture, removed from reality, was painted to me," he said.
One element in that rosy picture was that the franchise owners would be allowed to stage various forms of entertainment at the venues, in order to woo the fans. Apparently even that has run into trouble-- apparently the Kolkata government, unlike governments of states hosting other franchises-- has refused to provide tax exemption.
The Indian Premier League organisers may have announced that all outstanding issues have been resolved, but is it actually so?
While newspapers may be delighted that restrictions imposed on them have been lifted, websites have been left in the cold, and it seems no issue at all for IPL chairman Lalit Modi and the BCCI.
The deadlock over the IPL's media coverage ended on Monday following a meeting between the organizers of the Twenty20 tournament and editors from leading newspapers in Mumbai. While the print media got relief on the use of images and the number of reporters and photographers who will be granted accreditation to cover matches in the tournament, websites like Rediff.com and Cricinfo were cold-shouldered.
Adding insult to injury, the IPL has decreed that websites can cover pre-match and post-match press conferences, but their reporters and photographers will not be allowed into the press box when the actual matches are on.
Further, websites are not allowed to upload any pictures of the tournament, and news agencies have been banned from selling pictures to websites.
Climbing down from its earlier stand that newspapers would not be allowed to put up pictures on their websites, the IPL has conceded that newspaper websites can upload six different pictures on their portals, in addition to the pictures have been published in their print edition. They have also been allowed a maximum of two reporters and photographers for each game.
FIFA tried imposing similar restrictions on photo coverage of the 2006 World Cup; however, it had to back down after it faced a threat of a worldwide boycott.
In September last year organisers of the Rugby World Cup tried a similar stunt but had to bow down. Interestingly, then the photographers turned up for a commercial photo shoot and just took pictures of the grass as a protest.
In November last year, the global news agencies boycotted the coverage of the first Test between Sri Lanka and Australia, thereby leading to virtually no coverage of the match in Brisbane after similar restrictions were imposed by Cricket Australia. The Australian Cricket Board finally had to bow down, thereby ensuring that the second Test match was covered.
As the final countdown begins for the megabucks league, set for an April 18 launch, the home truths are that the Australians and New Zealanders will only make a two-week appearance in the 44-day extravaganza.
"We had known about it and the franchise holders had also taken cognizance of it. Hence, somebody like the Australian captain Ricky Ponting has got much less than some of the Indians whose availability is ensured," Rajiv Shukla, a vice-president of Boa
rd of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and a member of the IPL's organising committee, told Gulf News.
While there are at least two big Australian names among the highest paid stars Andrew Symonds ($1.35 million) and Brett Lee ($900,000), the franchise holders would save huge sums of money on them by paying according to the number of matches played.
Symonds and his Test colleagues - Ponting, Hayden, Michael Hussey, Simon Katich and Brett Lee - will have to fly back home by May 1 for a training camp ahead of the West Indies tour. This makes them available for only four of their respective teams' 14 league matches each - hitting their fees badly.
Five New Zealanders - captain Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum, Jacob Oram, Ross Taylor and Kyle Mills - are lucky that they are playing even four matches.
Ever since the Indian Premier League was launched, it has been touted as a "prime time family entertainment product". And the captain of the Mumbai franchise, Sachin Tendulkar, said as much while launching the team titled 'Mumbai Indians' on Saturday. "The IPL will be a good option for a family outing without the kids bunking school," a beaming Tendulkar said after the unveiling of the team title and the logo � artwork based on the Sudarshan Chakra.
He said he had no doubt about the event's success. "I am sure it will be a super hit," he said. "Just like people talk about the one-day cricket innovation in the '70s, thirty years down the line, I would proudly say 'I was a part of the inaugural IPL season'."
Tendulkar being Tendulkar, the questions were fast and furious. Asked whether the huge money at stake would adversely affect young cricketers, he said he didn't see why. "All these players have worked very hard for it. They have made a lot of sacrifices to reach this position. And everyone strives to bring security to himself and his family. I don't see any reason why they shouldn't earn money as long as they focus on cricket."
Incidentally, if you're wondering about the name 'Mumbai Indians', it's because RIL wanted a name with "a strong emotional connect with India and overseas Indians" and one with an "element of surprise", according to R Balachandran, the company's product head. "And more importantly, with due respect to other franchises, we didn't want to sound like a football or basketball club team."
Well, perhaps, but then RIL possibly hasn't heard of the Cleveland Indians, one of Major League Baseball's oldest teams.
Wasim Akram, former Pakistan bowling great, has warned that the Indian Premier League (IPL) could seriously damage international cricket if the game's governing body fails to intervene.
The lucrative IPL, which starts from Thursday, has already stirred controversy with high profile players willing to retire to feature in the multi-million dollar tournament.
"I fear the IPL can be a serious distraction and destruction if the International Cricket Council (ICC) doesn't intervene because it involves huge money and players are ready to abandon international cricket," Akram told .
Ashley Noffke will warm up for his Test tour of West Indies with a brief stint in the Indian Premier League (IPL) after Bangalore picked him to replace the injured Nathan Bracken. Noffke leaves for India on Tuesday but must be back in Brisbane in early May for Australia's training camp ahead of the Caribbean series.
Noffke did not originally nominate for either of the IPL auctions and intended to stay focused on his push for international honours. But after he was confirmed for the West Indies trip and named in Cricket Australia's 25-man squad of contracted players for 2008-09, Noffke decided a short Twenty20 spell could be beneficial.
"It's a pretty exciting proposition to go up against so many good players," Noffke said. "I'm taking the view that it will be good for my development as a player as well as a chance to get some bowling under my belt ahead of the Windies tour."
Noffke's last-minute dash to India means he will be available for Bangalore's opening clash against Kolkata on Friday. If selected, that could pit Noffke against the Australia captain Ricky Ponting as well as the newly-contracted David Hussey.
He will also be free to play three more IPL games before heading home for the training camp. Bracken, who is still recovering after having knee surgery in March, will be assessed prior to the ODI tour of West Indies to determine whether he can take part.
The Rajasthan Royals teams gearing up for its first match against the Delhi Daredevils team on Saturday .The team played a practice match on Monday morning here to allow its captain and coach Shane Warne, to assess the team's performance.The players of the team were more than excited to get trained by Shane Warne."This is a warm up match. Shane Warne wants to assess the performance of the players of the team. A lot of junior players are in the team who have not played with him or even played international matches. Shane Warne wants to see who is capable of doing what," said Ananth Vyas, Media Co-ordinator, Rajasthan Royals team.Apart from Shane Warne, the players of the team include Mohammed Kaif, Yusuf Pathan, Niraj Patel, Siddharth Trivedi, Ravindra Jadeja, Swapnil Asnodkar, Taruwar Kohli, Jaydev Shah, Sumeet Khatri, Parag More, Mahesh Rawat, Pankaj Singh and Dinesh Salunkhe.