{"id":10381,"date":"2008-04-17T15:30:48","date_gmt":"2008-04-17T15:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tat.reddaisytrading.co.uk\/index.php\/2008\/04\/17\/crickets-bling-bling-the-indian-premier-league\/"},"modified":"2008-04-17T15:30:48","modified_gmt":"2008-04-17T15:30:48","slug":"crickets-bling-bling-the-indian-premier-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2008\/04\/17\/crickets-bling-bling-the-indian-premier-league\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket\u2019s Bling Bling \u2013 The Indian Premier League"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Everything you wanted to know about the IPL<\/h3>\n
\"\"EIGHT teams, Superstar owners, the best cricketing talent on show \u2013 it can only be The Indian Premier League. With the IPL kicking off its inaugural match tomorrow here\u2019s a guide to everything you need to know about the new Twenty20 phenomenon\u2026 <\/strong><\/div>\n

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What is the Indian Premier League?<\/strong><\/div>\n

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The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a new Twenty20 tournament created by the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) and crucially has the backing of the International Cricket Council (ICC). The league is made up of eight teams \u2013 all with a colourful variety of names! The action kicks off tomorrow.<\/div>\n

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I\u2019m confused \u2013 isn\u2019t there an Indian Cricket League?<\/strong><\/div>\n

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Yes there is and it came into existence before the IPL. It was launched last year by Subhash Chandra \u2013 the man behind Zee TV. He unsuccessfully tried to buy the media rights to three major cricketing tournaments before setting up the ICL \u2013 as one of his right-hand men admitted \u201cThey denied us the cricket content so we had to create our own content\u201d. The ICL never had the backing of the ICC and was termed an \u2018unofficial league\u2019 because of this. Players were advised not to join the league by their own cricket boards \u2013 and in Pakistan\u2019s case threatened with expulsion if they did. <\/div>\n

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Now in its second edition the ICL still has issues with international cricket boards and is expected to be come second to the hugely publicised IPL.<\/div>\n

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So what\u2019s with the love for Twenty20 cricket all of a sudden?<\/strong><\/div>\n

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Believe it or not Twenty20 cricket was born right here in England in 2003. The format is widely seen to be a more entertaining form of the game which has succeeded in bringing in a whole new generation of cricket fans who don\u2019t want to spend 5 days watching Test cricket! The inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa last September was a phenomenal success which saw India nudge out arch-rivals Pakistan to lift the trophy. <\/div>\n

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Ok back to the IPL \u2013 I hear there\u2019s major money involved!<\/strong><\/div>\n

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The IPL is the undoubtedly the \u2018Bling Bling\u2019 of the sporting world! Considering players will only have to be on duty for six weeks the numbers involved is mind boggling. The biggest amount paid for a player for the first tournament was \u00a3759,000 \u2013 paid by Chennai Super Kings for Indian wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The most for an overseas player was \u00a3683,000 for Australia\u2019s Andrew Symonds who will play for Hyderabad Deccan Chargers. Players aside the BCCI have already made in excess of \u00a3800million through a combination of TV rights and sponsorship. <\/div>\n

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So which players can we expect to see in the IPL?<\/strong><\/div>\n

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A number of major Indian players will be on show \u2013 Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid are just a few. <\/div>\n

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Non-Indian players include Jacques Kalis, Shahid Afridi, Ricky Ponting, Muttiah Muralitharan, Matthew Hayden, Shane Warne, Shoaib Malik and Chris Gayle \u2013 making the IPL the biggest show of cricketing talent aside from the World Cup. <\/div>\n

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I\u2019ve noticed you don\u2019t mention any England players in that list<\/strong><\/div>\n

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Well I don\u2019t because there\u2019s only one \u2013Dimitri Mascarenhas. The IPL clashes with the start of the England County Championships and the English Cricket Board (ECB) have made it clear to the players that their commitments lie with county cricket and not the IPL. Add the fact that England are due to tour New Zealand shortly which in all doubt put an end to any high-profile English cricketer joining the IPL. Some reports also suggest the ECB are looking to launch their own Twenty20 league and as such don\u2019t want the likes of Kevin Pietersen or Freddie Flintoff tied down to contracts with the IPL. <\/div>\n

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\"\"I\u2019ve heard there\u2019s a lot of Bollywood interest in the IPL?<\/strong><\/div>\n

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You\u2019re right there! I can comfortably say while we won\u2019t be getting any of the players singing and dancing their hearts out on the pitch, off it you\u2019ll more than likely catch some big name Bollywood stars in the stands. Shah Rukh Khan \u2013 an avid cricket fan \u2013 is the owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders along with fellow Bollywood actress Juhi Chawla, while Preity Zinta and beau Ness Wadia snapped up Kings XI Punjab for a cool $76 million. <\/div>\n

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What\u2019s the low-down on the teams?<\/strong><\/div>\n

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The teams are as follows: <\/div>\n

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Bangalore<\/strong> Royal Challengers<\/strong><\/div>\n

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Captain:<\/strong> Rahul Dravid – \u00a3524,000 salary<\/div>\n

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Star Players:<\/strong> Jacques Kalis, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan<\/div>\n

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Cost of Squad:<\/strong> \u00a32.9million<\/div>\n

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\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n

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Mumbai Indians<\/strong><\/div>\n

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Captain:<\/strong> Sachin Tendulkar – \u00a3567,600 salary<\/div>\n

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Star Players<\/strong>: <\/strong>Sanath Jayasuriya, Harbhajan Singh<\/div>\n

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Cost of Squad<\/strong>: \u00a32.78million<\/div>\n

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Kolkata Knight Riders<\/strong><\/div>\n

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Captain:<\/strong> Sourav Ganguly \u2013 \u00a3552,950 salary<\/div>\n

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Star Players:<\/strong> Ishant Sharma, Ricky Ponting, Umar Gul<\/div>\n

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Cost of Squad:<\/strong> \u00a33.15million<\/div>\n

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\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n

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Delhi<\/strong> Daredevils<\/strong><\/div>\n

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Captain:<\/strong> Virender Sehwag \u2013 \u00a3422,100 salary<\/div>\n

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Star Players:<\/strong> Glenn McGrath, Daniel Vettori<\/div>\n

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Cost of Squad:<\/strong> \u00a33.22million<\/div>\n

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\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n

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\"\"Chennai Super Kings<\/strong><\/div>\n

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Captain:<\/strong> Mahendra Singh Dhoni \u2013 \u00a3759,000 salary<\/div>\n

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Star Players:<\/strong> Matthew Hayden, <\/strong>Muttiah Muralitharan<\/div>\n

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Cost of Squad:<\/strong> \u00a33.15million<\/div>\n

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Kings XI Punjab<\/strong><\/div>\n

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Captain:<\/strong> Yuvraj Singh \u2013 \u00a3538,570 salary<\/div>\n

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Star Players:<\/strong> Brett Lee, <\/strong>Mahela Jayawardene<\/div>\n

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Cost of Squad:<\/strong> \u00a33.29million<\/div>\n

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\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n

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Rajasthan Royals<\/strong><\/div>\n

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Captain:<\/strong> Shane Warne \u2013 \u00a3220,000 salary<\/div>\n

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Star Players<\/strong>: <\/strong>Graeme Smith, Younis Khan<\/div>\n

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Cost of Squad:<\/strong> \u00a31.83million<\/div>\n

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Hyderabad<\/strong> Deccan Chargers<\/strong><\/div>\n

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Captain<\/strong>: <\/strong>VVS Laxman \u2013<\/strong> \u00a3173,000 salary<\/span><\/div>\n

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Star Players<\/strong>: <\/strong>Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist<\/div>\n

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Cost of Squad:<\/strong> \u00a33.09million<\/div>\n

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So when does the action kick off?<\/strong><\/div>\n

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The IPL will kick off tomorrow with the Bangalore Royal Challengers taking on the might of the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.<\/div>\n

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Where can I watch it?<\/strong><\/div>\n

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It\u2019s live on Setanta Sports from 3.20 pm<\/div>\n

\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everything you wanted to know about the IPL EIGHT teams, Superstar owners, the best cricketing talent on show \u2013 it can only be The Indian Premier League. With the IPL kicking off its inaugural match tomorrow here\u2019s a guide to everything you need to know about the new Twenty20 phenomenon\u2026 \u00a0 What is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}