Hindustan Times

Saturday, February 7, 2009

On a day India become No. 2 ODI team, foreign players rake in the moolah

On Friday, India became No. 2 in world ODI rankings, on the strength of a nine-match winning streak and a decline in Australia’s dominance.

On the same day, India, the cricketing nation, seemed to laugh at the global meltdown at an auction where crores were spent buying the services of 17 overseas players.

Former England skippers Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen went for about Rs 7.5 crore apiece ($1.55 million), making them jointly the highest valued players in the Indian Premier League (IPL), more than M.S. Dhoni, bought for Rs 6 crore last year.

Bangladesh’s paceman Mashrafe Mortaza would not know how to react to the Rs 2.93 crore the Kolkata Knight Riders have paid for his “commercial value”.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com

Labels: Australia’s dominance, cricket, Deccan Chargers, highest valued players, India, Indian Premier League, Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders, ODi, Preity Zinta, world ODI rankings

Friday, January 30, 2009

Off track: 40 lakh or there abouts on dressing up cops?

Can Rs. 40 lakh, or most of that, be spent on tracksuits for a match? Well, that’s exactly what the Delhi & Districts Cricket Association apparently stated were expenses incurred on “tracksuits for the Delhi Police” during the Indo-Pak Test at the Kotla in Nov 07.

The DDCA’s balance sheet for the period between April ‘07 and March ‘08, which the Hindustan Times has a copy of, has a column called ‘promotion of cricket’, with various expenses. Under that, another column called ‘promotion of cricket’ shows an unexplained expense of Rs. 40,06,737.

At a Dec 21 meeting last year, members asked what this stood for. “NK Batra, the joint secretary finance, replied that most of this amount went towards the purchase of tracksuits for the Delhi Police for that game,” said a member who was at the meeting. HT spoke to three people who attended and they all verified that this was the reply Another, asked how . many tracksuits were bought, said “about 1250”.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/

Labels: cricket, DDCA, expenses, Indo-Pak Test, Kotla, promotion of cricket, tracksuits, tracksuits for the Delhi Police

Monday, June 2, 2008

Jaipur Triumph

Too often and too loosely events in cricket are described as historic or epochal. When the Indian Premier League began, fans weren't sure what to make of it, cricketers weren't clear if they were making enough from it and the media didn't quite know how to cover it.

At the end, everyone agreed on one thing this will change the way cricket is governed and consumed around the world. Is that good? Is it the worst thing ever? Time will tell, but it's crystal clear that change is here.

When franchises sit down with their balance sheets after the dust has settled and the cheerleaders have gone home, we'll know more about whether the financial model is robust enough - profits in the first year may just be expecting too much.

For the tournament to be a hit, two things were crucial the players had to take the games dead seriously, and the fans had to buy into the concept.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com

Labels: Bollywood Star, cheerleaders, cricket, fans, IPL, IPL matches, IPL players, Preity Zinta, Shah Rukh Khan, Yousuf Pathan

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Jaipur beat Mumbai, help Delhi reach semis

Mumbai are hosting the climax of the inaugural IPL tournament, but they may have been shut out of their own party.

On Monday, an unbeaten sixth wicket stand of 69 runs between Niraj Patel and Ravindra Jadeja took Jaipur to a nail-biting last-ball win.

Even in the beginning of the league, Sachin Tendulkar's forced absence, compounded by Harbhajan Singh's ouster after 'Slapgate', had Mumbai reeling. Only after the Little Master returned that the team hit a purple patch and nurtured hopes of a final-four showing.

Before Monday's contest, with their fate hinging on the outcome of the last two matches, the one team Mumbai would have desperately wanted to avoid was Shane Warne's Jaipur Unbeaten in the fortress of the Sawai Man Singh stadium all tournament, Jaipur cut down Mumbai and confirmed that Delhi, on 15 points, entered the semis.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaer, visit: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com

Labels: climax, cricket, delhi, harbhajan singh, inaugural IPL tournament, IPL, IPL matches, Mumbai, Niraj Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, sachin tendulkar, semifinals, Shane Warne

Friday, May 16, 2008

At a tough time, we expect support and backing

Over this past week, there have been lots of things happening and it's not been a particularly happy time. While I totally understand that everyone's upset about the results (of the Bangalore team in the IPL) so far, as players and professional cricketers, we are all very upset too.

What's important though, is that at this time, you need all the support and backing you can get. You need the people around you, the people who matter, to understand what sport is all about, to realise that no one goes out there to lose.

What's unfortunate is that, invariably, every one starts pointing fingers at the captain. So it stands all the more to reason that people within the camp then stand up and say ‘we believe in you and your team'. That's what's most important in this kind of situation.

To read the full article, click here....
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com

Labels: Anil Kumble, Bangalore team, cricket, India's greatest spinner bats, IPL, IPL players, Rahul Dravid, tough time, Vijay Mallya

Friday, May 2, 2008

Sourav a poor sport, says Warne

After the Slapgate comes another showdown. Just days after the Harbjahan-Sreesanth fiasco, a fresh storm broke in the IPL on Thursday during the Jaipur-Kolkata game, involving two vastly experienced foes.

In something strikingly similar to a controversy that made headlines during Australia's eventful tour of India in 2001, home team skipper Shane Warne tore into Souray Ganguly for being late in leading his side into the ground while batting and fielding. Speaking after the game, Warne also accused Ganguly of violating the spirit of cricket for questioning the validity of a catch claimed by Graeme Smith.

It was a smooth win for Warne's team and he was paying glowing tributes to his players until someone brought up Dada's captaincy The spin legend wasted no time in unleashing a verbal assault.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com

Labels: accused, controversy, cricket, Graeme Smith, Harbjahan, IPL matches, Jaipur-Kolkata game, Shane Warne, Sourav Ganguly, Sreesanth, verbal assault

Friday, April 25, 2008

Hollywood Ending

There was pin-drop silence in the stands, a deadly, deathly hush that made the Jaipur players' frenzied post-match celebrations appear almost incongruous. After all, they had done the unexpected, perhaps even the unbelievable, by pulling off a quite remarkable win out of nowhere, stunning the opposition and home crowd alike.

Needing 215, Jaipur were 186 for three at one stage and coasting comfortably before they self-destructed, much to the delight of a hyper-excited Hyderabad crowd.

With one over to go and down to their tail, Jaipur still needed 17 off the last over for an improbable victory and the matter seemed done and dusted Hyderabad looked like they would finally be getting one win in their kitty.

What everyone seemed to have forgotten though, was that cricket as a game, is notoriously unpredictable. And when you throw in the fact that Jaipur still had their maverick magician on the field, the inimitable Shane Warne, then you had to know that they weren't about to give up the ghost, not as long as they could breathe.

For most of the day, Andrew Symonds, who made the IPL's fastest ton in 47 balls, had the edge on his celebrated compatriot. But little did he know that the man they called "Hollywood" would hijack what could have been a Symonds Special in a matter of a few minutes.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com

Labels: Andrew symonds, cricket, Deccan Chargers, Hollywood, Hyderabad, IPL matches, Jaipur, Pankaj Singh, Warne whacked Symonds

Thursday, March 27, 2008

BCCI invokes spirit of Cricket at Indian Premier League

Don't be surprised if you see Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds being far more respectful to each other during the forthcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) than they were in Australia.

Bhajji and Symmo haven't struck up a sudden friendship. But they will have no choice but to behave because the BCCI has taken the business of sledging to heart. It has invoked the Spirit of Cricket for the IPL.

The Spirit of Cricket is the doctrine enshrined by Sir Colin Cowdrey and Lord Ted Dextel: ex-England skippers and MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) members, in the 1990s in the laws of the game.

The Indian cricket board, campaigning for the eradication of sledging and abusive player behaviour, will ask the players to take a spoken oath that will bind them to playing by the spirit of the game and not just its laws.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com

Labels: Andrew symonds, BCCI, cricket, harbhajan singh, Indian cricket team, IPL player auction, Marylebone Cricket Club

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Racism dir t on Bhajji

A day that India's batsmen dominated thoroughly ended in shock and disbelief for the visitors after the Australians lodged an official complaint saying Harbhajan Singh had abused one of their players racially Sources said the player is Andrew Symonds, with whom the offspinner had a verbal exchange on the field. Harbhajan is bewildered and upset. The Indian team is furious; they say the charges are utter rubbish, and will back Bhajji to the end. And there is a strong feeling here that the Australians, suddenly finding themselves in what may turn out to be a tight corner, have thrown a low blow The Australians would in fact, appear to have enough reasons to target Harbhajan. He was a thorn in their side for nearly 30 overs after lunch.

He smashed a feisty 63 that dashed India into an unlikely lead, allowed Sachin Tendulkar to reach century number 38, and took his side to a situation from where they can make a fight of this Test. And when Australia bat on a spinning track on..

To read the complete article click here..
To read the complete e-paper click here:epaper.hindustantimes.com
Image and Article source: Hindustan Times
Article taken from the issue: 5 Jan 2008

Labels: Andrew symonds, astralian cricket team, australian, cricket, harbhajan singh, Indian cricket team

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Kirsten set to be next coach

FORMER South Africa opener Gary Kirsten is set to take over as India's next coach later this winter, over seven months after Greg Chappell left the post.

Kirsten, who secretly met top BCCI officials, the coach selection panel (comprising former cap tains Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and S. Venkataraghavan) and Test skipper Anil Kumble on Monday night in New Delhi, has been offered a two-year contract. "We have offered him a copy of the contract," said BCCI Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty "He . will let us know whether he's joining us or not latest by December 3." The South African seemed quite comfortable with the way things had worked out. "The inter view went well, but I haven't signed anything yet," said Kirsten.

HIS SCORECARD ¦ The former South African opener has played 101 Tests and 185 ODIs. He made his debut against Australia in Melbourne in 1993. He has a Test average of 45.27 and an aggregate of 7,289 runs. ¦ He was South Africa's batting coach after his retirement in 2004...

To read the complete article click here..
To read the complete e-paper click here: epaper.hindustantimes.com
Image and article source: Hindustan Times
Article taken from the issue:28 November, 2007

Labels: BCCI, coach, cricket, gary Kirsten, India, Indian cricket team, South Africa

: Name: PressMart Team; Location: India

Pressmart: World's Online Press... Digitizing and Publishing news content of all the newspapers and magazines online. A converged solution. Participate on the news content by expressing your opinions.

View my complete profile

Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]