Indian Premier League title-winning Rajasthan Royals skipper Shane Warne might have offered his services to mentor the country’s spin bowlers but the Cricket Board feels it’s too early to give a thought to the leg spin legend’s proposal.

“It’s too early to even think about this when we are yet to come out of the hangover of IPL,” said BCCI sources when approached for their reaction to Warne’s line of thinking.

On Saturday, the day after brushing aside the challenge of Delhi Daredevils, Warne told mediapersons here that he would like to return to India to guide the emerging and young slow bowlers.
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Pune (PTI): BCCI president Sharad Pawar on Thursday said the Cricket Board has nothing to do with the cheerleaders, who have earned their fair share of attention and criticism in the ongoing Indian Premier League.

“The girls have been brought by the franchisees and BCCI is in no way concerned with the whole exercise,” he said when reporters drew his attention to the controversy surrounding the presence of scantily-clad cheerleaders at the IPL venues.
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The Pakistan Cricket Board has upheld its five-year ban imposed on fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar.

Aftab Farukh, the judge heading a three-member appellate panel on Monday said, “Basically he has not tried to reform himself and has continued to violate discipline. That is the view of the tribunal so the ban stays.”

“We will not suspend five-year ban order on Shoaib.

“Shoaib has harmed the board, fans and the entire country,” he added.
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Now that he has shaken hands and accepted his fate, Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh will be hoping that over the next month or so he can stay away from the arclights and introspect.

But the offie will have no such luxury for a combative BCCI is in no mood to allow Harbhajan to escape with just an 11-match IPL ban.

BCCI President Sharad Pawar says, “Separate decisions need to be taken for IPL and Team India.”
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Exclusive Ten-year Partnership with IPL and BCCI Represents First Steps Toward Bringing Global Cricket Fans Closer to the Game Through In-Depth, Interactive Experiences

MUMBAI, INDIA and VANCOUVER, BC – April 17, 2008 – Communicate.com Inc. dba Live Current Media Inc. (OTCBB: CMNN), a media company built around content and commerce destinations, announced that it will launch IPLT20.com tomorrow as the official site for the DLF Indian Premier League. As outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), Live Current will become the exclusive online provider of content from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the DLF Indian Premier League. This signifies the first cricket-related content and distribution relationship by Live Current as the Company plans to build and launch its Cricket.com asset as the future cricket DestinationHub™ for cricket fans globally.
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LONDON: Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Lalit Modi says he wants to enter into a partnership with an English premier league in order to enable star England players to compete in the Indian championship.

“Our players are contracted only to the IPL, but as long as an English premier league was not played at the same time as ours, then I see no problem with partnership. I think it’s a good idea,” he said in an interview on Sunday.
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Controversial fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar’s chances of playing in the lucrative Indian Premier League seemed to be receding with the tribunal to hear his appeal against five-year ban not likely to decide on the matter soon.

Given the busy schedule of the chairman of the appellate tribunal Aftab Farrukh, retired judge of Lahore High Court and now a practicing barrister, it is unlikely that the case will be decided in a hurry.
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With mounting pressure form the Editors Guild of India, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will dilute its earlier media accreditation guidelines for covering matches of the Indian Premier League (IPL), beginning April 18.

Under the new guidelines likely to be issued soon, all photographers accredited to various news publications will no longer need to upload their pictures on the BCCI website.

However, BCCI will have the right to request publications for pictures and it is up to the editors to oblige, according to sources. The new guidelines may deny accreditation to cricket and trade portals, but allow them to attend the press briefing to be held a day prior to every match and after each match.
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The Board Of Control for Cricket in India’s increasingly tyrannical tendencies have extended to their accreditation conditions for the Indian Premier League (IPL) after they placed unprecedented demands on media organisations planning to cover the tournament.

Accreditation forms were posted online on Wednesday night with a deadline of April 8, giving media groups just five days to agree to their strict guidelines and apply for relevant matches.

The conditions dictate that the IPL may use all images taken at the grounds for free and without restrictions, and media organisations must commit themselves to uploading the pictures within 24 hours.
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Panchkula, Haryana, April 5: In light of the restrictions imposed on media organisations by the Indian Premier League, former captain Kapil Dev has hinted that the press should not cover BCCI’s multi-million dollar venture if the IPL does not lift the curbs.

“If they (IPL) don’t want, don’t cover it,” Kapil said on Friday night on the sidelines of the first final of the Indian Cricket League’s Twenty20 tournament between Lahore Badshahs and Hyderabad Heroes.

Kapil’s comments came when mediapersons asked him about accreditation norms put forward by IPL authorities, though he went on to add that it was ‘unfair’ for him to give a ‘judgement for somebody else’.

“As a cricketer, I wish them luck,” said Kapil, the Chairman of the ICL’s Executive Board.

He hit out at the BCCI for allegedly bending rules when it ‘suits them’.

Kapil said many players in the Indian Test side, flouting the board’s own rules, were busy attending various launches in connection with the IPL, which starts its first Twenty20 championship later this month.

Another senior ICL functionary, Kiran More said the Indians looked jaded in the Ahmedabad Test.

“How many turned up for the net practice session tells the story. The players were already too tired by attending the launches,” More claimed.

April 05, 2008 at 03:01:02

Source: expressindia.com