A Miserable Start to IPL 2009 Twenty20

(This entry was originally published on Saturday, April 18th, 2009)

IPL 2009 twenty20 tournament got off to a miserable start today (18 April 2009), despite having lots of hopes and expectations among the cricket fans regarding the second season of IPL. Well, there are still 58 days remaining in the 59-day cricket tournament, but the way IPL has started does not seem the second season will replicate the success of the league’s inaugural season last year. First of all, IPL gave the cricket world a bit of shock when it was revealed that there would not be any opening ceremony and Indian media was totally in the dark about IPL opening ceremony. Well, this is an off field issue, so let us go back to the on-field issues.

Over the last few days, it was reportedly again and again that South African cricket fans are very much excited about IPL 2009 and the first day matches will all be sold out. However, today the reality was something different. I got to know that the day match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians saw little crowd in the Newlands stadium of Cape Town which can occupy only 25,000 fans. Though the evening match was better in terms of crowd presence, but it did not, of course, reveal any sign of a sold-out match. There could be two reasons behind it. May be, people bought the tickets, but did not come to the stadium for any mysterious reason, or IPL revealed fake reports regarding ticket selling with a view to catching the attraction of cricket fans in India as well as in South Africa.

Generally, South African wickets favor the bowlers, specially pace bowlers. So, IPL 2009 twenty20 matches may not be as attractive as the 2008 matches, because most of the matches could be low scoring. For example, if you look the two matches of the first day, you can see the bowlers dominated in both the matches and were instrumental behind the winning teams. You do not need to be an analyst to understand that cricket fans generally do not like low scoring matches, and the main attraction of twenty20 format of the game is big hits which could be missing largely during IPL 2009 tournament due to the South African wickets. Wickets in South Africa contain lots of moisture and thus, assist the bowlers to swing the ball. You can also see that both of the first day matches were low scoring.

Moreover, there is another thing which was missing today was the excitement among the cricket fans who were present in the stadium. Cricket fans in Newlands cricket ground seemed they were in picnic mood, and there were no sign of ‘emotional attachment’ among the local cricket fans cricket fans. Here, it is natural that a cricket fan from Cape Town would not have the same felling and emotional attachment for Bangalore Royal Challengers which could be present in someone from Bangalore. Local cricket fans today just came and spent a nice weekend, and thus, showing no feeling of being delighted at boundaries or over-boundaries or fall of wicket. IPL chairman Lalit Modi was earlier delight to announce that about 4000 cricket fans from India would visit South Africa to enjoy IPL 2009 tournament. My question is that if the presence of 4000 Indian fans is enough to make the tournament a success story when there is no interest among the local fans?

A few days back, IPL chairman Lalit Modi said that FIFA should learn from IPL when it comes to event hosting. Modi seemed to have claimed self-acclaim while stating that FIFA should learn from IPL how to organize a world class tournament in a short notice. Here, I would like to ask Mr. Modi that if a world class sporting event could be possible without an opening ceremony? I hope, Mr. Modi was not suggesting FIFA to feature no opening ceremony for world cup football from now on! Here, I would like to mention that ICL, which BCCI disapproves, did always stage an opening ceremony at the start of the season. Overall, I am not very much optimistic about the success of IPL 2009; in fact, the way IPL 2009 has got underway is forcing me to remain pessimistic regarding IPL 2009 twenty20 tournament.

IPL 2009 Twenty20 Opening Ceremony: Detailed Information

(This entry was originally published on Friday, April 17th, 2009)

The much-awaited Indian Premier League (IPL) 2009 twenty20 tournament kicks off on 17 April 2009 with a colorful opening ceremony to be held at Newlands, Cape Town. The attractive opening ceremony will be held after the two matches being taken place on Saturday. In the first match, Chennai Super Kings will take on Mumbai Indians, followed by the second match between Bangalore Royal Challengers and Rajasthan Royals. Eight teams will be involved in the 36-day cricket extravaganza. IPL 2009 is the second season of the league after its highly successful inaugural tournament held in India last year. I was a bit puzzled about the exact date and timing of the opening ceremony with some sources saying the opening ceremony will take place on 17 April. However, at last, I got to know that it will take place on 18 April after the two scheduled matches.

The Times reported:

On Saturday evening, after the two opening matches, fans will be treated to what looks to be an entertaining opening ceremony, which will include fireworks, acrobats, fire dancers and the rock group Snow Patrol, famous for hits such as Chasing Cars, Run and Signal Fire.

IPL 2009 was supposed to take place in India, but the tournament was shifted to South Africa last month after Indian government had informed IPL about their inability to provide adequate security to the tournament as there would be general election in the country at the same time.

Event: IPL 2009 Twenty20 Opening Ceremony

Date: 18 April 2009, Saturday

Venue: Newlands, Cape Town

Live TV: Sony SET Max

Gala Parade on Thursday in Cape Town

Well, South Africa being the new host now seems to be well-prepared to organize the 59-match IPL T20 2009 tournament. On Thursday (16 April), a huge parade involving more than 150 cricketers from around the world as well as the bollywood stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty were held on Cape Town streets. Players of eight teams were riding on eight separate open-roof busses, while another bus was allocated for IPL. Amidst the performance of Indian dancers and local brass bands, the parade created lots of attraction and excitement among the local people of Cape Town. In fact, there were lots of people lining up on the street to experience the parade which featured some of world’s biggest cricket stars alongside some of the Indian movie stars who have world wide fan following.

The Grand Opening Ceremony of IPL 2009 T20

You might think that IPL 2009 twenty20 tournament would not be able to feature an attractive opening ceremony because the tournament was relocated to South Africa just three weeks ago. Yes, I agree that staging a grand opening ceremony on such a short time notice is very tough, but IPL organizers have taken it as a challenge to present the cricket fans with a gala show during the opening ceremony of IPL 2009.

To be honest, I did not find enough information regarding the details of IPL 2009 opening ceremony. I do not know why IPL officials did not revel much on the opening ceremony of the second edition of IPL. May be, they want to give a big surprise to the cricket fans, but I think, it would have been better for the tournament if they informed the cricket fans regarding the activities of the IPL 2009 opening ceremony. Actually, I got shocked to see that there was not enough information about the timing of the opening ceremony in the official website of Indian Premier League (IPL).

As far as I came to know, IPL 2009 opening ceremony will feature some attractive shows and performances by Indian as well as foreign performers. First of all, all of the 8 IPL teams along with flag artists will enter into the Newlands stadium in Cape Town amidst huge amount of applause and performance by Indian and African Dejembe drummers. Performance of the drummers will definitely touch the hearts of millions of Indians across the world. Local Zulu dancers in their traditional cloths will perform their traditional dances.

Indiantelevision reported:

A Pantsula dance performance by the Gum Boot Dancers, renowned international band Snow Patrol, a colourful swarm of “butterfly dancers” swaying and fluttering to music, acrobatic performances, a high power laser show, sky tracers, fire dancers and lots more form a part of the breathtaking Opening Ceremony of the biggest television event.

Moreover, there will be a glittering acrobatic show by the professional performers which will entertain the cricket fans to the fullest. Then there will be eye-catching fireworks by the fire dancers. Besides the Bollywood stars like Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty, who all are IPL franchise owners, some of the Hollywood stars will also be present at the opening ceremony of IPL 2009 twenty20 tournament. No doubt, the presence of Bollywood and Hollywood stars will glitz and glamour to the opening ceremony. Overall, IPL 2009 opening ceremony seems to be a glittering combination of top level performances by the high level professionals and the presence of Bollywood and Hollywood super stars.

IPL Comes up with 15-minute Time Out in Every Twenty20 Match

(This entry was originally published on Thursday, April 16th, 2009)

Indian Premier League (IPL) has decided to have 15 minutes extra time during each and every matches of upcoming IPL Twenty20 2009 tournament, starting from 18 April in South Africa. Generally, twenty20 matches last for 3 hours, but the IPL 2009 twenty20 matches will take 3 hours and 15 minutes in which the extra 15 minutes have been termed as ‘time out’ by IPL.

Well, these 15 minutes will not feature any cricketing action. In fact, the reason behind the introduction of these 15 minutes is nothing but commercial. There will be two time-outs with each spanning 7 minutes and 30 seconds at the end of the first 10 overs of both innings during a match. During the 7 and half minute ‘time out,’ spectators in the stadium will enjoy the live performance of a band, while the TV audience will enjoy 3 separate segments with each of the segments spanning 2 and half minutes.

The first segment is totally allocated for TV commercials, while the second segment will feature special projects in which there will be a series of short films produced by Queen Rania of Jordan on African Children, focusing on the significance of education among African children. In the third segment, you can see players taking drinks and talking about team tactics.

No doubt, IPL is looking for more and more money through this swashbuckling tournament and IPL officials are not leaving any stone unturned to make the best out of this tournament. Well, this could be helpful for the organizers to make some quick cash-in, but it will affect the pace of the game, and thus, the momentum of the game will be lost.

Here, I want to say that IPL should allocate this 15-minute time out segment during the innings break. This will also allow the players to have more rest during break and cricket fans in the stadium will also be able to enjoy the live performance of the band to the fullest, without having anything in their mind regarding the condition of the match.

IPL 2009 T20 to be Held Outside of India

(This entry was originally published on Sunday, March 22nd, 2009)

Indian Premier League (IPL) second season will be relocated from India due to security concern and England and South Africa have emerged as the likely venue for IPL 2009. Member of BCCI working committee held a meeting on Sunday in order to discuss about the deadlock between BCCI and Indian government over the issue of providing security for IPL 2009 tournament. During the meeting, BCCI decided to organize the IPL second season outside India.

All the matches will be held as per the pre-scheduled fixture. The first game of a match day will kick off at 4:00 pm IST (Indian Standard Time), while the second game will take place at 8:00 pm IST. So, Indian cricket fans should not have any problem in enjoying the exciting Twenty20 matches of IPL 2009 on television. A decision on the alternate venue of the tournament would be taken within 2 to 3 days. Now, it seems that the decision taken by BCCI to organize the tournament outside of India would put pressure on Indian government.

Related article:

Cricinfo

IPL 2009 Twenty20 Live on Sony TV

(This entry was originally published on Saturday, March 21st, 2009)

Matches of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2009 will be telecast live on Sony television. Sony signed a 10-year contract with BCCI for IPL TV rights last year and earned a whopping Rs 350 crore by selling television ad during the tournament. As per the 10-year deal, Sony was supposed to broadcast IPL matches for this season too. However, BCCI recently initiated a new contract for the IPL television rights and BCCI even claimed that it had signed a contract with World Sports Group (WSG)-Mauritius. In reply, Sony took the matter to the Bombay High Court to prevent BCCI from making any new deal and the court granted Sony’s appeal.

Now, the recent news available in the media suggests that Multi Screen Media Pvt Ltd, the parent company of Sony TV, has managed to settle the matter with BCCI out of court with the broadcasters paying $1.026 billion to BCCI for a 10-year period. So, you can now watch the exciting matches of IPL 2009 live on Sony television channel.

Related article:

The Economic Times

IPL 2009 Not in England

(This entry was originally published on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009)

Lalit Modi is the commissioner of Indian Premier League (IPL) and he has categorically denounced reports that IPL 2009 could take place in England and India. He said that IPL was a domestic cricket tournament for India and it will be held only in the home country. There are some media speculations that IPL 2009 could take place in England and at first, some matches could take place in India and then three weeks of action in England. Now, Modi has denied the report. So you can be sure that it will be not be like this.

IPL 2009: Without Pakistani cricketers?

It seems that there could be no Pakistani cricket player in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2009. IPL 2009 is going to take place in April and May and in the last season there were lots of Pakistani players such as, Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi,

Kamran Akmal etc. Some of the players like Sohel Tanvir performed superbly. In fact, Sohail Tanvir was one of the key players who contributed in the championship of Rajasthan Royal in IPL 2008. Because of Mumbai terrorist attack, the relationship between India and Pakistan is now very sour.

Many people are thinking that there might be no Pakistani players playing in the Indian Premier League this season. The main reason for their suspicion is that India has cancelled the proposed tour to Pakistan because of security reasons and political tension. So, I will not be too much shocked if there is absence of any Pakistani player in IPL 2009. Ofcourse it is not a good thing for world cricket and political tension can create a lot of problem for IPL. However, it is a political matter and it depends on the politicians. So, there is nothing Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) or Indian Cricket League (ICL) organizers can do because ICL organizers are expecting the same thing that there would be no Pakistani team like Lahore Badshah in Indian Cricket League this season.

(This entry was originally published on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009)

Reasons that India Lost in T20 World Cup 2009

Performance of Indian cricket team in the recently concluded twenty20 world cup 2009 was disappointing and there is no doubt about it. Starting as a hot favorite, team India just failed to reach the semi final, having lost all three Super Eight matches. The interesting thing is that India was not among the favorites of 2007 twenty20 world cup, but Dhoni and his men still managed to lift the title. Obviously, there are some reasons behind India’s failure to live up to the expectations the fans in the second edition of twenty20 world cup:

1. First of all, almost all the Indian players were not at their very best physically. Due to tight schedule of IPL 2009, Indian players were suffering from fatigue. You might argue with me, but then just look at the Pakistani cricketers who did not take part in IPL 2009. Even Pakistani cricketers did not play many cricket matches over the last six months due to their tumultuous security condition in the country.

2. Another big reason behind India’s biggest strength is the failure of their top order batsmen against short ball, a traditional problem of Indian batsmen. Indian batsmen got some success in Australia and South Africa over the last five or six years, but their problem against short ball once again appeared during the twenty20 world cup 2009.

BCCI has become so much obsessed with its money-spinning IPL project that it has forgotten its duties for team India. I just hope that BCCI would now realize the time has come to make India’s traditionally flat wickets more sporting and bouncy in what would bring out some success in the long run.

3. Virender Sehwag’s absence is another big reason behind India’s demise in twenty20 world cup. Sehwag may not have a very good record in twenty20 cricket, but he is such a batsman who can change matches single-handedly. Naturally, his absence was naturally a big deal for team India.

4. There is no doubt, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni guided India to win the twenty20 world cup two years back, but the wicketkeeper batsman must take some responsibility of India’s failure in the recent tournament. Dhoni took some poor decisions which was later on proven lethal for Indian team.

For example, Dhoni hardly used Suresh Raina’s spin bowling, despite Raina’s excellent success with ball in IPL 2009 for Chennai Super Kings. Dhoni did not give Harbhajan Singh a second over in his first spell against West Indies, even though the spinner started with maiden over. In the same match, Dhoni did not give Irfan Pathan a third over, even though he conceded only 9 runs in his first two overs. These kinds of silly mistakes contributed to India’s failure in the tournament.

5. Poor fielding was also a reason which contributed to India’s disappointing performance in the tournament. I can still remember some of the BCCI officials complained about Sourav Ganguly’s fielding ability towards the end of his international career, and claimed that Indian team needed young players to improve the overall fielding. However, to everyone’s distress, the young Indian fielders were not impressive at all in the twenty20 world cup 2009, except an excellent catch by Yuvraj Singh against Bangladesh. Captain Dhoni missed some stamping chances. Moreover, India’s ground fielding was also very disappointing.

Kolkata Knight Riders, Shah Rukh Khan and Some Points

To be honest, I am not a big fan of Shah Rukh Khan and most of his films, though there is no doubt, he is now one of the superstars of Bollywood cinema and has churned out a number of box office hits including few classics. However, I have great respect for Shah Rukh Khan for his struggle and hard working mentality which turned him from a lesser-known TV actor to a Bollywood superstar, even though he did not come from any filmy family background.

Well, now it seems that Shah Rukh Khan is putting all his efforts and hard-work to make his IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders a mess. Here are some of those examples:

1. India’s most successful captain Sourav Ganguly has been stripped of Kolkata Knight Riders captaincy, prior to the second season of IPL. There is speculation that the decision of Ganguly being stripped of Kolkata captaincy came after Ganguly had turned down Shah Rukh’s request to talk to Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, regarding the entertainment tax on the IPL matches held at the Eden Gardens.

2. There are reports out in the media suggest that Shah Rukh Khan is planning to move his Knight Riders team base from Kolkata to Ahmedabad, looking to avoid controversies like the one he faced when Ganguly was sacked as Kolkata captain.

3. The word Kolkata has been dropped from Kolkata Knight Riders merchandise this season. It has been reported that Kolkata Knight Riders is the most successful IPL franchise of last season in terms of revenue earned. In fact, KKR earned Rs 13 crore as profit in IPL 2008. However, Shah Rukh Khan this season is reportedly more focused on international market for selling KKR merchandise.

Kolkata fans have already revealed their fury at Ganguly being stripped of captaincy. Shah Rukh defended the protest, stating that the decision was taken for the sake of the team’s long term development. Well, I do not know how he wants to develop Kolkata team by taking away the captaincy from Ganguly. The way Ganguly was sacked as captain is a complete disrespect towards the former great of Indian cricket. Ganguly has huge experience to his credit and no body in the Kolkata Knight Riders has as much experience as Ganguly when it comes to captaincy or leadership. Moreover, as a leader Ganguly has the mental strength and toughness which is required when you are leading a team at the high level and this is very important when you are going into the next level of the competition

Moreover, Shah Rukh’s speculated plan to move the team base from Kolkata to Ahmedabad has already been criticized by the Kolkata people. No doubt, it would decrease the popularity of KKR in West Bengal as well as in Bangladesh where many people support KKR mainly because of their ethnic attachment with Kolkata.

Shah Rukh Khan is business savvy man who has a very good sense of marketing which I first experienced during the promotional period of his 2007 flick Om Shanti Om. However, it does not allow Mr. Khan to criticize former great Sunil Gavaskar on a cricketing matter. In fact, Shah Rukh showed no respect for Gavaskar saying that Mr. Gavaskar did not have enough knowledge about the twenty20 form of cricket which he did not participate in.

Similarly, Shah Rukh Khan showed disrespect to Ganguly by taking away the captaincy from him. Ganguly’s performance last season was not bad either. In fact, he was Kolkata’s leading run scorer in the tournament. Moreover, there was no problem with his leadership last season. Here, my point is that if Ganguly has the ability claim a regular place in Kolkata Knight Riders eleven, then what is the problem with his captaincy? Even some of the Indian players of KKR revealed their disappointment over the controversy regarding captaincy.

Shifting the base of the team to Ahmedabad, I think, will not work well for Shah Rukh Khan who is now trying to make Knight Riders a global brand, but I am not sure if Shah Rukh will be able to do so by dropping the name Kolkata from it. First of all, cricket as a game is not quietly popular in all corners of the world. Moreover, IPL 2009 competition has already shown that the big-money tournament does not have huge popularity outside India, and thus, shifting the team base may not bring out huge benefit for Shah Rukh Khan.

Shah Rukh Khan should know that cricket is a different ball game which has very little similarity with Bollywood industry. Criticizing Amitabh Bachchan in Bollywood is not same to showing disrespect to Gavaskar and Ganguly in cricket. Shah Rukh Khan should accept the fact that he does not have adequate knowledge about cricket and he should not involve into to team management. Rather, Mr. Khan should appoint someone to manage the team.

Bangalore vs Deccan IPL Final 2009 Live Updates

Deccan Chargers won the match by 6 runs.

Bangalore Royal Challengers Innings

20 overs: Bangalore is 137/9

19.5 overs: Bangalore is 136/9

19.4 overs: Bangalore is 132/9, 12 runs needed from 2 balls.

19.3 overs: Bangalore is 130/9, No Run

19.2 overs: Bangalore is 130/9, No Run, Robin Uthappa kept the strike.

19.1 overs: Bangalore is 130/9

19 overs: Bangalore is 129/9. Twelve runs came in this over, but Vinay Kumar got out in the last ball.

18 overs: Bangalore is 117/8, RP Singh conceded only 4 runs in this over.

17 overs: Bangalore is 113/8.

16.3 overs: Bangalore is 110/8. Ojha dismissed Praveen Kumar.

16 overs: Bangalore is 108/7. Harmeet Singh picked up the wicket of Boucher for 5 off 6.

15 overs: Bangalore is 103/6

Hat-trick chance for Andrew Symonds.

14.3 overs: Bangalore is 99/6. Kohli got stamped by Gilchrist off Symonds

14.2 overs: Bangalore is 99/5. Ross Taylor got out for 27 of 20 balls.

14 overs: Bangalore is 99/4

13 overs: Bangalore is 91/4

12 overs: Bangalore is 79/4. Just 1 run came in this over and a wicket.

11.4 overs: Bangalore is 79/4. Rahul Dravid got out on 9 after being played on off Harmeet Singh.

11 overs: Bangalore is 78/3

10.2 overs: Bangalore is 72/3

It is now 'time out' break. We will be back soon when the match resumes.

10 overs: Bangalore is 69/3.

After 9 overs, Deccan was 59/3.

9 overs: Bangalore is 59/3. Van der Merew got out for 32 off 21. Ojha picked up another important wicket. Ross Taylor came to the wicket now.

8 overs: Bangalore is 53/2. Nine runs came from Symonds' over.

7 overs: Bangalore is 42/2. Ojha picked up the wicket of Panday who scored only 4 runs off 8 balls.

6 overs: Bangalore is 36/1. Andrew Symonds conceded only 3 run in this over.

5 overs: Bangalore is 33/1. Twelve runs came in this over.

3 Overs: Bangalore is 16/1

2 Overs: Bangalore is 5/0

1 over: Bangalore is 1/0. Good start for Bangalore.

0.1 over: Bangalore is 0/0. Ryan Harris is bowling the first over.

Bangalore Royal Challengers now needs 144 runs to win. It is now innings break at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg. We will be back with the Bangalore innings updates. So, be with us and enjoy the live text commentary of IPL 2009 final.

Deccan Chargers Innings

20 overs: Deccan is 143/6. Bilakhia got out in the first ball of the over, then RYan Harris took 9 runs from the remaining 5 balls of the over and Gibbs did not get the striker in the last over.

19 overs: Deccan is 134/5. Gibbs completed his FIFTY, hitting a SIX.

18 overs: Deccan is 125/5.

Anil Kumble bowling figure: 4 overs, 16 runs, 4 wickets.

17 overs: Deccan is 115/5. Kumble got the wickets of Sharma and Venugopal Rao.

16 overs: Deccan is 109/3. Van der Merew produced another good over as he conceded only 8 runs.

15 overs: Deccan is 101/3. After long time, an excellent over for Deccan as they took 21 runs in this over

14 overs: Deccan is 81/3. Both Gibbs and Rohit are trying to score quickly, but Bangalore spinners are bowling very well.

13 overs: Deccan is 74/3. Another excellent over from Anil Kumble.

12 overs: Deccan is 69/3. Van der Merew conceded 4 runs only in this over.

11 overs: Deccan is 65/3

10.1 overs: Deccan is 62/3. Kallis is bowling this over.

It is now 'time out' break, but do not go anywhere. We will be back soon with the updates of the next 10 overs.

10 overs: Deccan is 62/3. Just 3 runs came in this over. Excellent bowling from Praveen Kumar.

9 overs: Deccan is 59/3 Symonds got played on off Kumble. Rohit Sharma came to the wicket now. Excellent over for Deccan.

8 overs: Deccan is 54/2. Symonds hit a huge SIX in this over. Van der Merew came into attack in this over.

7 overs: Deccan is 45/2. Symonds shot two boundaries and Gibbs hit one.

6 overs: Deccan is 31/2 Dravid dropped Symonds at slip. Eight runs came in this over.

5 overs: Deccan is 23/2

4 overs: Deccan is 18/2. Praveen Kumar picked up the wicket of Suman for 10. That means Bangalore got another wicket. Good come back for Praveen Kumnar.

3 overs: Deccan is 15/1

2.2 overs: Deccan is 14/1. Kallis has brought into the attack.

2 overs: Deccan is 13/1 Praveen Kumar conceded 11 runs in this over. Not a good start for the pacer.

1 over: Deccan is 2/1. Excellent start for Deccan Chargers.

0.2 over: Deccan is 0/1. Gilchrist is gone after being bowled off Anil Kumble.

0.1 over: Deccan is 0/0. Anil Kumble is bowling.

In this entry, we will be giving live score and updates of the final match of IPL 2009 between Bangalore Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers. The match will take place at Johannesburg today (Sunday). The match will start within 10 minutes. So, be with us and enjoy the text commentary of the match.

IPL Final 2009 without Shahrukh Khan?

If you want to get the live score and updates of the IPL 2009 final between Bangalore Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers, then visit the following link:

Bangalore vs Deccan IPL Final 2009 Live Updates

This news will surely make many fans in South Africa disappointed. Many people in the country do not know much about India but they know about Shahrukh because some of his movies are popular among the people of Indian origin in the country. In the finale of IPL 2009, some Bollywood stars are supposed to perform. Shilpa Shetty and Katrina Kaif will be star attraction of the grand finale.

It seems that SRK got unhappy with the poor performance of his club. Well, I think it is his fault mainly that his team did so bad. SRK was busy with causing one after another controversy. As a result, some players lost focus and they just lost as many matches as possible.

Related Article

Bollywood Mantra

IPL Final 2009: Who Will Win?

If you want to get the live score and updates of the IPL 2009 final between Bangalore Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers, then visit the following link:

Bangalore vs Deccan IPL Final 2009 Live Updates

It is really a very tough question to ask at this moment. This the question which no body even thought about in the inaugural IPL tournament in 2008 because both teams finished at the bottom of the point table after the end of the preliminary round. However, things have changed a lot this time as both Bangalore Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers are now waiting to take on each other in the tournament final on 24 May 2009 at the Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg. Now, it seems to be very hard to find out a straight answer for the question that who will win the match.

Well, I think that both Bangalore and Deccan have their strong sides and the team who will better capitalize on their strengths will be winner. Let us start with Deccan Chargers. The main strength of Deccan is their star-studded batting line up which features three star hard hitters: Adam Gilchrist, Herschelle Gibbs and Andrew Symonds. Just a blistering knock from anyone of the three will be enough to tear apart Bangalore’s bowling. Moreover, Deccan has someone like Rohit Sharma who has already caught the attention for his cool-headed batting under pressure as well the ability to play big shot whenever it is needed.

Bangalore may not have as many stars hard-hitters as Deccan has, but the youngsters like Manish Pandey, Roelof van der Merwe and experienced batsmen like Ross Taylor and Mark Boucher have the ability to dominate over the opponent bowlers. However, to be honest, Deccan’s batting line up seems to be a bit ahead of Bangalore in terms of strength.

Now, let us focus on the bowling strength of two teams. Here, I do not see any team superior to others, considering the strength of their bowling attack. Bangalore has pacer like Praveen Kumar who has already become a twenty20 specialist and has been regular in India’s twent20 squad. He can check the run rate as well as pick up wickets. Experienced pacer Kallis also knows it very well how to stop the opponent batsmen. Bangalore has experienced spinner like Anil Kumble and young talented left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe.

However, Deccan Chargers is no less than Bangalore in terms of their bowling strength. Deccan has in-form pacers like RP Singh and Ryan Harris. Symonds’ medium pace is also very effective. Spinner Pragyan Ojha has been in good from too. So, I do not think that Bangalore’s bowling attack is superior to that of Deccan bowling attack. However, Deccan has a clear advantage over Bangalore in their batting strength.

So, I think, Deccan Chargers are slightly favorite in the match, considering their batting strength. However, you can not write off Bangalore now because Anil Kumble boys showed that they have everything needed to win the tournament. Now, I hope both sides will live up to the expectation in what would ensure a classic affair between Bangalore Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers.

IPL Final 2009 Live in Set Max TV Channel

If you want to get the live score and updates of the IPL 2009 final between Bangalore Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers, then visit the following link:

Bangalore vs Deccan IPL Final 2009 Live Updates

The second edition of IPL 2009 will come to end on Sunday when Bangalore Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers, two weakest sides of last season, will face each other in the tournament final at the Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg in South Africa. Both teams have very strong squads which feature a number of quality players. You can term the final as ‘the battle of South India’, where Bangalore based Royal Challengers and Hyderabad based Deccan Chargers are playing. Hyderabad and Bangalore both are the capital cities of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, two states of Southern India. However, it does not mean that only the South Indian cricket fans will have interest in the cricket match; rather cricket fans across the country are now eagerly waiting for the IPL 2009 final match between Bangalore and Deccan.

Moreover, the match will be held on Sunday (24 May 2009) which is holyday in India. Naturally, many people in India would like to watch the match live on television. The match will be telecast live on Sony Set Max TV Channel. Not only the Indian cricket fans, but also cricket fans from South Asia (Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka etc.) will be able to watch the match live on Sony Set Max television channel.

Well, it is pretty much expected that cricket fans from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are also attracted by IPL. So, many cricket fans from these South Asian countries would also be waiting to watch the final match of IPL 2009 on television. Now, all the cricket fans are expecting to enjoy a classic match between Bangalore Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers.

Bollywood celebrities in IPL 2009 final

Indian Premier League 2009 is taking place in South Africa at this moment and it has surely lacked TV ratings and media attraction in India. So, I think that BCCI officials and IPL organizers are thinking of giving something in the end to all the spectators and the TV viewers. So, many Bollywood celebrities are going to be in the final match of IPL 2009. Katrina Kaif , Akshay Kumar , Kareena Kapoor , Shilpa Shetty, Bipasha Basu and some other Bollywood celebrities will be there in the final match.

I am not sure if Shah Rukh Khan will be in the final match. Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders has performed very badly and he has perhaps lost his interest about IPL of this season. However, Shah Rukh is very popular among South African people of Indian origin and that is why the organizer should try to convince him into be there. 

Kolkata Knight Riders Finished IPL 2009 Campaign on Winning Note

Kolkata Knight Riders won their last match in IPL 2009 against defending champion Rajasthan Royals yesterday (Wednesday). With this victory, Kolkata finished their IPL 2009 mission on a winning note, even though their overall performance is totally disappointing. In fact, the Shah Rukh Khan franchise finished 8^th in the 8-team tournament with only 7 points from 14 matches.

Rajasthan went into the game knowing that a victory would take them to the semi final, but Shane Warne boys failed to deliver their best and eventually lost by 4 wickets. Batting first, Rajasthan could put on a slim total of 102, losing 9 wickets. For Kolkata, Charl Langeveldt picked up 3 wickets, while Ajit Agarkar got 2 wickets.

In reply, Kolkata batsmen also struggled to reach the target as they lost 6 wickets only for 45. In fact, none of their top five batsmen could reach the double figure. However, Kolkata reached the winning total thanks to Laxmi Shukla’s 46-ball 48 and Agarkar’s 17-ball 13.

Chennai Super Kings vs Kings XI Punjab Preview, Live Score: IPL 2009

Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab are going to face each other in an important preliminary round match today (20 May 2009). The match important for deciding who between the two teams would go through the semi final of IPL 2009 because the winner of the match would find themselves in the last four of the tournament. It is true that the winning team of the match would reach the semi final, but the losing side would not be totally out of semi final contention. However, there is no doubt, both sides would like to cement their semi final spot winning today’s crunch game at Kingsmeadm, Durban, South Africa.

Match: CSK vs KXIP, Preliminary Round, IPL 2009

Date: 20 May 2009

Time: Local time 16:30; GMT 14:30

Venue: Kingsmeadm, Durban, South Africa

Live TV: Sony SAT Max

With Delhi Daredevils already through to the semi final, there are at least 5 teams in semi final contention at this moment including Chennai, Punjab, Bangalore, Deccan Chargers and Rajasthan Royals. Just 1 match left for each of the five teams in IPL 2009 twenty20 tournament. Chennai currently secures the second place in the point table with 15 points, while Punjab, Deccan and Bangalore all have 14 points each. Rajasthan, however, has 13 points to their credit. Chennai now seems to be a little bit safer than Punjab, given their excellent net run rate. However, Punjab is not in a position from there they can relax.

Even if Chennai loses against Punjab, they would still be very much active in the semi final run because of their excellent positive run rate. In that case, Chennai would just expect Rajasthan Royals does not clinch a big margin victory over Kolkata Knight Rider. However, Dhoni’s team would know about the equation very well because by the time they would take on Punjab, Rajasthan Royals would have played their last game against Kolkata Knight Riders.

For Punjab, the victory is very much needed today because they do not have a good run rate which could save them after another setback today. Kings XI Punjab survived a threatening challenge of Deccan Chargers in their last game, and thus, keeping their semi final hops alive. Now today, if Punjab loses, they would have to expect Kolkata defeats Rajasthan in today’s first encounter, and then Deccan Chargers pulls off a big margin victory over Bangalore Royal Challengers tomorrow. Among the teams who have 14 points, Punjab has worst run rate. However, as I said earlier that Kolkata vs Rajasthan match would b e completed before Punjab faces Chennai, so they would know about the seemingly complex equation better.

Chennai suffered a setback in their last game against Kolkata when Hodge and McCullum successfully chased down their 188 run total. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni expressed his disappointment at the performance of their bowlers. However, I do not think Chennai would bring any change in their bowling line up. In the presence of off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and left arm spinner Shadab Jakati, Chennai Super Kings have an admirable spin attack. Chennai would have to choose between Jacob Oram and George Bailey, while Albie Morkel will play as an all rounder. L Balaji and Sudeep Tyagi will form Chennai’s pace attack. In their batting line up, there are a number of hard hitters in Mathew Hayden, who has been in sparkling form so far in the tournament with highest run to his credit, Raina, Dhoni, Morkel, and Badrinath. Chennai would either play M Vijay or Parthiv Patel against Punjab Kings XI.

Punjab would expect Mahela Jayawardene gets back his fitness before the game and would be in contention for the first eleven. However, if Jayawardene does not retain his fitness, then Luke Pomersbach would continue filling in the gap. Punjab has a very strong batting line up in the presence of Simon Katich, Yuvraj Singh, Kumar Sangakkara and all rounder Irfan Pathan. Chennai would either feature Sunny Sohal or Karan Goel today. Piyush Chawla and Ramesh Powar, who took a stern test of Deccan batsmen in the last match, would form the spin attack, while their pace attack would features any two of the three pacers: Sreesanth, Brett Lee and Yusuf Abdulla.

Online Live Score and Updates

You can get the live score and updates of the match from the following websites:

Cricinfo

Cricket Next

The Times of India

Yahoo Cricket

ipl.co.in

ICC cricket world cup live

24timepass.com

Cricket.indifun

Chennai Super Kings Live Streaming

Punjab may not have won any of their last four meetings against Chennai, but they would be gearing up to take revenge against Dhoni’s boys. To be honest, it would be very difficult for Punjab to make it to the last four, if they lose against Chennai today. For Chennai, they might be active in the semi final race, even if they lose today, but I do not think, Dhoni would like to do so. Rather, Chennai captain would like to win the last match in what would ensure their semi final progress, and boost up their confidence level before the semi final encounter. So, I think, it would be an exciting encounter between Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab.

Mashrafe Mortaza Given a Chance, but of No Use for Kolkata Knight Riders

Bangladesh’s vice-captain Mashrafe Mortaza was at last picked up for Kolkata Knight Riders’ first eleven against Deccan Chargers in IPL 2009 yesterday. Many cricket fans in Bangladesh were waiting to see their home boy in action in the money-spinning IPL 2009 twenty20 tournament. However, Mashrafe failed to live up to the expectation as the pacer conceded 58 runs in his 4 overs, without taking any wicket. The pacer’s start was not good at all as he conceded 15 runs in his first over thanks to two over-boundaries from Adam Gilchrist. He was also treated in the same manner by Gilchrist in his second over as he conceded two boundaries and gave 11 runs. Then he was taken off from the attack by KKR captain.

When Mashrafe Mortaza was brought back into the attack, it was the 18^th over in which he conceded only 7 runs, and thus, making a good come back. His success in his 3^rd over perhaps prompted Captain McCullum to hand the ball to Mashrafe Mortaza in the last over of the innings. Deccan needed 21 runs from 6 balls. So, there was not any big pressure on Mashrafe as he had enough runs to defend only for 6 balls. However, Mashrafe Mortaza failed to capitalize on the runs he had in hands conceding 26 runs in his 6 balls. I just got shocked to see Mashrafe Mortaza delivering a number of full tosses later in the innings when tight bowling was asked of him. Here, I would like to address another thing. In the beginning of Deccan Chargers innings, Mashrafe Mortaza was bowling over the wicket to left hander Gilchrist who hit two SIXs in two consecutive balls in his first over.

I really did not understand why Mashrafe Mortaza was bowling over the wicket against a hard-hitting left hander. It is always advantageous for the left handed hard-hitters like Adam Gilchrist, who is very well in his leg side, to face a right handed pacer bowling over the wicket. To be honest, the kind of performance Mashrafe Mortaza showed was not enough to claim another chance, but I think, Kolkata should give him another chance so that he can prove what he has in him, given Kolkata is already out of semi final contention of IPL 2009 tournament.

Bowlers Coming back in Form in IPL 2009

The knock-out stage of IPL 2009 is about to come to an end. So far, this has been a tournament for the bowlers, given the helps the pitches possess for the bowlers. There are a number of bowlers who have found IPL 2009 as their come back platform. Interestingly, there was hardly anyone before the beginning of the tournament who could think that RP Singh and Lasith Malinga will be the top two bowlers at the stage of IPL 2009 Both the bowlers are jointly leading the wicket takers’ list with 16 wickets for each now.

There are some other bowlers who made a strong come back with IPL 2009. Laxmipathy Balaji and Ashis Nehra are the two bowlers who have been pretty much successful in the tournament so far. Specially, Ashis Nehra has been performing consistently so far in the tournament and I think, it might help him to earn a recall from national selectors. South African pacer Yusuf Abdulla has also caught the attention in IPL 2009.

IPL 2009 Online Live Scores in Different Websites

If you want to get the live score and updates of the first semi final of IPL 2009 between Delhi and Deccan, then visit the following link:

Delhi vs Deccan Semi Final Updates: IPL 2009

Indian Premier League 2009 is more than half way mark. Now, we are waiting for the next few matches and then the party will finish for this year. You know that this time, it is taking place in South Africa because of security problem in India about general election 2009. So, many fans in India felt unhappy that they could not go to the stadium. Instead, they had to be satisfied with watching the matches in their TV. This time, in many days, 2 matches took place in weekdays and as a result, many people were in their offices and could not enjoy the matches. So, in the end, TV ratings of IPL may go down a bit in season 2 compared to season 1.

This time, because it is not taking place in India, many fans in the country may seem to be out of touch with the event. So, Internet is a great medium to be updated with IPL condition. I have noticed that this time, many websites are covering IPL related news. In fact, because it is taking place in South Africa, therefore, many South African newspapers and websites are giving adequate coverage to the event.

So far, IPL 2009 has been very eventful. Of course, Shahrukh Khan has caused a lot of fun with his coach John Buchanan off the field to the cricket fans. He has been very busy to create one after another controversy. The cheer leaders are absent most of the time in front of TV viewers. Instead, they have focused more on entertaining the crowd who are present in the stadium. Well, in many matches, I found that there were not even 50% full crowd in the stadium. It happened mainly in the day time (afternoon) matches. So, here, I am giving description and links to websites that are providing live score of IPL 2009 matches:

Cricinfo

This is the most popular website based on Cricket and you can get live score and updates with text commentary of all the major cricket tournaments and matches. Besides international matches, Cricinfo also cover the domestic cricket tournament like county cricket of England, India’s Ranji Trophy and Indian Premier League (IPL). So, if you want to get the live score with ball by ball text commentary, then visit this link:

http://content.cricinfo.com/ipl2009/engine/current/series/374163.html

Cricket Next

Cricket Next is another popular cricket portal that also provides the fans with live score and updates as well as text commentary of cricket matches of all major tournaments. Besides live score, Cricket Next also gives cricket news, pictures as well as statistics for the cricket fans. So, if you go and visit Cricket Next for the live score of IPL 2009 matches, then you can also enjoy other things related to cricket and IPL 2009 tournament. To go to the live score section of Cricket Next, click on the following link:

http://cricketnext.in.com/cricket_scorecard/index.html

The Times of India

This is not a website dedicated to cricket only. In fact, this is one of the most popular newspapers in India. However, the online version of the newspaper has a sub-domain on IPL where you can get the updated score of an ongoing IPL match. Moreover, you can also enjoy reports and feature articles on IPL in this section of The Times of India. You should click on the following link to go and visit the IPL section of the newspaper:

http://ipl.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Yahoo Cricket

Yahoo Cricket is another cricket based website from where you can get to know all the latest of the game. If you are one of those who are interested to have a place from where you can have access to the latest of IPL 2009 matches, then Yahoo Cricket is one of the sites where you can enjoy the live score and updates of the IPL 2009 matches with text commentary. So, visit the following link to reach the Yahoo Cricket website:

http://cricket.yahoo.com/cricket/livematch?mid=6368

ipl.co.in

This is another website which also provides live updates of IPL matches for the cricket fans. Here, you do not need to refresh the page yourself in order to get the updated score of the match. Rather, the page is automatically updates after every few moments, and thus, the updated score is automatically presented to the cricket fans. If you can interested to visit the site, then click on the following link:

http://www.ipl.co.in/match16.html

ICC cricket world cup live

This is another website which is totally dedicated to cricket. You can get to know lots of information about IPL in this website, besides live score and updates of the IPL matches. To visit the site, click on the following link:

http://www.icccricketworldcuplive.com/live.php

24timepass.com

This website shares the feed of ibibo Live Cricket feed, and thus, allows the visitors to know the latest score of the IPL 2009 matches. You can also get the commentary and graphs of the IPL matches here. So, go and visit the website by clicking on the following link:

http://www.24timepass.com/sports/online-ipl-videos-ipl-score-and-scroreboard-live-ipl-telecast.htm

Cricket.indifun

Besides live score and updates of IPL 2009 matches, if you also want the graphical presentation of the match statistics, then I would recommend you to go and visit this website. Moreover, you can also get the ball by ball commentary of IPL matches. So, do not waste your time and be quick to click on the link given below:

http://cricket.indifun.com/livescores.html

Chennai Super Kings Live Streaming

This website is totally dedicated to IPL team Chennai Super Kings. The website mainly provides live score and live streaming of Chennai Super Kings matches. However, you can also get the live score and updates of the IPL matches as the website shares the live cricket feed from ibibo. You can go to the website by clicking on the following link:

http://chennaisuperkingslivestreaming.info/ipl-cricket-live-score