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Determined Chennai Surge To Top Spot

2011-05-19T03:44:00.000-07:00

The MA Chidambaram Stadium continued to be a fortress that couldn’t be breached, as Chennai sealed a seventh straight win at home to end Kochi Tuskers Kerala’s maiden IPL campaign on a disappointing note. The win for the hosts was the only constant on an otherwise unusual day in Chennai. To begin with, it was not oppressively hot on a summer’s day; the pitch played slow and low and Kochi bowled with discipline to limit a power-packed batting line-up to a gettable total. The home side found an unlikely hero in Wriddhiman Saha, who seized on a promotion and an early let-off to play a decisive cameo. Lapses by Parthiv Patel, the replacement captain, with the gloves, and Kochi’s struggles to step it up in the chase, meant Chennai’s score of 152 was more than adequate.

For those who witnessed Adam Gilchrist’s ruthless onslaught against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Tuesday, this was a slightly laborious affair. The Kochi bowlers varied their lengths well and did not offer too many scoring opportunities; the seamers refrained from doling out length deliveries, while Muttiah Muralitharan prompted caution. Each time the hosts tried to improvise and go on the attack, they were pegged back by a wicket, earned by Kochi rather than handed out.

Match Meter

CSKKTK
Runs and wickets: Kochi hit back after bursts from Vijay and Raina to make it 41 for 2 at the end of the sixth over

CSKKTK
Chennai kept in check: Hyssey departs with the score on 96 in the 15th over, but there is ammunition down the order

CSK
Finishing on a high: Saha’s late surge, including 14 off the final over, takes Chennai past 150 on a tricky pitch

CSKKTK
A similar pattern: Gnaneswara Rao falls in the seventh over with the score on 45, but that brings together McCullum and Hodge

CSK
Hosts get ahead: When McCullum falls in the 14th over with the score on 85, and there are no fours or sixes in the next three overs, the game is pretty much decided

Advantage Honours even

M Vijay smashed RP Singh for three boundaries in the third over, but was cleaned up by a perfectly-aimed yorker off the final ball. Suresh Raina was dropped by Parthiv first ball, and Sreesanth, the frustrated party, was made to rue that lapse with two huge sixes over long-on. But the bowler hit back in the same over, when Raina miscued a full toss. S Badrinath smashed a six over midwicket, but was caught brilliantly off the next ball when RP dived full length in the deep to pluck a catch inches from the ground. Saha, though, bucked the trend.

In a contrast to his senior partner Michael Hussey, who was tied down by the steady fall of wickets and his own struggle to push on, Saha infused some urgency in the Chennai innings after surviving a missed stumping by Parthiv. In a clear sign of intent following the second time-out at the end of the 13th over – the scoring rate was fractionally over six at that stage – Saha swept Ravindra Jadeja for six over square leg. In addition to aggressive running between the wickets and an adeptness in rotating the strike, Saha, picked for the Indian tour of West Indies, also indulged in some powerplay. He charged out to Muralitharan to loft him out of the ground and pulled RP into the stands behind deep midwicket to end the Chennai innings on a high.

Kochi needed a big win to keep themselves mathematically alive in this competition, but even the usually dominating Brendon McCullum was forced to exercise restraint against some determined bowling. R Ashwin kept one end locked up with his variations in turn, flight and pace, and sent back Parthiv in his second over. McCullum and Gnaneswara Rao picked up a couple of boundaries each but the innings appeared to stagnate soon after Rao’s dismissal. McCullum and Brad Hodge could do little during their stand to get on par with the climbing required-rate. Chennai didn’t concede a single boundary in the three overs that followed McCullum’s exit at 85 in the 14th over.

Kochi did manage a belated surge with Jadeja and Hodge trying to salvage what they could out of an impending defeat, reducing the margin of the loss to 11 runs – incidentally, the difference in Parthiv’s expected target at the toss.

Kochi stay mathematically alive with a thumping win

2011-05-15T23:47:00.000-07:00

The short boundaries in Indore proved to be bad masters for Rajasthan Royals. The small playing field seemed to be playing on their minds as batsman after batsman in the middle order perished to reckless strokes. Brad Hodge was at the receiving end of those gifts, ending up with a career-best 4 for 13, but it was perhaps a tight first spell from Sreesanth - three overs for 15 runs and the wickets of Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane - that set the desperation in. Kochi chased the paltry 98 in style, giving their net run-rate a boost too.

Coming into the game, both the teams had an outside chance of making it to the play-offs, but Rajasthan didn't seem too optimistic on that front. They knew the remoteness of the outside chance, and took the opportunity to make six changes to their side. Rajasthan now stand knocked out, and Kochi, with 12 points from 13 games, need to win their last game and need Kolkata and Punjab to lose theirs.

None of Rajasthan's experiments worked. RP Singh and Sreesanth offered no freebies. Faiz Fazal was caught plumb in front by a full toss before Sreesanth got Dravid with a nice outswinger. Rahane followed up a flick from wide outside off to mid-on with a shuffle too far across, making it 26 for 3 in 5.2 overs.

Rajasthan didn't look to rebuild; they knew they would need a substantial total here. Ashok Menaria began with a six off Sreesanth, Shane Watson with three off debutant left-arm spinner P Prashanth. At 56 for 3 after eight, it seemed like Rajasthan were on their way back, but Watson played all around a full delivery from Prasanth Parameswaran.

Now began the Hodge show. He kept tossing the ball up, the Rajasthan batsmen kept trying to hit the ball into the jungles of Madhya Pradesh. All of Hodge's four victims thought they could hit him for sixes; they could not have been more wrong. Pinal Shah managed to go as far as long-on, Jacob Oram failed to even get a touch, Shane Warne dragged one slog-sweep on, and Menaria found long-off. When Menaria fell, Rajasthan had slumped to 89 for 9 in the 16th over, and they were not going to get many more.

Brendon McCullum came out obsessed with improving his team's net run-rate, charging at Shaun Tait first ball. Tait didn't do himself any favours, bowling two no-balls in the first over. One of them - when he cut the side crease - had bowled McCullum. After hitting Tait for a four and six in the first over, McCullum proceeded to treat Oram as a club bowler, nonchalantly flicking him for three straight sixes. When MCullum fell for a 12-ball 29, it was important for Kochi to keep scoring fast. Hodge and Parthiv Patel didn't disappoint, ending the chase in 7.2 overs. It was the second-biggest win in terms of balls remaining in IPLs and the fourth-biggest in all Twenty20 matches.

Brilliant Bangalore demolish Kochi

2011-05-08T21:52:00.000-07:00

If you aren't a fan of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, there's good news and bad news. The good news first: Tillakaratne Dilshan has found form late, and will not unleash any more violence in the IPL, since he is headed to England. The bad news is that Chris Gayle is in such form that you probably wouldn't notice Dilshan's absence. And then there is worse news - Bangalore are fielding like a team possessed. The hapless Kochi Tuskers Kerala ran into each of these facets of Bangalore's brilliance, and were brushed away by nine wickets, with 6.5 overs to spare.

Match Meter

KTK
Bangalore begin poorly: Kochi capitalise against the new ball, and march to 64 for 1 in eight overs

RCB
The beginning of a field day: de Villiers and Zaheer sizzle in the field, to dismiss Parthiv and Hodge. Kochi never recover, and stumble to 125

RCB
Dilshan back in form: Powar bowls the second over of the chase and Dilshan pummels 20 runs. Things are about to get worse for Kochi …

RCB
Thirty-seven: Gayle plunders 37 off Prasanth Parameswaran's first over, third of the innings. The crowd's evening is about to end very early

Advantage Honours even

On a day when their franchise went green, Gayle and Dilshan did more than their bit for the environment, setting up a finish before the floodlights took full effect. Gayle began the mayhem by depositing RP Singh into the second tier behind long-off in the first over. Dilshan responded by looting 20 runs off Ramesh Powar in the second over. What followed was not for children and the faint-hearted.

At the start of Prasanth Parameswaran's over, if you had stopped him and said he was going to do worse than concede six sixes, he would have laughed it off. After all, he was a man who had stared Virender Sehwag in the face and nailed him in his first IPL over. Today was a different day, though.

Parameswaran chugged in and delivered a length ball first up, and Gayle carved it over point for a six. Parameswaran did not flinch; Sehwag had done likewise the other day before perishing. Today, Parameswaran's second ball was a slower ball. Bad idea. Worse, it was a no-ball. Gayle slashed him for six more. The free-hit was thumped through midwicket. The next ball was thundered through the covers. By now, Parameswaran was clearly rattled, and he ran in robotically to delivery two more length balls. Six over cover, followed by a shimmy down the track and a 91 metre six over long-off. The last ball was a high full toss, and Gayle inside-edged for four more. The over had gone for 37, and Parameswaran had a story his grandchildren would ask him to relate years from now. Kochi, meanwhile were looking for an early flight out. Dilshan ensured they would have enough time to beat the Bangalore traffic and make it to the airport in time.

Incredibly, Bangalore were just as clinical on the field. Daniel Vettori made masterly bowling changes on a sluggish track. He came on after his fast bowlers had allowed Kochi to get off to a good start, and stalled them with two huge wickets. His fielders - from the usually nimble AB de Villiers, to the rarely agile Zaheer Khan - responded with brilliance, and Kochi lurched from 64 for 1 in eight overs to 89 for 5 in 14, before finishing on 125 for 9.

Kochi's problems began with Brendon McCullum's inability to adapt to the slowness of the strip, though Michael Klinger's smart footwork got them early boundaries. Vettori switched to Plan B after four overs, bringing Gayle and himself on. McCullum charged Gayle for two fours, but Vettori lulled him into an awry swipe with a smart variation in length.

Parthiv Patel kept looking for boundaries, and Kochi had managed at least one in each of the first eight overs. The party was about to end though: Bangalore struck in each of the next three overs. Klinger yorked himself by charging out to Gayle, before Vettori cracked the game open by getting Mahela Jayawardene to edge behind. Bangalore's fielding then took centre-stage.

Brad Hodge nudged his first ball behind point and took off for a non-existent single. Parthiv responded before pulling out of the run, and was soon running alongside Hodge towards the bowler's end. AB de Villiers pouched the wide throw on the dive with his left glove and, not knowing that both batsmen were stranded close to the other end, threw down the stumps in one smooth, graceful motion as he tumbled.

Three overs later, Zaheer bettered the effort: Hodge whipped S Aravind off the hips and the ball was hurtling towards the boundary when Zaheer jumped up full length and intercepted with one hand at short fine leg. Kochi were visibly stunned, and never looked like recovering. Bangalore's fielding kept bettering itself right up to the last over, when Mohammad Kaif took a brilliant catch running forward, and de Villiers slung-shot another run-out. What followed after the break was just plain cartoonish violence.

Gomez And Hodge Star In Hard-Fought Win

2011-05-05T21:55:00.000-07:00

A disciplined performance in the field and an explosive 35 off 19 balls from Brad Hodge helped Kochi Tuskers overcome Kolkata Knight Riders in the last match at the Nehru Stadium this IPL season.

Hodge’s last over blitz, in which he took 21 runs off countryman Brett Lee, proved to be the difference between the two sides, as Kochi defended 156 by 17 runs. In the chase, RP Singh and Sreesanth failed to get the same kind of movement that Brett Lee extracted early in the Kochi innings. Jacques Kallis and Eoin Morgan didn’t have to take many risks early on as there were many poor deliveries that were smacked to the boundary. In the first three overs, the bulk of the short and wide ones came from RP Singh.

R Vinay Kumar and Prasanth Parameswaran pulled back the chase before it raged out of control with a selection of back of a length deliveries that proved difficult to get away. Although they kept the

boundaries down, they didn’t trouble the batsmen much and failed to get a breakthrough until after the halfway stage, when Kolkata were well set. Kallis was the senior partner and easily outscored Morgan in that phase. Seven times in the first ten overs Kallis stole the strike at the end of the over.

Just as Kallis looked as though he had grown roots, Raiphi Gomez rattled Kolkata with a double strike in his second over. He bowled Kallis with a legcutter and had Gautam Gambhir caught in the covers off consecutive balls, which left Morgan to assume the senior role. Manoj Tiwary could not last long, and Yusuf Pathan was expected to counterattack, but he and Morgan were frustrated by Gomez’s variations and Parameswaran’s accurate fuller deliveries. Sreesanth let the noose loosen, giving Morgan back-to-back boundaries but Vinay Kumar was on hand to tighten it. Confusions between Morgan and Yusuf mounted in Vinay’s last over, and Morgan was run out when both batsmen ended up at the wicketkeeper’s end.

It brought Brett Lee to the crease, in poetic justice for the last over he bowled, which went for 21. There were 25 to get off the last over of Kolkata’s innings. Lee was run-out and the task proved too steep.

Kochi’s innings was anchored by a third-wicket partnership between Mahela Jayawardene and Michael Klinger before being given momentum at the death by Hodge. It didn’t look as though Kochi would get over the 150-run mark, especially after the way things started. Lee’s first over was a whole bag of peaches. He got impressive away movement and started the innings with a maiden.

Some success seemed inevitable after the start Kolkata got and it came from Jaidev Unadkat, although he hardly deserved it. He banged one in, too short and too wide outside off that Brendon McCullum chased and his fine edge nestled in Kallis’ hands at slip.

Parthiv Patel came in at No. 3 and opened his account with two stunning boundaries. He looked energetic and confident in his strokeplay and dealt with Unadkat’s bouncer and the introduction of spin, in the form of Iqbal Abdulla, with relative ease. Surprisingly, it was the short ball that undid him, when he charged down the track and miscued a pull shot to midwicket.The stage was set for Jayawardene to play an innings of authority and, with Klinger at the other end, he did exactly that. They played creative cricket, managing a boundary off five of the seven overs they were together for and pushed each other to take singles before Klinger holed out. When Abdulla got the wicket of Ravindra Jadeja for eight, Kochi were being pegged back and some impetus was needed.

The floodgates were opened with Jayawardene’s six over long leg at the start of the 17th over and Kochi put on 54 runs in the final four overs, with Hodge’s fireworks yielding almost half of those.

All-Round Kochi Pummel Delhi

2011-05-03T01:48:00.001-07:00

: Kochi Tuskers

Five defeats at home have meant the Feroz Shah Kotla faithful have had little to cheer this season, and today was the bleakest day since Delhi Daredevils were routed by Mumbai Indians in their opening game. Two days after a Virender Sehwag special handed Kochi Tuskers Kerala a hiding, it was the turn of Mahela Jayawardene's men to outclass Delhi, snapping a three-game losing streak by cruising to victory with five overs to go.

The Kotla track has been everything from a batting beauty to a square turner this season, but though the pitch was neither of those extremes on Monday, Delhi's batsmen struggled to a sub-par total, and like generous hosts, their bowlers gave the visitors 18 extras to ease Kochi's path to victory.
Delhi's batting is hugely reliant on their two lethal hitters at the top of the order, Virender Sehwag and David Warner, and their early exits derailed their innings. Sehwag swatted a couple of fours in the first over, and greeted the debutant Prasanth Parameswaran with a brutal hit for six in the third over. Three balls later, though, Parameswaran had a moment to remember, getting Sehwag caught behind. And when Warner pulled Sreesanth to long-on, Delhi were down to 42 for 2.
It wasn't exactly vintage Twenty20 batting after that as Venugopal Rao and Yogesh Nagar put on the biggest stand of the innings at just over a-run-a-ball. There was a surprise bouncer down the leg side from the left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, and a ball that bounced twice from Vinay Kumar and was swiped for four, but otherwise it was mostly sedate stuff.
The arrival of Travis Birt spiced up things as he chipped in with a series of innovative strokes, scoring virtually all his runs behind the wicket. The highlight of the innings was his angled glide for four through third man, after he went down on a knee and initially looked to paddle the ball.

Match Meter

KTK
Sehwag exits early: Debutant Prasanth Parameswaran gets Sehwag to nick to the keeper for 15 in the third over

KTK
Sreesanth strikes: In the sixth over, Warner is done in as he tries to pull a ball angling away from him, which ended up lobbing to mid-on

KTK
McCullum blazes: The first over from Umesh was lashed for 23, which meant Kochi were 53 for 0 after four overs

Advantage Honours even

Delhi's chances of winning hinged on keeping in tight and getting rid of the big names at the top of the Kochi batting early. Instead, Irfan Pathan sprayed five wides in the first over, and then gifted a boundary by slipping the ball down the leg side. Brendon McCullum then caned Morne Morkel for three fours in the next over, and the game was as good as over after Umesh Yadav's first over went for 23. There was a classic McCullum extra cover drive, a chest-high full toss that was unintentionally clipped for six, another short ball that was crashed for six more, before a muscled four through cover-point propelled Kochi to 53 for 0 after four overs.
The openers were dismissed soon after, but with the asking rate at 5 and the likes of Mahela Jayawardene and Brad Hodge to come, the next half hour was mostly about completing the formalities. Jayawardene was needlessly run-out, before Parthiv Patel and Hodge killed off any Delhi dreams of a comeback with an unbroken 52-run stand.
The result leaves Delhi needing five wins in their remaining matches to reach the final four, and while Kochi moved up to eight points, their route to the semi-finals isn't straight-forward either.

Delhi rout Kochi after Sehwag masterclass

2011-05-02T00:43:00.000-07:00

Virender Sehwag showcased his class on a tricky Nehru Stadium surface on which numerous deliveries hardly got up above ankle height. Sehwag took his time before exploding in the end to lift Delhi Daredevils to 157, a score that proved beyond Kochi Tuskers Kerala and breathed some life in to Delhi's doddering campaign. In a knock that must surely go down as one of the best IPL innings, Sehwag smashed 49 off his last 15 deliveries to surge to 80 off 47, on a wicket where even survival was an achievement for batsmen.

Smarting from the big defeat against Deccan Chargers on a green-tinged home pitch, Kochi went to the opposite spectrum of surface preparation, dishing out a dry and loose wicket on which the ball kept alarmingly low right from the start. But they ran in to a determined Sehwag who, quickly realising that his usual cavalier style was not going to work, changed his approach, playing as safely as a Sehwag can.

The surface had come under scrutiny at the toss when Sehwag voiced doubts over it, saying the top surface was coming loose when someone walked on the wicket. Right away, the first ball from Sreesanth, in the second over, hardly got above David Warner's shin, and disturbed his off stump as he was caught clueless on the back foot. The fourth ball just rolled along the ground after pitching on a length, catching Naman Ojha on the boot in front of leg stump as Sehwag watched incredulously from the non-striker's end.

Delhi's innings was built around a 56-run stand between Yogesh Nagar and Sehwag after Venugopal Rao fell to leave them at 35 for 3 in the seventh over. The extent to which Sehwag reined himself in was evident when Delhi went without a boundary for 38 balls. It was Nagar who ended the drought when he launched R Vinay Kumar past extra cover in the 12th over.

Match Meter

KTK
Sreesanth strikes twice in second overSreesanth bowls David Warner and gets Naman Ojha lbw with balls that barely get up.4 for 2

DDKTK
Sehwag and Nagar rebuild Virender Sehwag and Yogesh Nagar add 56 for the fourth wicket to help Delhi recover

DD
Sehwag blazes away Sehwag takes off towards the end, his 80 off 47 lifting Delhi to a challenging 157 on the unpredictable surface

DD
Irfan takes out top order Irfan Pathan and Morne Morkel run through the Kochi top order, reducing them to 28 for 3

DD
Jayawardene and Hodge fall Mahela Jayawardene and Brad Hodge go in an attempt to tackle the mounting asking rate. Despite Ravindra Jadeja's 31, Roelof van der Merwe mops up the tail for a 38-run win

Advantage Honours even

Sehwag, who was on a scarcely believable 31 off 32, broke free in the next over, slamming Ravindra Jadeja for consecutive sixes over long-off and deep midwicket. On a pitch where batsmen were finding it difficult to hang in, Sehwag toyed with the bowling. The shots that had been put away came out in a torrent of calculated hitting. It rained pulls, whips, inside-out lofts, late cuts on a hapless Kochi attack. Vinay Kumar disappeared for 15 in the 15th over, B Akhil was scattered for 18 in the next.

Sehwag's complete control over his craft was on display against Ramesh Powar. Even as the offspinner tossed the ball up, Sehwag found time to dance down the track and lift him effortlessly against the turn over extra cover. His dismissal in the next over off Vinay was also characteristic, caught at deep extra cover on the edge of the rope, going inside out with three men in front of square on the off side boundary. But his charge lifted Delhi to 157, after they had been 62 for 3 in the 13th over.

Shell-shocked Kochi's only chance on the treacherous wicket was if their top order came good, but it wasn't to be. The pitch didn't play a major role in the first two dismissals though. IPL debutant Michael Klinger flicked Morne Morkel only for Roelof van der Merwe, in for the injured James Hopes, to pull off a blinder at square leg. Two deliveries later, Brendon McCullum decided that the only way to tackle the unpredictable surface was the blind charge, and lost his middle stump to Irfan Pathan.

Parthiv Patel found just how difficult the track was, as a back-of-a-length Pathan delivery barely rose a foot, easily going under his defensive push and disturbing off stump. As a disgusted Parthiv walked off in a volley of expletives, it was left to Kochi's two most-experienced batsmen, Mahela Jayawardene and Brad Hodge, to salvage the chase from 28 for 3.

Jayawardene hung around for a while but it was always going to be difficult to get more than eight an over on such a wicket. In trying to whip Ajit Agarkar over midwicket, he spooned a tame catch to Sehwag when on 18. Hodge could not capitalise on a dropped chance by Pathan on 15 and his dismissal by Morne Morkel in the 14th over effectively ended Kochi's chances though a few hits from Ravindra Jadeja reduced the margin of defeat.

Ishant Five-For Wrecks Kochi

2011-04-27T22:35:00.000-07:00

If you needed a punctuation mark to describe this game, you’d choose a big, bold exclamation mark and colour it a deep crimson red. Kochi Tuskers Kerala’s scorecard was stunningly woeful at the end of four sensational overs: 0, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0 were the scores of the batsmen sucker-punched by Ishant Sharma, who harassed them with seam and bounce. And Kochi never recovered from that soul-crushing spell.

His hair bobbed up and down in characteristic fashion as Ishant ran in, fingers behind the seam and wrists snapping at the release, and the length was nearly always full. The first has been an ever-present theme with him in good and bad times, the second image hasn’t always been consistently repeated, and the third was a pleasant surprise.

Ishant entered the scene after Dale Steyn took out Brendon McCullum in the first over with a delivery that jagged away to take the outside edge. It was the beginning of Kochi’s nightmare as Ishant stunned them with a triple strike. Parthiv Patel stabbed at a delivery that bounced and seamed away from him to the keeper, Raiphi Gomez (what was he doing at No. 4?) was taken out for a first-ball duck by a sharp incutter, and Brad Hodge combusted off the fifth delivery. He played a loose and ambitious off drive, wafting outside the line of the full delivery that cut in to rearrange the furniture.

Kochi were 2 for 4 then and all their hopes rested on their opener and captain Mahela Jayawardene, who was a forlorn figure in the middle, watching the destruction unfold in front of him. Ishant wasn’t done yet; he reserved his best for Jayawardene. After trapping Kedar Jadhav in front with a sharp incutter in the fourth over, he produced a brute of a delivery to knock out Jayawardene, and Kochi, in the same over. It screamed up from back of a good length, held its line and kissed the edge of the defensive prod en route to the delighted Kumar Sangakkara. Jayawardene gave an inquisitive, and accusing, look at the pitch before he turned and departed the crime scene.

Ishant’s figures read an incredible 5 for 6 and Kochi were 11 for 6 from four overs, and though there were a couple of face-saving contributions from Ravindra Jadeja and Thisara Perera, they were rapidly heading along a cul-de-sac.

In retrospect, the middle-over massacre led by Sangakkara – Deccan recovered from the depths of 37 for 3 after 10 overs to reach 105 for 3 in 16 – lulled one into a false perception about the nature of the track. In hindsight, Kochi will be ruing a no-ball from Sreesanth that allowed Sangakkara to break free. Sangakkara was on 5 when Sreesanth produced a jaffa – it bent back in from the off stump line to knock out the middle stump – but the third umpire confirmed the on-field umpire’s suspicion that it was a no-ball.

It was the 11th over, bowled by Perera, that changed the landscape. Both Sangakkara and Cameron White, who was on 6 from 17 balls, pulled two short deliveries to the boundary to take 11 runs in that over. It wasn’t your massive “big over” that the IPL throws up on a daily basis but it was the spark that ignited Deccan, and Sangakkara in particular. In the 12th over, he dragged Vinay Kumar for two leg-side boundaries and threw in the conventional and the upper cut to collect two more fours in the 14th over, off Perera. He continued to slash and heave and even unfurled a paddle-swept boundary off Sreesanth but the next over over from Vinay brought Kochi back.Vinay had White holing out to deep midwicket off the fifth delivery and induced Sangakkara to edge a slower one off the next. The lower order couldn’t produce anything substantial and the question lingered at the end of their innings: Was 129 going to be enough? Ishant answered it in some style.

Kochi stifle Kolkata in hard-fought win

2011-04-20T22:25:00.000-07:00

Kochi Tuskers Kerala won a battle of attrition against Kolkata Knight Riders on a slow Eden Gardens pitch to move to the third position in the points table. The wicket did not play as low as it did in Kolkata's win against Rajasthan Royals, but it was just as slow, making it difficult for batsmen, and a delight for the spinners.

After Yusuf Pathan and Shakib Al Hasan had taken six wickets for 48 runs between them to restrict Kochi to 132, Kolkata's powerful batting line-up would have fancied the modest chase. But Kochi's own army of spinners - Muttiah Muralitharan, Ramesh Powar and Ravindra Jadeja - stifled the runs though they did not get as many wickets, and ensured the pressure got to the Kolkata batsmen, who fell six runs short.

As it transpired, the performance against the new-ball bowlers was the difference between the two sides. Kolkata's seamers conceded 26 for 0 in their first three overs, while Kochi's fast bowlers dismissed Jacques Kallis and Gautam Gambhir, while conceding only 20 runs in their first four overs. Kallis fell to the hook for the second time running, swinging Vinay Kumar straight to deep square leg. Gambhir played inside the line of a full delivery from RP Singh that straightened and uprooted middle stump as Kolkata began to stutter.

In the next over, Manvinder Bisla drove outside the line of a Jadeja delivery to lose his off stump. Manoj Tiwary and Eoin Morgan tried to work the ball around but the spinners were getting turn, and their different styles posed problems. Muralitharan, back after being left out for the previous two games, varied his flight and angle brilliantly, Jadeja fired the ball in, and Powar stuck to flight as he always does.

The mounting asking-rate led to Morgan charging out of his crease in the 13th over for a non-existent single, and Jayawardene threw down the middle stump with a direct hit. Tiwary took on RP Singh in the next over with consecutive boundaries, but Shakib missed a low full toss off the last ball to be bowled.

Match Meter

KKR
Yusuf takes three in three overs After a solid start, Kochi stutter to 66 for 4 as Yusuf Pathan removes Mahela Jayawardene, Brad Hodge and Parthiv Patel in successive overs

KTKKKR
Jadeja lifts Kochi to 132 Ravindra Jadeja makes 29 off 18 balls to take Kochi to a fighting total

KTK
Kolkata lose three in three overs Kochi strike regularly as Kolkata slip to 37 for 3, including the big wickets of Jacques Kallis and Gautam Gambhir

KKR
Tiwary hangs in Manoj Tiwary, along with Eoin Morgan, brings it down to 60 required off eight overs

KTK
Morgan and Shakib fall Morgan is run out and Shakib Al Hasan is bowled by RP Singh as Kochi make further inroads

KTK
Spinners get Yusuf and Tiwary Ramesh Powar lures Yusuf into a mishit to short third man and Jadeja has Tiwary stumped. The Kolkata tail tries but falls short by six runs

Advantage Honours even

With 47 required from five overs, Jayawardene brought Powar back against Yusuf, who came in lower down the order, having injured himself taking a catch earlier. It was a make-or-break move, and Yusuf duly deposited the second delivery he faced beyond the wide long-on boundary. It was either foolhardy or brave of Powar to flight the next ball from round the wicket. It turned out to be the latter, as Yusuf went hard at it and got a top edge to short third man.

It was all up to Tiwary now. He had batted intelligently, picking up the singles and finding the boundaries when the rate climbed. But Jadeja saw him charge out, and had him stumped off a wide delivery down the leg side. Iqbal Abdulla and Rajat Bhatia refused to give up, taking 12 off RP Singh's last over, the 19th. But 14 off the last over proved to be too much, and Vinay Kumar throttled them with a succession of slower deliveries, to give Kochi the game.

The result had seemed unlikely when Kolkata's spinners restricted Kochi to 132. Gautam Gambhir had turned to spin after Brendon McCullum took Brett Lee for 15 runs in the third over. Right away, the left-arm spin of Abdulla and Shakib slowed the scoring-rate.

The first breakthrough came when a Shakib delivery seemed to stop on McCullum, who edged a half-hearted cut to point. The introduction of Yusuf in the eighth over brought more trouble for Kochi. Jayawardene, who had got away with a close leg-before shout earlier against Abdulla, was given out lbw while sweeping, even though replays showed he had gloved the ball onto the pad.

Yusuf struck in each of his next two overs. The slow nature of the pitch was further highlighted by Brad Hodge's dismissal, bowled off an inside edge after playing the pull too early. Yusuf then trapped Parthiv Patel leg-before with a quicker one. Having slipped from 49 for 0 to 65 for 4, Kochi depended on Jadeja to take them to a fighting total.

He responded by smacking a six each in overs 13, 14 and 15, before swinging Lee straight to long-on for 29. Balaji and Lee ensured that Kochi didn't get away, but 132 turned out to be just enough in the end.

Spirited Kochi make it two in two

2011-04-19T02:42:00.000-07:00

Brendon McCullum made a severe dent into the below-par D/L-adjusted target set by Chennai Super Kings, and handy contributions from Parthiv Patel and Brad Hodge then gave Kochi Tuskers their second win in a row. It was the impact of the clean hitting from McCullum that shook Chennai up, and Parthiv and Hodge took Kochi home with some smart cricket.

It was in compete contrast to how almost every Chennai batsman, bar M Vijay, struggled to find timing on a pitch that seemed to have retained some moisture. The Kochi bowlers used the track well, getting the ball to grip, but it was the ground fielding that stifled Chennai despite the fact the inside edges regularly found the boundary and mis-hits hardly ever reached the deep fielders.

McCullum then made batting looked ridiculously easy. Statements aren't made more emphatically than the way he treated Albie Morkel like a spinner at the start of the chase. He charged straight at Morkel in the first over and deposited him into the sightscreen. In Morkel's second, he went over cow corner. Disdain was getting defined. Doug Bollinger got a sample too when he did as much as pitch short of a length.

Match Meter

KT
RP snares Hussey Chennai lose the big wicket of Michael Hussey to the new ball

KT
Vijay falls after brief recovery The second wicket adds 37 but Vijay plays a poor shot after a good start to make it 48 for 2

KT
RP concedes two in 15th over RP Singh makes sure there is no big hitting at the end of Chennai's innings

KT
McCullum starts in a hurry Brendon McCullum disdainfully hits both opening bowlers to give Kochi a head start

KT
Handy contributions from middle orderParthiv Patel, Brad Hodge and Ravindra Jadeja make sure McCullum's start is not wasted

Advantage Honours even

Mahela Jayawardene departed after hitting R Ashwin for a four and a six, but nothing was keeping McCullum from hitting balls towards the sightscreen, as Shadab Jakati realised. In the ninth over, Tim Southee also made the mistake of straying into McCullum's pads, and was hit for two boundaries as Kochi attained a rate of nine an over.

In between, Parthiv played a lovely cover-drive for four, but also got one inside-edge to run down for four to give Chennai a taste of their own medicine. McCullum wanted to finish things off fast, but miscued one off R Ashwin to leave the others 46 to get off 39. Parthiv was to make the equation simpler with a slog-swept six off Jakati, but he too mis-hit a pull to leave 26 to get off the last four overs.

Hodge and Ravindra Jadeja made sure there no jitters in the home stretch. Chennai's innings, though, never escaped regular and mild jitters. It rained almost throughout the first nine overs, play was interrupted for more than an hour after that due to a heavy shower, and Chennai remained sluggish throughout. Except for a flowing 28 off 18 from Vijay, none of the Chennai batsmen adjusted well to the pace of the pitch. Even Suresh Raina's half-century, and credit must go to him for getting that many on such a day, featured as many edges and mis-hits as clean shots.

Others had nothing to show for their efforts. Early movement consumed Michael Hussey, Vijay's first loose shot accounted for his wicket, and desperation at not being able to hit freely took care of S Badrinath. The decisive moment came when MS Dhoni and Raina came together. RP Singh, Hussey's wicket to his name already, welcomed the India captain with an over full of yorkers and a bouncer, conceding just two; that left Chennai on 109 for 3 after 15. In that spell of play, heave after heave followed, pad after pad was hit, and not even a 14-run final over threatened Kochi.

Steven Smith to leave Kochi Tuskers Kerala due to ankle surgery

2011-04-14T21:46:00.000-07:00

In a blow for the winless new IPL franchise Kochi Tuskers Kerala, Aussie all-rounder Steven Smith , who showed promise with the ball in the recent ODI series against Bangladesh, will be returning to Australia to deal with a nagging ankle injury. He will not be taking up his IPL duties with the team. Smith hopes to recover from the surgery by July, when the Australia squad’s pre-season camp occurs, and be fit for the team’s Sri Lanka and South Africa tours soon after.

According to team physio Alex Kountouris, "Steve has had long-standing, minor pain in his left ankle during the Australian summer. This is considered an opportune time to have surgery on the ankle. It will take place next week so he can adequately prepare for the upcoming Australia season."

Smith was to join Kochi along with fellow team-mate John Hastings after Australia’s 3-0 series victory over Bangladesh on Wednesday. There is no word yet of who his replacement will be.

IPL Teams Go For IPL 4 Ticket Sale

2011-03-29T23:59:00.000-07:00

As cricket fever is at the moment gripping the country, with cricket World Cup 2011 happening, IPL team are all set to sell their tickets for IPL 4. IPL 4 which begins from April 8.

All the IPL team have started the sale, and Chennai Super Kings is not that behind their step to sell off. Kochi team and Pune Warriors, which are two new entrants, have partnered with KyaZoonga.com for the sale.

Kochi IPL Team co-owner Mukesh Patel said, "Kyazoonga will be our exclusive ticket partner and the sale should start from Monday onwards.”

Other teams, like Rajasthan Royals have tied with Bookmyshow.com for sale of tickets.

Rajasthan Royals Marketing Officer Raghu Iyer said, "Tickets will be up for sale in the next week. We will keep them extremely affordable for the fans.”

It is scheduled that each franchisee will play minimum of 7 matches. Thus, it greatly depends upon the way each IPL teams sell their match tickets. It also depends greatly upon the stadia capacity.

Expressing how tickets would be sold, Raghu Iyer said, "The capacity of the Sawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur is around 30,000 seats and tickets would be priced starting from Rs. 200, Rs. 500, Rs. 1000 and going up to Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 15,000 for corporate and luxury bookings.”

Ticket sale will be significant, and Mindshare Managing Partner (Entertainment Sports Partnerships) Hiren Pandit said, "IPL matches will surely see interest from fans as a lot of people did not get to watch the World Cup live.”

Kochi Tuskers Kerala start online ticket sales

2011-03-28T21:21:00.000-07:00

KOCHI: IPL debutants Kochi Tuskers Kerala on Monday started their online ticket sales campaign in partnership with Kyazoonga.

Five matches will be held in Kochi, with the opening game on April 9 will have home team pitted against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Fans can purchase tickets by visiting the official KTK website or by visiting Kyazoonga website, the official ticketing partner of the Kochi Tuskers Kerala, KPCL said

To buy tickets online, one can use Master or Visa Card. Tickets can be endorsed at the stadium or at accredited stores or can be arranged via courier (authenticating with ID proof at time of delivery), the KCPL said.

Federal Bank CEO Shyam Sreenivasan, team co-owners Dhawal Shah, Mehul Shal, Ranji Patel, Vivek Venugopal and coach Geoff Lawson were among those present at the function to mark launch of ticket sales.

Vivek Venugopal, also KCPL Director, said KTK being a fan-based franchise, tickets have been priced strategically keeping their interest as priority, location in the stadium and the distance of height from centre pitch.

The tickets are priced from Rs 400 to Rs 1500 and Rs 2000 to Rs 5000 followed with the Tuskers Stand, Grand Stand and Corporate Boxes with hospitality providing state-of-the-art facilities.

KTK have also made arrangements for fellow corporates, providing them exclusive corporate boxes. Located on Tier two, South End view, provides an opportunity to experience IPL match in a family atmosphere. All Corporate and bulk bookings will be managed from Kochi Cricket Pvt. Ltd office.

"Fans can even purchase tickets from our partner's retail outlets where special benefits will be provided to purchasers, like special discount on merchandise. One can also go on website of our partners, which are linked to Kyazoonga, official ticketing partner and purchase tickets," Venugopal said.

Details of other retail ticket outlets would be updated on the official Kochi Tuskers Kerala website shortly, he said.

Kochi will be long term venue, say Kochi IPL team owners

2011-03-22T22:39:00.001-07:00

In a big boost to Kochi's IPL dreams, the co-owners of the Kochi Tuskers Kerala, (KTK), which is debuting in the current Indian Premier League season, on Wednesday said 'Kochi will be long term venue' for all their matches.

KTK will be playing its inaugural match against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Kochi on April 9. Totally five matches have been alloted to Kochi.

Expressing complete satisfaction with the arrangements at the Jawahar Lal Nehru stadium, Dhaval Shah, one of the owners of the Kochi team, who visited the stadium, told reporters that this will not be one season affair. Kochi is a long term venue, he said.

Two other co-owners owners Vivek Venugopal and Ranji Patel, were also present.

"We are here for good. We will have all our matches here every year," he said.

The team owners have written to the Board Of Control For Cricket In India (BCCI) to shift the two matches now scheduled at Indore to Kochi. "We are yet to get a reply from the BCCI," he said.

The owners said they had earlier written to the IPL governing council to shift the venue from Kochi as they were uncertaintities about getting kochi as a permanent venue. But now the problem has been solved as the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) has got the stadium leased from the the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) for five years.

Vivek Venugopal said they have requested the Kochi corporation to give a 100% waiver of entertainment tax. The corporation has agreed for 50% waiver as of now, he said.

The owners also expressed satisfaction at the efforts taken by the KCA to get the stadium ready.

The practise session of the Kochi team will start from March 26. The players who are participating in the World Cup would take part in the practise sessions. Team coach Geoff Lawson, is expected to reach here by this weekend, KCA sources said.

IPL, polls stretch police strength

2011-03-20T21:32:00.001-07:00

It's now official. The city police will get additional forces to handle the twin-challenges being posed by the impending IPL extravaganza and the high voltage elections.

In a fresh twist to the IPL story, police has assured the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) that additional forces would be deployed for the first-ever IPL match between Kochi Tuskers and Royal Challengers slated for April 9 at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium.

It is learnt KCA officials had held several rounds of discussions with Mr Jacob Punnoose, director-general of police, and city police commissioner M.R.Ajithkumar to sort out the suspense that revolved around the upcoming event.

“We met the DGP and he asked us to go ahead with the match as scheduled. He also assured us of optimum security,” KCA president T.C. Mathew told Deccan Chronicle.

Interestingly, Ajithkumar earlier had said, it wouldn't be possible to spare his men for the IPL matches due to elections and had asked KCA officials to postpone the event. “But, he said the match could be held as per schedule if DGP agreed to allot more personnel,” said Mathew.

Reacting to Mathew's claim, Ajithkumar said he'd no problem in holding the IPL event as planned if the DGP had given the green signal. “We need more men for the IPL event as our 2,500 personnel would be under tremendous pressure during elections,” Ajithkumar explained.

Now that the DGP has given the go ahead for the IPL match, it’s learnt KCA will have another round of meeting with the commissioner of police on Tuesday.

Federal Bank is Kochi IPL’s principal sponsor

2011-03-20T21:20:00.000-07:00

KOCHI: Federal Bank has tied up with Kochi IPL as the principal sponsor. Federal Bank executive director P C John and Kochi IPL director Mehul Shaw signed the agreement in this regard. Chief general manager T S Jagadeesan, Public Relations Department head Raju Hormis, directors of Kochi IPL Vivek Venugopal and Saket Mehta attended the meet.

The tickets to the matches will be available through selected branches of the Federal Bank and website

Kochi IPL team faces elephantine problem

2011-03-20T21:18:00.000-07:00

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kochi's IPL team – christened in controversy when it was first mooted, led to a minister of state losing his job during the team's teething days, and caught in a bind over the first name that was first proposed for it – now has an elephantine problem at hand.

The Elephant Lovers' Association in Kerala has vowed that it will not permit the team to have its theme video shot using live elephants.

The decision by the Thrissur-based elephant lovers comes only days after the Kochi IPL team decided to change its name from the original 'Indi Commandos' to a more acceptable 'Kochi Tuskers Kerala', in deference to public opinion in the state.

The change in name apparently got the team's promo team to think of having a couple of tuskers as part of the theme video. But while the likes of Mahela Jayawardene, Muthiah Muralitharan and Brendon McCullum have been practising Kalaripayattu steps for the shoot in Mumbai with their trainer PB Subeesh, the part of tuskers playing any role in it seems unlikely.

"Commercial exploitation of animals is severely restricted and any violation would be all the more serious considering that the elephant has recently been declared the state's heritage animal", says Elephant Lovers' Association secretary VT Venkitachalam, an accountant by profession and an animal lover by passion.

ELA had in 2007 moved the high court to stop import of about 50 elephants into the state from Assam and Bihar, and the following year got a rule enacted to prevent elephants being exposed to sunlight between 11 am and 4 pm. Venkitachalam says the reason for many tuskers running amok is because they are exposed to the hot sun, and that the ELA's statistics showed that as many as 176 mahouts had been killed in the state over the past decade during the 11 am-4 pm time frame. The latest incident was on Sunday morning when an elephant, Karthikeyan, crushed its mahout, Ayyappan Nair to death.

Venkitachalam says that it was at the initiative of the ELA that the Kerala Captive Elephant (Management and Maintenance) Rule 2003 came into force, which puts in place stern restrictions on using elephants for commercial activities.

The rules, however, are widely flouted and Venkitachalam says religious establishments are at the forefront of the infringements. "Political parties are afraid to take a stand when it comes to organized religions violating animal rights", says Venkitachalam.

ELA suggests that the Kochi IPL team opt for animation for its video. "This is the era of technology, and cricket is known to embrace the latest in technical offerings. If they need visuals of elephants, they could have an animated solution", says Venkitachalam, whose ELA is expected to invoke the Kerala Captive Elephant (Management and Maintenance) Rule 2003, the Performing Animals Registration Rule 2001, the Prevention of Cruelty Act 1960 and the Wildlife Stock Rule 2003 to ensure that elephants are not used for film shoots.

The controversy-hit Kochi IPL team is likely to heed that warning. When it steps on the turf on April 9 for its first IPL match, the Kochi Tuskers would rather have applause from the galleries rather than trumpets of protests from elephant lovers.

Kochi Tuskers Kerala - Official Facebook, Twitter and Website

2011-03-16T01:51:00.000-07:00

Website: www.kochituskerskerala.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/KochiTuskersKTK
Facebook: www.facebook.com/OfficialKochiIPL

Demo Site (Not sure is this Official or not!)

Kochi IPL: Elephant lovers launch protest

2011-03-16T01:45:00.001-07:00

KOCHI: The Elephant Lovers Association on Tuesday came in the open against the IPL Cricket team Kochi Tuskers Kerala for the misuse of the animal for video casting.

The Elephant Lovers Association said that on Tuesday, a regional newspaper had published reports about the Kerala IPL team planning to feature two tuskers in its theme song. “The exhibition of captive elephants for commercial purpose is in violation of the Kerala Captive Elephant Management and Maintenance Rule 2003, the Performing Animals Registration Rule 2001, PCA Act 1960 and the Declaration of Wildlife Stock Rule 2003,” Elephant Lovers’ Association secretary V K Venkitachalam said.

The Association has already sent a letter to the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), Revenue Minister, Home Minister, State Animal Husbandry department and other authorities concerned.

“To the best of our knowledge, neither the managers of IPL Kochi cricket team nor director Priyadarsan had been granted pre-shoot licence by AWBI, Chennai, for shooting two tuskers in the last leg of their advertisement film,” said Venkitachalam.

Kochi to play five IPL matches at home

2011-03-15T21:04:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: Indian Premier League's Kochi franchise owners' efforts to get its team's matches shifted from its home base to Ahmedabad, seem to have hit a wall.

The Kochi team will now to be based out of Kochi and will play five matches at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the venue for one-day internationals. IPL's governing council has informally told the Kochi owners to fall in line and start preparing to host their matches in Kochi.

Sources said that due to paucity of time, the new stadium will not be ready for IPL in April and the Kerala Cricket Association has signed a five-year lease deal with Kerala government to host cricket matches at the Nehru stadium.

"The promoters of the Kochi IPL team have been told to make preparations to host the matches. Our technical team would be visiting the stadium soon to assess the conditions there,"

IPL teams extend social networking presence

2011-03-14T21:00:00.000-07:00

The teams of the Indian Premier League (IPL) are planning to raise their social networking presence by building on the popularity of the event, the next edition of which runs from 8 April to 28 May.
Most of them report an increase in digital and social media expenditure.
Delhi Daredevils will give eight bloggers (one from each city where matches are held) the chance to travel with the team, see practice sessions etc. and blog or tweet about the experience. They will upload videos of players (in their off-field moments) on YouTube and other such platforms.
Team Kochi has appointed Windchimes Communications Pvt. Ltd to handle social media needs. That includes roping in fans from Facebook to pick the team’s name and designing team merchandise—t-shirts, caps etc. These will then be sold via Facebook.
The team’s 25,000 Facebook fans were asked to vote for a name, said Nimesh Shah, director, Windchimes Communications, which wants to build fan networks in specific cities and countries.
Fans picked Kochi Tuskers Kerala as the team’s name.
“We will send our ardent fans merchandise and special passes to some of the matches,” he said. “We will also get them to travel with the team on some occasions, be a part of net practice etc., subject to BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) rules.”
Kings XI Punjab “will get fans to blog and post videos on the team, which we will then upload on our website”, said Arvinder Singh, senior vice-president, Kings XI Punjab. Official Facebook and Twitter pages will also be set up.
The team’s digital budget has risen by as much as 50%, with most marketing activities being pushed to social networking websites.
“In today’s age, fans don’t like to be told, they make their own decisions. Hence, traditional advertising has a limited influence on fans,” said Singh.
Delhi Daredevils media director V. Krishnaswamy said the aim was to provide an insider’s view.
“We’ll get someone to travel with the team (with a hand-held camera). We’ll upload the videos on YouTube,” he said. “We will encourage fans via Facebook and other platforms to send in their pictures and videos as well.”
The eight bloggers mentioned above will be chosen through a writing competition, Krishnaswamy said.
Jaipur IPL Cricket Pvt. Ltd, owner of Rajasthan Royals, said lifestyle videos of players will be posted on YouTube.
“We will have (sound) bites from players on the kind of food they like, exercise tips etc. Our fan page on Facebook has more than 1.5 lakh” friends, said Raghu Iyer, chief marketing officer, Rajasthan Royals. “This time our focus is also to introduce video chats with Shilpa Shetty (co-owner and celebrity) and a lot of our players, subject to their availability.”
Chennai Super Kings plans to introduce new activities around the promotional video Whistle Podu, which had more than 450,000 views last year, said S. Chockalingam, founder and director of OPN Advertising Pvt. Ltd, which is handling the team’s advertising.
“This year we plan to bring in more dimensions to Whistle Podu and make it a much larger success,” he said.
Mumbai Indians is increasing its digital budget by as much as 20%. “The Mumbai Indians Paltan page on Facebook has over nine lakh fans and is the most followed out of the 10 franchises,” said a spokesperson. “The team also benefits from a large fan following within Reliance (Industries Ltd) group. Apart from external media, we have also planned interesting intranet-and SMS-based campaigns for this captive audience.”
Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries Ltd owns Mumbai Indians, which plans to integrate more platforms with the official website, apart from Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Delicious and Technorati.
Kolkata Knight Riders, which has appointed 22feet for its social marketing needs, declined comment for this story.

Kochi IPL: it’s now Kochi tuskers Kerala

2011-03-13T20:51:00.001-07:00

KOCHI: The fans have it, though not entirely as they would have liked. But God’s Own Country’s official animal certainly has it.

Discarding the pathetic name - Indi Commandos Kerala, Kochi Cricket Private Limited - the owners of the Kochi IPL team - have renamed it Kochi Tuskers Kerala.

The revelation follows approval from the IPL Governing Council that met in Mumbai on Saturday.

Need for approval delayed CL T20 payment: IPL

2011-03-10T20:36:00.000-08:00

Mumbai : The Indian Premier League (IPL) on Thursday said the prize money for last year's Champions League Twenty20 tournament held in South Africa has not been disbursed yet because of the need for regulatory approvals by the treasury department.

"Regulatory approvals from the treasury department are awaited," Sundar Raman, CEO of the IPL, owned by the Cricket Board which is one of the founders of the CL T20 league, told reporters on the sidelines of a press conference to announce the launch of an IPL specific edition of one of its sponsors Volkswage

Raman brushed aside reports that players from Australia might boycott the next edition of the CL T20 league because of non-payment of prize money.

The Federation of International Cricketers' Association (FICA) had reportedly asked players to stay away from this year's CL T20, saying that the tournament had "little or no credibility" given that prize money from last year's edition had still not been paid.

FICA Chief Executive Tim May said six million dollars remain unpaid, of which Victoria is owed 200,000 dollars, while South Australia 500,000 dollars.

The IPL CEO also said that the BCCI, "has addressed" the reported reluctance of Kochi franchise to play their matches in IPL season 4 in Kochi due to lack of proper cricket infrastructure.

He also said the IPL schedule which has been finalised stands as it is until some changes have to be made because of elections in a few state assemblies.

"We will inform as and when it happens. At the moment the schedule stands," Raman added

Salman, Katrina to add glamour to Kochi IPL team

2011-03-06T20:09:00.000-08:00

Kochi : So what if she lost the deal with Bangalore Royal Challengers, Bollywood babe Katrina Kaif is all set to add glamour to Kochi IPL team, and that too with none other than B'town's Dabangg Salman Khan. The team is in talks with Salman and Katrina to be the brand ambassadors for the 'Indi Commandos'.

Industry observers pointed out that if the deal is signed, the Kochi IPL team (officially named 'Indi Commandos') would get the much-needed boost on the glamour front

BCCI mulls Kochi franchisee fee reduction

2011-03-03T20:06:00.000-08:00

NEW DELHI: The Indian Premier League may take a second look at the Kochi team's persistent demand that their franchisee fee be reduced because of a drop in the number of league matches from 18 to 14.

The IPL's latest promise to Kochi is a reversal of its own earlier position that franchisee fee is not dependent on number of matches played by each of the IPL teams.

Sources, however, told TOI that it did not imply the BCCI was inclined to accept Kochi's argument on reduction of franchisee fee. "We have received this week a communication from Kochi team highlighting their concerns, especially the demand for reduction in franchisee fee. We will look into it in the next IPL governing council meet," he said.

Earlier, the BCCI had on February 9 issued a statement to the Kochi team stating that "2011 it is inter alia stated that consideration payable as and by way of franchise fee is not dependent upon or in any way co-related with number of matches."

To this, the Kochi IPL team took strong exception and apparently even mulled legal action. "Earlier, the board was not keen in looking into the reduction of the franchisee fee. If the BCCI is willing to do so, let them give it to us in writing," a Kochi IPL official said.

In a strong-worded letter, Kochi pointed out that it was incorrect to say "payable as and by way of franchise fee is not dependent upon or in any way co-related with number of matches". According to Kochi, this is "contrary" to the Invitation to Tender document (ITT), which clearly says: "The League initially comprised eight teams but from the 2011 season onwards shall subject to the receipt of successful bids, comprise ten teams which will play each other (both home and away) during the course of each season culminating in play-off matches to decide the winner, runner-up and third and fourth placed team in the league."

The letter further added: "BCCI (IPL) has taken a stand that it was its prerogative under the franchisee agreement to reduce number of matches. Unfortunately, this stand is not in accordance with franchisee agreement read with ITT and spirit under which parties had participated."

Controversy continues

2011-03-03T20:04:00.001-08:00

KOCHI: It seems the Kochi IPL team, Indi Commandos, is courting controversy once again. A day after the IPL Governing Council turned down its demand to change the venue to Ahmedabad, the Indi Commandos has reportedly approached the Governing Council once again with the same demand. The Kochi IPL team has reportedly sent a letter to the IPL Governing Council demanding a change in the venue of the matches from Kochi while raising concerns about the quality of the ground here and its timely availability.

Sources said the letter says that the Kochi stadium is not suitable for the match and chances are less for the stadium to be fit for the matches on time. The team owners had expressed concern over the high entertainment tax in Kochi following which the Kochi Corporation had given a 50 percent tax exemption in entertainment tax. However, the team owners demand a complete waiver of entertainment tax.

Meanwhile, the online world is buzzing with protests and angry remarks over Indi Commandos’ demand for a change of venue. Kochi team’s fans have registered their protest on the fan page of Indi Commandos on Facebook.