Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Nasim Ashraf has said that the board will defend its decision to ban cricketers who joined Indian Cricket League (ICL) after two discarded Test players announced they would go to the court to challenge the ban.

Ashraf said that the PCB is ready to face a court battle with group players, which has threatened to sue the board after being barred from playing in first-class tournaments at home.

“We are against any confrontation with the players but if they want to go to court then we will fully defend our decision there,” he said.
Read the rest of this entry »

Mumbai (PTI): The Cricket Board on Monday said it was not interested in reacting to a statement issued by former captain Kapil Dev that the BCCI-promoted Indian Premier League (IPL) would sound a death-knell for domestic tournaments like the Ranji and Deodhar trophies.

“We don’t want to react to what he has said,” BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah told PTI, but some other board sources questioned how the driving force behind Essel Group-promoted rebel cricket league ICL can point fingers at the IPL.

“We want to know how Kapil Dev’s ICL is not spoiling domestic cricket and the IPL would do so. It’s totally an illogical statement. He’s a frustrated man,” they said when asked for their reaction.

The reaction was to Kapil’s statement to PTI on Sunday.

“Now that BCCI have sold the eight teams, it is to be seen as to what will happen to states and institutions affiliated to it,” Kapil had said.
Read the rest of this entry »

Fast bowler Shane Bond has been ruled out of the Black Caps series against England.

New Zealand cricket ended weeks of speculation today, announcing the termination of his contract because of Bond’s desire to play in the lucrative rebel Indian 20/20 league, ICL.

“I’ve gone through the same process as those looking to do the IPL or county contracts and it was my understanding at the time that I could do both but circumstances changed that meant I couldn’t,” says Bond.
Read the rest of this entry »

MUMBAI: Anshu Jain, Deutsche Bank’s global markets head, is understood to have put in a bid for one of the eight teams of Indian Premier League. Mr Jain is widely tipped to be the next Deutsche Bank CEO and has been described by some British papers as a ‘cricket nut’. He is the captain of the Desutche Bank Cricket Team and also the head of Deutsche’s most profitable division. In other words, not only does he have the money but the cricketing credentials as well.
Read the rest of this entry »

MUMBAI: Now that the dust has settled over the bids for Indian Premier League team franchises, the winners will now have their work cut out to figure out how to actually make money from the property. Opinion is, of course, sharply divided among the bidders — depending on which side of the fence they ended up on — whether there’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

For instance, Reliance Industries, which won the franchise rights for the prized Mumbai team, is clear about its intent. “We are looking for a self-sustaining model. For us, this is a serious business proposition,” said a senior official at Reliance, on condition of anonymity.

Unlike Kingfisher, which is likely to plaster its logo on shirts, bats, trousers, gloves and pads, Reliance is yet to decide whether it makes sense to associate its brand name with IPL — or sell it to the highest bidder. Already, the official says that a host of specialist sports marketing firms have been calling to offer their services. “We need to examine the revenue potential to see what makes more sense,” he said.
Read the rest of this entry »

When Shane Bond was invalided home - yet again - with an abdominal strain in November he accepted the test component of his cricket career was over.

What New Zealand’s leading fast bowler did not appreciate as he returned prematurely from South Africa was his international future was also in jeopardy after joining the Indian Cricket League (ICL), the rebel Twenty20 circus outlawed by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Bond, who yesterday closed a murky chapter in New Zealand cricket history by terminating his NZC contract by mutual consent, insists when he signed with the unsanctioned ICL last October he thought he was also able to continue playing one-day and Twenty20 cricket for the Black Caps. ZC agreed, giving him permission to sign a lucrative three-year deal worth a reputed $1 million per season, but once the ICC got wind of Bond’s intentions they reminded member nations of a clause forbidding the release of players for rebel competitions.
Read the rest of this entry »

MUMBAI: Seeking to cash in on the cricket craze in India, corporate bigwigs, including Mukesh Ambani and Vijay Mallya, and celluloid stars Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta won sponsorship for high profile teams for the upcoming Indian Premier League.

In the process, IPL is richer by a whopping about Rs 3,000 crore or USD 724 million even before it launches its Twenty20 tournament in April that would feature the most prominent cricket stars across the globe, including Aussies captain Ricky Ponting and India’s M S Dhoni, who are out to battle in the tri-series next month.

India’s wealthiest corporate house Reliance Industries promoter Mukesh Ambani was the top bidder with an offering of USD 111.9 million or over Rs 440 crore to bag Mumbai team defeating liquor giant Vijay Mallya, who won the Bangalore team for just three lakh dollars less.
Read the rest of this entry »

Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies could be painting the sports scene red in time. The company is in the midst of working out plans for the Indian Premier League (IPL) Kolkata team and should be crystallising them in the next two to three days.

This covers the team’s composition and the player who will be in the driver’s seat. Sourav Ganguly is obviously tipped to slip into the captain’s shoes. Interestingly, as things stand, Red Chillies could be venturing into other sporting fields in time, which includes spheres like soccer and hockey.

“We are now in the process of thrashing out the plans and arriving at concrete details. In the next two to three days, things should take shape, when aspects like team composition and captaincy would become clearer. It’s too early to spell out these features at the moment. Of course, Shah Rukh is very excited about winning the bid for the Kolkata Team and is planning quite a few things with it,” Bobby Chawla, SRK’s production chief, told ET. Mr Chawla said SRK had gunned for this bid because “he is extremely passionate about sports”.
Read the rest of this entry »

Lachlan Murdoch has emerged as the mystery figure behind a successful $67 million bid for one of the eight Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket franchises.

He has beaten a long list of celebrity bidders to emerge as the mystery buyer of an Indian Premier League cricket franchise.

Murdoch teamed with the London firm Emerging Media to buy the Jaipur franchise in the Twenty20 Premier League.

Earlier, he had announced his intention to privatise Consolidated Media Holdings in partnership with James Packer.

The $67 million purchase price was the lowest of all the franchises.
Read the rest of this entry »

Adam Gilchrist’s retirement from international cricket will be short-lived after he confirmed he would appear in the Indian Premier League in India during April. Gilchrist will step down from Australian duties in March, but will be back in action for the lucrative Twenty20 series.

“I’m signed up like most of our players have,” he said. “I see that as an amazing entertainment package.”

Eleven players contracted to Cricket Australia have IPL deals, but the Test team is due to be in Pakistan when the tournament begins. The crowded schedule no longer bothers Gilchrist and he will be free to take part alongside Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, his fellow retirees.
Read the rest of this entry »