Bangalore Royal Challengers – IPL Team Preview

Build Up:

Criticized for picking a test team, Vijay Mallya’s Bangalore Royal Challengers nullified the statement, and bolstered their ranks, by bagging England’s destructive batsman Kevin Pietersen and New Zealand’s new sensation Jesse Ryder. Kevin Pietersen was bought for a record USD 1.55 million, bettering Indian, and Chennai Super King’s skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s USD 1.5 million prize tag.

Bangalore have also benefited by trading Zaheer Khan for Robin Uthappa with Mumbai Indians during the trade window. The idea behind the move is to generate home crowd support, as well as secure an additional aggressive batsman. Uthappa hails from Bangalore. There is also a speculation that Kevin Pietersen might replace local boy Rahul Dravid at the helm.

Last year they were outclassed, although the side managing to salvage some pride by beating Hyderabad Deccan Chargers to take the second last position on points table. Vijay Mallya, the Owner, was visibly upset and it’s likely that he will demand an greatly improved show this time around.

Watch Out For:

Kevin Pietersen – an explosive batsman and arguably the team’s best bet for the shortest format of the game. He will be available for the first three weeks and will likely make a mark.

Nathan Bracken – in the absence of Zaheer Khan, the burden of a senior bowler will now fall to Nathan Bracken. Known for his ability to contain batsman in One Day Cricket, he will be expected to do the same here as well. 

Dark Horse:

Virat Kohli – An exciting youngster and a potential India regular in the years to come. He is yet to make it big on the international stage and there is no better time than the present for him to make a big impact.

The Squad:

Rahul Dravid (Captain), Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Dale Steyn, Dillon Du Preez, Roelof van der Merwe (South Africa), Cameron White, Nathan Bracken (Australia), Ross Taylor, Jesse Ryder (New Zealand), Kevin Pietersen (England), Anil Kumble, Robin Uthappa, Praveen Kumar, Virat Kohli, Wasim Jaffer, Manish Pandey, Sreevats Goswami, Suteesh R, Pankaj Singh, Vinay Kumar, Bhuvnesh Kumar, Karan Sharma, Saurav Bandekar, Tinu Yohanan, Bharat Chipli, B Akhil, Devraj Patil, J Arun Kumar, K P Appanna, Sunil Joshi, Gaurav Dhiman, Jitendra Patil, Udit Patel, Mithun A, Aravind S, Kedar Jadhav, Gautam C M, Raju Bhatkal, Rajesh Bishnoi, Ishank Jaggi and Rohit Sabharwal

Back to Teams

Indian Premier League News Update

Rajasthan Royals to face Cobras

Defending IPL Champions, the Rajasthan Royals will take on South Africa’s Pro20 victors, the Cobras, in two Twenty20 matches in Cape Town ahead of IPL 2009. The mini-series has been endorsed as the ‘Clash of Champions’ and will be held on April 11 and 12.

This step by the Royals is an indication of how seriously they are taking their preparation for the IPL, and they are in no mood to relax. They have announced Newlands, Cape Town as their base for practice. The Cobras will field a strong line-up of players including Herschelle Gibbs, JP Duminy, Charl Langeveldt, Justin Ontong and Monde Zondeki.

KP & Freddie to Earn Less

The one week delay in the commencement of IPL 2009 will cost the tournament’s highest paid players a bagful of money. Both Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, who were bought for a record USD 1.55 million each, will only get to play a maximum of six games for their respective teams, Royal Challengers and Chennai Super Kings. On average, the two English players will receive approximately USD 110,000 per game.

English players have to report for International duty on May 1 to begin preparations for their home series against the West Indies. The result is that English players will only participate in the first two weeks of IPL 2009, as opposed to the originally planned three week stint. The change in schedule will see Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff will lose out on around USD 215,000 and USD 322,000 respectively.  

Other English players set for international duty includes Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah (Delhi Daredevils) and Ravi Bopara (Kings XI Punjab).

Prasad joins Chennai Super Kings

India’s bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad has joined the Chennai Super Kings for IPL 2009. His guidance will greatly assist the team as they did not have a bowling coach last year. The young fast bowling trio of L Balaji, Manpreet Gony and Palani Amarnath will be advantaged most – benefiting from both Prasad’s technical input and his playing experience in South Africa.

Venkatesh Prasad has done a marvelous job grooming youngsters like Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Sreesanth and RP Singh – all of which have delivered good results for the Indian national team.

Kolkata Knight Riders to have Multiple Captains

In the build up to this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL), Kolkata Knight Rider’s Director of Cricket Operations, John Buchanan, has sparked a debate, announcing that the franchise will experiment with multiple captains throughout the tournament.

Addressing the media a few days back he said, “I really think in the course of this 20-over tournament we have the capacity to have the team coach, Matthew Mott, running the batting side of things. If we have to change the batting order or change personnel to fit a certain situation, then that is something that could fall under his control. Once on the field, we have some very good leaders there in Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Brad Hodge and Sourav Ganguly. The laws of the game state that you need a captain for certain formal roles, such as the coin toss, but that aside I see there is scope to change the way teams have been run in the past.” 

However, the idea didn’t fall well with ‘The Prince of Kolkata.’ Reacting to the announcement, Sourav Ganguly said he had not been consulted on the idea, “Tomorrow I can jump out and say we need four batting coaches, four John Buchanans and Shah Rukh Khan can say we need six Andy Bichels. These are all opinions; this is the way they are thinking that Twenty20 cricket can be played. We’ll have to wait and see because it’s completely new, it has never happened in the sport.”

In the wake of the announcement, hardcore Sourav fans went as far as staging a protest outside Eden Gardens. They perceive the idea as a tactic to strip Ganguly of his power, and eventually promote his departure from the team. However, Kolkata Knight Rider’s management is yet to react on the issue. Sourav Ganguly is India’s most successful captain in Test cricket winning 21 out of his 49 matches in charge.

Apart from Sourav Ganguly, Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle, David Hussey and Brad Hodge are on the radar for captaincy roles according to John Buchanan, who will announce his final decision in South Africa.

IPL Shift to South Africa – Player Reactions

Reactions are pouring in from players around the world on the move to shift the Indian Premier League from India to South Africa. Overall, many of them are ruing the fact that they have been robbed of the opportunity to once again play in front of the passionate and massive Indian crowds, while remaining grateful that the tournament will still take place given the security debacle.

Legendary batman Sachin Tendulkar, captain of the Mumbai Indians IPL franchise team, stated his regret that the tournament will now be hosted outside of India. “We will certainly miss playing in front of our supporters. It won’t be the same.”

His India teammate and the captain of Kings XI Punjab, Yuvraj Singh, expressed his sympathy for the hordes of Indian cricket enthusiasts who will miss out on IPL action this year. “It’s a mixed feeling because we were looking forward to playing at home and now we have to play away so we feel sad for a lot of Indians who were looking forward to watching it [Indian Premier League cricket].”

Indian players are not alone, with many International players disappointed in the wake of the decision. Australian Shane Warne, captain of the victorious Rajasthan Royals team, said, “It won’t be the same as it being in India, but hopefully the South African public will get behind it and turn up to the ground and make it a great spectacle. But it will be nothing like if it was in India and it is a shame it can’t be in India.”

Shane Watson, who played a crucial role in Rajasthan Royals victory last year, felt that the move will unavoidability affect the appeal of the tournament. “It is extremely sad the IPL won’t be held in India. It is a beautiful country and the people there are absolutely fanatical about cricket. I think it will definitely be slightly different.”

New Zealand skipper, and Delhi Daredevils player, Daniel Vettori joined Watson in his opinion. “The guys love going over there and touring. One of the most exciting bits about the tournament was you got to play in front of 50-60,000 people who were tremendously excited about the game. We probably won’t have those sorts of crowds. It will take a little bit away from it but the important thing is the games are being played.”

The big fish of the cash rich league, Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff have also signaled their disappointment at the relocation of the tournament, whereas the likes of Australian captain Ricky Ponting and New Zealander Brendon McCullum are enthusiastic about the decision.

South Africa to Host Indian Premier League 2009

Putting all the speculation to rest, it is now official that South Africa will be the new host for the Indian Premier League this year. Weather conditions and IPL telecast rights in the country are the two factors that helped South Africa to clinch the deal, edging out England.

The IPL, represented by its Commissioner Lalit Modi along with Cricket South Africa Chief Executive Gerald Majola, reached the decision on Tuesday. Six venues have been finalised – Johannesburg, Centurion, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and East London. The tournament has been shortened by eight days and will start on 18 April, delayed from its original start date of 10 April. However, the tournament will end as per the originally scheduled date on 24 May, making it a five week extravaganza.

The possibility of rain during the springtime in England was a key reason IPL organisers looked to South Africa as the alternative host nation. This combined with assurances from the South African government that top-notch security will be provided, as well as quick clearance of visas for players and match officials, all worked in favour of the rainbow nation. In addition, the cost of running the tournament in South Africa is less compared to the price tag that would have been incurred in England.

Scheduling also favored South Africa as there are no conflicting international or domestic matches happening in the country over the period. England on the other hand has a home series against the West Indies coming up. Additionally, their domestic season starts in spring.

Another area where South Africa edged out England was in that of broadcast rights. SuperSport owns telecast rights for both IPL and international cricket played in the country, whereas there could have been a clash of interests between Setanta and Sky TV in England – owning rights for IPL and international cricket respectively.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has agreed to compensate the extra expenditure the franchises may incur due to the shift from India to South Africa. The Indian board was forced to move the tournament out of India after many state governments refused to provide security due to the overlapping of General Elections in the country.

‘Domestic’ IPL goes International

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to stage the Indian Premier League outside India. The move comes after various state governments denied the calls to provide security, because of the tournament overlapping with General Elections in India. The league is most likely to be held in either England or South Africa as per the original scheduled dates, confirmation of which will be finalised by Monday evening.

The decision was made taking into account the best interests of the IPL franchises and players. However, one soothing factor for Indian fans is that all the matches will be played between 16:00 hrs IST and 20:00 hrs IST, which is prime time. This will also enable the generation of high television ratings, thus keeping broadcasters and advertisers happy.

There is no change in the format of the Indian Premier League tournament. The teams will still play in the home and away pattern, with each team being allocated a new ‘home’ ground. Although the decision was welcomed by franchise owners, sponsors and broadcasters, as it ensures the tournament’s immediate future, there has been mixed reactions among cricket fans in India. Many are happy that the second edition of the IPL is on, but are disappointed that the excitement, buzz and lively atmosphere will be missing across the many cities that hosted the IPL last year.

Meanwhile, Cricket South Africa (CSA) has expressed their willingness to host the Indian Premier League. The nation is the obvious choice given the logistics required to host a mega event on such short notice. However, England is tipped to secure the tournament. The organisers have promised that the pinnacle of Twenty20 competition, and one of the richest cricket leagues in the world, will be back in India next year.

Franchises Announce Squads for Indian Premier League

Amid a nervous wait for security clearance, the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has something to cheer about. The eight franchises announced their squad last week. IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said, “The finalization of the playing squads by each of the eight franchises is truly a major milestone for Season II of the Indian Premier League.”

Kolkata Knight Riders have the biggest pool to choose from with 57 recruits, while Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab have only 24 players in their squad. Beer baron Vijay Mallya’s Bangalore Royal Challengers have 42 players with their latest recruits including big hitters Kevin Pietersen and Jesse Ryder, shedding their test team image. Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings, Deccan Chargers and Mumbai Indians have 35, 29, 29 and 28 players respectively in the squad.

Bangalore Royal Challengers: Rahul Dravid (Captain) Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Dale Steyn, Dillon Du Preez, Roelof van der Merwe (South Africa), Cameron White, Nathan Bracken (Australia), Ross Taylor, Jesse Ryder (New Zealand), Kevin Pietersen (England), Anil Kumble, Robin Uthappa, Praveen Kumar, Virat Kohli, Wasim Jaffer, Manish Pandey, Sreevats Goswami, Suteesh R, Pankaj Singh, Vinay Kumar, Bhuvnesh Kumar, Karan Sharma, Saurav Bandekar, Tinu Yohanan, Bharat Chipli, B Akhil, Devraj Patil, J Arun Kumar, K P Appanna, Sunil Joshi, Gaurav Dhiman, Jitendra Patil, Udit Patel, Mithun A, Aravind S, Kedar Jadhav, Gautam C M, Raju Bhatkal, Rajesh Bishnoi, Ishank Jaggi, Rohit Sabharwal

Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (captain), Muttiah Muralitharan, Thilan Thushara (Sri Lanka), Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey, George Bailey (Australia), Albie Morkel, Makhaya Ntini (South Africa), Jacob Oram, Stephen Fleming (New Zealand), Andrew Flintoff (England), Parthiv Patel, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, L Balaji, Murali Vijay, Joginder Sharma, Manpreet Singh Gony, Sudeep Tyagi, Viraj Kadbe, Shadab Jakati, R Ashwin, Abhinav Mukund, Anirudha Srikkanth, Sivaramakrishnan Vidyut, Palani Amarnath, KB Arun Karthik, Nepoleon Einstein, Suresh Kumar

Delhi Daredevils: Virender Sehwag (captain), AB de Villiers (South Africa), Daniel Vettori (New Zealand), Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood (England), David Warner, Andrew McDonald, Dirk Nannes, Glenn McGrath (Australia), Farveez Maharoof, Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka), Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik, Manoj Tiwary, Rajat Bhatia, Mithun Manhas, Avishkar Salvi, Ashish Nehra, Yo Mahesh, Pradeep Sangwan, Umesh Yadav, Yogesh Nagar, Tejaswi Yadav, Amit Mishra

Hyderabad Deccan Chargers: Adam Gilchrist (Captain), Herschelle Gibbs(South Africa), Scott Styris (New Zealand), Andrew Symonds, Ryan Harris (Australia), Fidel Edwards, Dwayne Smith(West Indies), Chamara Silva, Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa (Sri Lanka), VVS Laxman, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Venugopal Rao, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Tirumalasetti Suman, Arjun Yadav, Doddapaneni Kalyankrishna, Paidikalva Vijay Kumar, Abhinav Kumar, Manvinder Bisla, Jaskaran Deep Singh, Harmeet Singh, Sarvesh Kumar, Haladhar Das, Syed Mohammad, Shoaib Ahmed

Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka), Jean-Paul Duminy, Ryan McLaren (South Africa), Graham Napier (England), Dilhara Fernando, Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka), Dwayne Bravo (West Indies), Mohammad Ashraful (Bangladesh), Kyle Mills (New Zealand), Luke Ronchi (Australia), Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Shikhar Dhawan, Abhishek Nayar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jude Singh, Jaydev Shah, Raahil Shaikh, Yogesh Takawale, Pinal Shah, Ajinkya Rahane, Chetanya Nanda, Rohan Raje, Saurabh Tiwary

Rajasthan Royals: Shane Warne (captain), Graeme Smith, Morne Morkel, Tyron Henderson (South Africa), Shane Watson, Robert Quiney, Shaun Tait, Shane Harwood, Lee Carlesdine (Australia), Dmitri Mascarenhas (England), Mohammad Kaif, Munaf Patel, Yusuf Pathan, Siddharth Trivedi, Swapnil Asnodkar, Niraj Patel, Mahesh Rawat, Anup Revandkar, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Salunkhe, Naman Ojha, Siddharth Chitnis, Paras Dogra, Amit Singh, Ahad Malek, Raphi Vincent Gomes, Kamran Khan, Ashraf Makda, Paul Valhaty, Srideep Mangela, Mohammad Arif, Gajendra Singh, Atul Sharma, Pratmesh Salunkhe, Pushkarraj Chavan

Kolkata Knight Riders: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Chris Gayle (West Indies), Brendon McCullum (New Zealand), Brad Hodge, Ricky Ponting, David Hussey, Moises Henriques, Mark Cameron (Australia), Ajantha Mendis, Angelo Mathews (Sri Lanka), Mashrafe Mortaza (Bangaladesh), Debabrata Das, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Wriddhiman Saha, Ashoke Dinda, Ajit Agarkar, Ishant Sharma, Murali Kartik, Iqbal Abdullah, Cheteshwar Pujara, Yashpal Singh, Aakash Chopra, Anureet Singh, Rajesh Verma, Aditya Dole, S Niyaz, Ishwar Chaudhury, Mohnish Parmar, ME Sanauth, Sheldon Jackson, Amit Das, Sanjib Sanyal, Avik Chowdhury, Sachin Rana, Sunny Singh, Gaurav Chhabra, Nataraj Behera, Shatrunjay Gaekwad, Shoaib Sheikh, Rohan Prem, Sanjay Bangar, Gnaneshwar Rao, Bhavik Thakkar, Kedar Jadhav, P Prashant, Prashant Parmeshwar, Kshemal Waingmankar, Murtaza Hussain, Sourav Sarkar, Arindam Ghosh, Ameya Shrikhande, Chetan Suryavanshi, Abhishek Banerjee, Anustup Mazumdar, Dhiran Salvi, Sanju Samson, Vinit Indulkar

Kings XI Punjab: Yuvraj Singh (captain), Brett Lee, James Hopes, Shaun Marsh, Luke Pomersbach, Simon Katich, Burt Cockley (Australia), Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka), Ravi Bopara (England), Jerome Taylor (West Indies), Irfan Pathan, S Sreesanth, Ramesh Powar, VRV Singh, Piyush Chawla, Karan Goel, Uday Kaul, Wilkin Mota, Ajitesh Argal, Tanmay Srivastava, Sunny Sohal, Ryan Ninan, Yash Gandhi

Pollock’s New Role

Former South African fast bowler Shaun Pollock has signed a two-year contract with the Mumbai Indians to work as the team’s mentor-cum-advisor. He will assist Coach Lalchand Rajput and the other support staff. Pollock’s return to the franchise was in doubt after he expressed his unwillingness to play competitive cricket, but he was finally lured to the club after Mumbai Indians’ management offered him a suitable position.

“I still love the game and the pioneering aspect of a new team and a new concept is a challenge I’ll enjoy. My role has evolved into that of an advisor and mentor after the management approached me with a flexible offer,” Pollock told Daily News & Analysis.

SLC Request IPL for Security Report

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has said it will wait for a security report from the IPL before releasing its contracted players for the second season of the cash rich tournament. According to reports, Nishantha Ranatunga, secretary of the newly appointed SLC interim committee, said the IPL-contracted players requested a security report from the league after which officials and players would jointly decide the next course of action.

Fourteen Sri Lankan players are due to appear in the second edition of the IPL. They include: Sanath Jayasuriya, Dilhara Fernando, Lasith Malinga (Mumbai Indians), Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara (Kings XI Punjab), Thilan Thushara, Muttiah Muralitharan (Chennai Super Kings), Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa, Chamara Silva (Deccan Chargers), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Farveez Maharoof (Delhi Daredevils), Angelo Mathews and Ajantha Mendis (Kolkata Knight Riders).

Sreesanth Ruled Out of Indian Premier League

Indian right-arm fast bowler and Kings XI Punjab player Sreesanth has been ruled out of the second season of the Indian Premier League due to a back injury. According to reports, doctors in Sydney told Sreesanth that a stress fracture of his lower back will keep him sidelined for the next three months.

The lanky pacer has been out of action for nearly a year due to various injuries. The last time he played for India was in April last year against South Africa in a Test match. He then made a slow recovery to make his return in a Duleep Trophy match for South Zone last month. However, he didn’t appear to be fully fit and his back injury is yet another major setback.

Sreesanth played a key role in his team’s march to the semi-final in last year’s IPL, capturing 19 wickets. He shared the new ball with Brett Lee to form a lethal force.

Next Page »