Bangalore: Indian allrounder Ravindra Jadeja was the biggest grosser at the Indian Premier League auction on Saturday, bought for a whopping $ 2 million by the Chennai Super Kings on a day that saw 69 of the 144 players listed to be auctioned getting sold. The remaining went unsold.
Besides Jadeja, the other Indian who raked in the moolah was R Vinay Kumar, who also had bidders fighting for him - with Royal Challengers Bangalore bringing the hammer down at a price tag of $ 1 million. Both Jadeja and Vinay had come to the table with a base price of $ 100,000.
West Indies' Sunil Narine was surprisingly one of the top-earners with a purse of $ 7,00,000 shelled out by Shah Rukh Khan's Kolkata Knight Riders. But disappointment was in store for VVS Laxman as none of the franchises raised the flashlights for him, possibly because of an unreasonable base price of $ 400,000 and a poor run of form in Australia.
English players, among whom was arguably the world's best offspinner Graeme Swann, were given a cold shoulder by all the franchises due to a question mark over their availability, courtesy national commitments.
The good news for Pakistan came with a UK passport when veteran all-rounder Azhar Mahmood, who is now a British citizen, was lapped up by Kings XI Punjab for $ 200,000.
The day broke out with the shocking news of Sahara India withdrawing its sponsorship of the Indian cricket team and Pune Warriors hours ahead of auctioneer Richard Madley announcing the list of marquee players, who were the first to be auctioned.
New Zealand's Brendon McCullum was the first player to be sold when KKR bidded successfully for him, making the Kiwi richer by $ 900,000. McCullum will now play for the same franchise he represented in the league's inaugural season.
But there was a dog-fight for Jadeja, who it seems topped the priority lists of CSK and Deccan Chargers. Both the franchises bidded with the maximum cap of $2 million, after which a secret bid decided Jadeja's fate, where CSK snatched the deal from the Chargers.
Among the other former Kochi players, Sri Lankan stalwarts Mahela Jayawardene went to Delhi Daredevils for $ 1.4 million and Muttiah Muralitharan was picked up by the Royal Challenges Bangalore for $ 2,20,000.
Veteran Australian batsman Brad Hodge was bought by Rajasthan Royals for $ 4,75,000, while another South African veteran Herschelle Gibbs was sold to Mumbai Indians for $ 50,000.
In the wicketkeepers' draw, Parthiv Patel was bought by Deccan Chargers for $ 6,50,000. Young Sri Lankan glovesman Dinesh Chandimal was pocketed by Rajasthan Royals for his base price of $ 50,000. Meanwhile, Matt Prior (England), Brendon Taylor (Zimbabwe) and Mark Boucher (South Africa) remained unsold.
In the allrounders' list, West Indies' Andre Russell was picked up for $ 4,50,000 by the Delhi Daredevils, while Australian Mitchell Johnson was bought by Mumbai Indians for $ 3,00,000.
Kevin O'Brien of Ireland, who made ripples in the World Cup last year, too surprisingly remained unsold.
In the pace bowlers' draw, RP Singh was taken by Mumbai Indians for $ 6,00,000. Kerala pacer S Sreesanth was sold to Rajasthan Royals for $ 4,00,000.
In the spinners' section, Australian Brad Hogg, Indian Ramesh Powar and South African Robin Peterson were picked up for $ 1,80,000 (Rajasthan Royals), $ 1,60,000 (Kings XI Punjab) and $ 1,00,000 (Mumbai Indians) respectively.
Based on the preference of various franchises, a total of 34 players were shortlisted for the auction after lunch when good news came Azhar Mahmood's way.
Hard-hitting Sri Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera was bought by Mumbai Indians for $ 650,000. South Australian batsman Daniel Harris was sold to Deccan Chargers for $ 70,000, while Australian all-rounder James Faulkner was bought by Kings XI Punjab for $ 1,90,000.
Darren Bravo became second time lucky as the classy West Indies batsman was sold to Deccan Chargers for $ 1,00,000 when the players who remained unsold in the morning session went up for sale again. Doug Bracewell went to Delhi Daredevils for $ 50,000 in the re-draw.
Unsold Players:
James Anderson (base price $ 300,000), Tamim Iqbal (base price $ 50,000), Adrian Barath (base price $ 50,000), Ramnaresh Sarwan (base price $ 100,000), Ian Bell (base price $ 200,000), Owais Shah (base price $200,000), Upul Tharanga (base price $50,000), VVS Laxman (base price $400,000), Matt Prior (base price $200,000), Brendan Taylor (base price $100,000), Mark Boucher (base price $100,000), Justin Kemp (base price $100,000), Marlon Samuels (base price $100,000), Steven Smith (base price $200,000), Ravi Bopara (base price $100,000), Luke Wright (base price $200,000), Kevin O'Brien (base price $50,000), Dwayne Smith (base price $100,000), Lonwabo Tsotsobe (base price $50,000), VRV Singh (base price $100,000), Vernon Philander (base price $200,000), Fidel Edwards (base price $100,000), Ravi Rampaul (base price $100,000), Peter Siddle (base price $200,000), Tim Southee (base price $100,000), Graeme Swann (base price $400,000), Rangana Herath (base price $50,000), Ajantha Mendis (base price $50,000), Steve O'Keefe (base price $100,000), Xavier Doherty (base price $100,000), Michael Klinger (base price $50,000), Richard Levi (base price $50,000), Alviro Petersen (base price $100,000), Lendl Simmons (base price $50,000), Farveez Maharoof (base price $50,000), Jacob Oram (base price $100,000), Moises Henriques (base price $50,000), Ben Laughlin (base price $50,000), Ryan McLaren (base price $100,000), Nicky Boje (base price $200,000), Jacques Rudolph (base price $20,000), Andy McKay (base price $50,000), Alister McDermott (base price $20,000), Michael Neser (base price $50,000)
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Mumbai Indians have been permitted to field five overseas players in a team during their Champions League Twenty20 games because several of their Indian players have suffered tournament-ending injuries. However, all the overseas players must have been contracted by them to play in the 2011 IPL. Mumbai are without six of their first-choice players, including the captain Sachin Tendulkar, and their reinforced squad contains seven Indians and seven foreign players.
The other IPL teams will be permitted to field only four overseas players in their XIs during the CLT20.
Apart from Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Munaf Patel, Ali Murtaza, Dhawal Kulkarni and Suryakumar Yadav were ruled out of the tournament. They were replaced by Andrew Symonds, Dilhara Fernando, R Sathish, Sarul Kanwar and Abu Nechim. Moises Henriques is contracted to Mumbai, but cannot be considered for selection since he is a part of the New South Wales squad for the tournament.
Mumbai have not announced a captain yet. Tendulkar (injured toe), Rohit (broken finger) and Munaf (twisted ankle) were injured during India's recent tour of England.
The CLT20 technical committee said, in addition to those six players, it had also received medical reports that ruled out two more Mumbai players - Aditya Tare and Pawan Suyal - from the tournament. Therefore, in all, a total of eight out of Mumbai's 23 contracted players were unavailable for selection.
"In the current circumstances, if the Mumbai Indians suffer one more injury to an Indian player, they will be unable to field a team due to CLT20 rules restricting teams to a maximum of four overseas players in any one match," the tournament organisers said in a media release. "As a result, the CLT20 governing council has approved a recommendation by the technical committee that to ensure the integrity of the tournament the Mumbai Indians will be permitted to select up to five overseas players in any one team, provided those players were contracted to play in the 2011 IPL.
"This was considered the most appropriate solution to respect player safety and ensure no player plays for a CLT20 team unless he played for, or was contracted to play for, that team in the qualifying event."
"Subject to approval, the ruling of the Governing Council and Technical Committee is applicable to any other team that, like the Mumbai Indians, suffers tournament-ending injuries in significant numbers that compromises its participation in the event.
"The current Mumbai Indians squad consists of 14 players, however they may add another player to their squad from their remaining injury-free contract list if they choose."
The CLT20 governing council comprises BCCI president N Srinivasan, former IPL chairman Chirayu Amin, BCCI vice-president Niranjan Shah, Cricket South Africa chief Gerald Majola, Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland and a CA official Dean Kino.
Mumbai squad: Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga (overseas), Andrew Symonds (overseas), James Franklin (overseas), Aiden Blizzard (overseas), Davy Jacobs (overseas), Kieron Pollard (overseas), Dilhara Fernado (overseas), R Satish, Ambati Rayudu, T Suman, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sarul Kanwar, Abu Nechim. © ESPN EMEA Ltd.
Somerset 166 for 6 (Trego 70, van der Merwe 40) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 155 for 8 (ten Doeschate 46, van der Merwe 2-23) by 11 runs
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Somerset out-fielded and out-bowled Kolkata Knight Riders to push them to the brink of elimination, but an ice-cool Ryan ten Doeschate hauled them alongside their opponents into the main draw of the Champions League. Kolkata needed 153 to qualify after Somerset had waltzed to an imposing 166 for 6 and, at 57 for 4 in the 10th over, seemed to have lost the final spot to Ruhuna. ten Doeschate however pulled off a special heist to ensure there will be four IPL teams in the main draw.
Ruhuna ended up the biggest losers of the day, and Kolkata celebrated jubilantly despite falling short 12 of victory, but Somerset deserved the most praise. They arrived for the tournament bleary-eyed and dispirited, two days after losing their fifth domestic final in two years, and without many of their first-choice players. If they were knackered, they didn't show it: Peter Trego batted with freedom, Roelof van der Merwe was typically tigerish with bat and on the field, and the three-pronged spin attack was ruthless to the end.
Kolkata were at the other end of the spectrum, and their struggles were epitomised by the inability of Manoj Tiwary and Shreevats Goswami - batsmen bred on slow tracks - to force the pace against spin. That Kolkata had lost the in-form Manvinder Bisla and captain Jacques Kallis early did not help matters, and things became worse when the legspinner Max Waller disloged both Tiwary and Goswami. Thereafter, ten Doeschate owned the night.
He announced himself with a lofted drive that Nick Compton palmed over the ropes at long-off, but that was the closest he came to being dismissed. With the asking-rate hovering out of reach, he dabbed Trego through point before whipping Arul Suppiah over midwicket for six. Yusuf Pathan was surprisingly subdued in his brief stay, but by the time he exited it was clear that the wicket that mattered was at the other end.
Shakib Al Hasan's stay was ended by a blinder in the outfield from van der Merwe, who single-handedly underlined the difference in fielding standards between the sides. Rajat Bhatia then held his nerve in a 30-run stand that took Kolkata close, while ten Doeschate continued to produce the fireworks with an audacious whip over midwicket for his third six. Van der Merwe dismissed both batsmen in the final over, but it wasn't enough to stop Kolkata.
Earlier, Somerset showed they had better methods against spin than their county rivals Leicestershire had displayed earlier in the day. Trego went after Iqbal Abdulla despite not always managing to reach the flight, and his enterprise forced Jacques Kallis to rely on seamers more than he would have liked, a move that played into Somerset's hands.
They moved to 56 for 1 after eight overs, at which point Trego shifted gears against Bhatia's mind-numbingly predictable lack of pace. Trego lost his balance while pulling him for four before cutting late for another boundary. The next over went for 17 as van der Merwe exploded against a raft of long-hops from Yusuf. Jaidev Unadkat gave Kolkata some respite when he got van der Merwe pulling to midwicket, and James Hildreth with a slower ball, but Trego bustled along unfettered, scoring his boundaries with a series of correct strokes. Unadkat was drilled through the covers, Jacques Kallis pulled through midwicket, and the Kolkata shoulders began to droop in a hurry.
Trego was starved of strike a touch in the end overs, but it did not seem to matter as Compton ramped Lee for six and stole a found a couple of inventive boundaries. More importantly for Somerset, Kolkata stayed generous right to the last over, with Unadkat making a hash of a regulation save at midwicket, and Lee getting a wicket of a no-ball. Kolkata's fielders had done themselves no favours, but the itinerary that gave them the chance to play the last innings of the qualifier stage was about to.
© ESPN EMEA Ltd
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The Bombay High Court has squashed a plea from the owners of Kochi Tuskers Kerala challenging the BCCI's decision to terminate their franchise from the IPL, ANIhas reported.
Mukesh Patel, Kochi's chairman, confirmed on September 21 morning that they had made a plea. "Yes, we have moved the court and there is a hearing in the afternoon," he told PTI. At that hearing, the plea was rejected.
The BCCI had axed Kochi from the IPL for breaching its terms of agreement, the new board president N Srinivasan said, after the annual general meeting in Mumbai on September 19. The trigger for the decision was the franchise's inability to furnish a new bank guarantee for 2011. It is understood that the deadline for Kochi to submit the bank guarantee was March 26, 2011. Therefore the BCCI felt it had every right to terminate the contract once the franchise had failed to produce it.
Patel, however, had denied that the franchise owed the board any money. "The BCCI notice is wrong, prima facie," he had said. "We have never defaulted. The BCCI will be paying us Rs 12 to 15 crore ($2.5 million to $3.13 million) next month as a part of our central revenue."
The franchise's dispute centres on the BCCI's decision to reduce the number of IPL games from 94 to 74. "The number of games in Tender Document was 94; they then reduced it to 74 but did not reduce the franchise fees."
Srinivasan, however, had said that the decision to remove Kochi from the league was final and he called their alleged transgression an "irremediable breach" © ESPN EMEA Ltd.
The opening game will be held at the Chinnaswamy Stadium while Chennai will stage a semi-final and the final.
Sachin Tendulkar tells MiD DAY that his children wanted him to be with them during their holidays which is why he opted out of test series in West Indies
Sachin Tendulkar spelt out the reason for him opting out of June-July's three-Test series in the West Indies.
"I just want to spend some time with my family. I have not had time with my children. If I don't spend time with them now (during their school holidays), I would have to wait for one more year to do so. The kids (daughter Sara and son Arjun) are very thrilled because we hadn't discussed this with them, so they didn't know anything. It was a surprise for them," he told MiD DAY yesterday.
"I could make out that they wanted me to be with them because of their school holidays coinciding."
Tendulkar was rested for the one-day series against the West Indies, but when it came to the Test series, he requested the Board to leave him out. He will be available for the tour of England involving four Tests and a one-day series.
No one can stop the theories though. The batting genius laughed at one about him not going to the West Indies because he wants to get his 100th international century at Lord's, a venue that will host the 100th India vs England Test (July 21-25) and the 2000th game in the history of Test cricket. "How can you plan such things?" he asked.
Respected West Indies writer Fazeer Mohammed connected Tendulkar's Caribbean absence to the state of the game in the region. "But there was obviously something missing that made India's batting maestro determine that a month in the Caribbean and the prospect of a couple really big innings was worth passing up. Maybe it was the challenge. Maybe it was the sense of occasion. Maybe it was both.
"To put it bluntly: milking our bowlers on the way to a 100th senior international hundred in a near-empty
stadium would have been the equivalent of Barcelona defeating Manchester United on a Sunday morning at the Aranjuez Savannah with ten men and two dogs in attendance and two vagrants sleeping at the back of the pavilion," Mohammed wrote in the Trinidad Express.
Earlier, Tendulkar stated: "As I have been playing continuous cricket over the last 10 months which started during the Sri Lankan series in July 2010, I had requested the Cricket Board to allow me to spend some quality time with the family as it coincides with my children's holidays and hence will not be available for the series in the West Indies. I would appreciate everyone's understanding of my decision and look forward to be back shortly post the series."
Post 2000, Tendulkar has been part of Test series wins in England, Pakistan and New Zealand but when it came to the 2005-06 Test series victory in the West Indies, he was injured. So, in all probability, he will end his career without experiencing a Test series triumph in the Caribbean.
That could be a regret, but only just, considering what he said a few years ago: "Getting married and having kids ” nothing matches that." Courtesy: MiD DAY
Chennai Super Kings 205 for 5 (Vijay 95, Hussey 63) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 147 for 8 (Ashwin 3-16) by 58 runs
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Match Meter
 Advantage  Honours even |
What would have been on Chennai Super Kings' wish list before this final? 1) Win toss on a slow pitch. 2) Great start by the openers. 3) Remove Chris Gayle for a duck. PS: While we are it why not knock out AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli cheaply? They got all that. Chennai produced a near-perfect game and mauled Royal Challengers Bangalore to lift their second IPL trophy.
M Vijay has rarely converted his starts this IPL and Michael Hussey hasn't sparkled in the previous few games. So what they do on the day of the big finale? They amass a sizzling 159-run partnership to launch Chennai to a massive total at the Chidambaram Stadium. R Ashwin then derailed the chase by packing off Gayle for a duck in the first over. Game over.
It was the ease with which the runs flowed and the calm manner in which they were accumulated by the Chennai openers that caught the eye. There were several big shots but nearly all of them were in conventional zones. There was just one bad shot in the first 14 overs. Just one. In the 10th over, Vijay had just played a nonchalant flick that sailed just clear of a lunging Luke Pomersbach on the deep-midwicket boundary. He then tried to slog the next ball across the line and edged it to the leg side. The reaction of the players reflected their awareness of the need to keep adrenalin in check: Vijay shadow practiced a straighter arc of the bat and Hussey rushed across to have a long chat.
For the duration of the partnership, which lasted 14.5 overs, they complemented each other with contrasting approaches. Hussey punctuated his bunts, chips and drives with the occasional big hit - the highlight was a monstrous heave off Syed Mohammad that crashed into the roof beyond wide long-on. Vijay went the other way. He punctuated his flamboyant on-the-up hits with quieter punches for singles and twos. They both ran between the wickets hard and fast and the scoring-rate never flagged. Vijay grew increasingly tired but it was Hussey who fell first, swatting a full toss from Mohammad to long-on. By then, they had laid a great platform.
It was Vijay who started the mayhem off the final delivery of the second over with a special shot. It was a short-of-length delivery with little room for maneuvering, or so it seemed, but Vijay wafted it on the up and through the line for a flamboyant six over long-on. Hussey pulled the next delivery, from Zaheer Khan, over the backward square-leg boundary to launch the assault. They repeated that double-dose of sixes again. Hussey swung the final delivery of the fifth over, bowled by Mohammad, over the midwicket boundary and Vijay lifted the next ball, from Chris Gayle, over long-on. Chennai reached 56 for 0 in six overs and kept going from strength to strength.
They started their bowling in the same way. Ashwin just needed three deliveries to remove the chief thorn in their path. The first two turned sharply away from Gayle before the third swerved in from round the stumps and skidded on to collect the edge from an attempted cut. de Villiers reeled off a few big shots but was trapped by Shadab Jakati and Suresh Raina had Kohli lbw to sew up the game for Chennai.
In contrast Bangalore slipped on the little things that matter on this stage. In the Powerplay, there were three instances of fielders succumbing to adrenalin rushes and indulging in needless throws; one, from Saurabh Tiwary, even went to the boundary. Pomersbach could have done a better job in seizing that chance from Vijay in the 10th over, and S Aravind messed up an opportunity to run out Hussey in the 12th over. Vijay, the non-striker, had called Hussey for a risky single and Aravind, the bowler who picked up the ball at short mid-on, flung it wide at the non-striker's end. There was another instance in the 11th over when the bowler, Mohammad, flung himself full stretch to his right but couldn't hang on to a difficult chance offered by Vijay. It was that kind of day. Things just didn't go right for Bangalore and everything went according to script for Chennai. © ESPN EMEA Ltd.
Royal Challengers Bangalore 185 for 4 (Gayle 89, Agarwal 41, Munaf 2-27) beat Mumbai Indians 143 for 8 (Tendulkar 40, Vettori 3-19, Aravind 2-27) by 42 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
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Match Meter
Advantage Honours even |
In Jamaica the term criss is used to suggest everything is all right. Royal Challengers Bangalore may as well rename him Criss Gayle. For with Gayle, they criss. Gayle fell 11 short of his third century this IPL, but for 15 overs he played so much above the game that the 37 that came in the five after his exit didn't look far off par on this surface. Mumbai struggled to replicate Gayle's impact except with the new ball when they got off to a flying start. Gayle came on then to stifle the openers with a two-run over. The pressure resulted in wickets, everything was criss again, and Bangalore were in the final of the IPL.
When batting, Gayle was assisted by Mayank Agarwal, his 20-year-old opening partner yet to make first-class debut, who scored 41 off 31 in a 113-run opening stand. Gayle will be the first one to concede, though, that he couldn't have found a more accommodating opposition. To begin with, Mumbai Indians opted to bowl on a track where sides batting first have won six out of seven games this season. Then they refused to take the bull by its horn, throwing the new ball to Abu Nechim as opposed to Lasith Malinga. It can be argued that they succeeded in the previous game with Dhawal Kulkarni bowling the first over, but surely against a side as heavily reliant on Gayle as Bangalore they would have unleashed their best bowler right away.
Nechim can still argue he hardly bowled a bad ball in that first over, but he still went for 27. The first of the boundaries came off an edge past slip, the second burst through Sachin Tendulkar at mid-off. Nechim, though, bowled length, and Gayle took six, two and four off the rest of the over. Agarwal played his part, foiling Mumbai's other strategic move of bowling Harbhajan Singh to Gayle. Gayle faced only one delivery in Harbhajan's two overs at the start, with Agarwal dominating the strike and hitting big, down the ground and with the turn, taking 20 runs.
More friendliness followed from Mumbai as Malinga dropped Agarwal at square leg. At 57 for 0 after four, it became a Gayle show. Malinga bowled one good over full of slower ones for just one, but Gayle had his way with the rest of the bowlers. Only Rohit Sharma escaped his wrath, but Agarwal tucked into him with a four and a six. The beauty of the partnership was obvious: the right-hand batsman took care of the offspinners, Gayle everything else. The best of Gayle revealed itself in the 10th over, when Nechim was almost through a decent comeback over for four runs. The last ball, though, hardly left the ground, and yet crashed into the sight screen. Gayle was on 61 off 32 then, Bangalore 111.
Rohit dropped Agarwal in the next over, but made amends two balls later. Gayle, however, was not through, and went on to suggest that maybe he didn't need any shielding from Harbhajan, smacking him for back-to-back sixes over midwicket. Munaf, who held his own along with Malinga, eventually got rid of Gayle with a slightly slower one, and patted Gayle's back as he walked back. All of a sudden, slower balls started working, the ball started gripping the surface, inside edges appeared, and the batting seemed like hard work. Just how well Gayle batted was further driven home.
Despite the early wickets, Tendulkar, through cricketing shots and some improvisation, kept Mumbai's fans interested with 40 off 24, but ICL returnee J Syed Mohammad produced one sharp offbreak across Tendulkar to get him stumped. Kieron Pollard, who often teases the fans in such chases with late but insufficient hitting, was spectacularly and coolly caught by Abhimanyu Mithun on the edge of the long-on boundary. With the Mumbai dugout right behind him, Mithun stood with his feet six inches inside as the Mumbai extras made way for him, stretched over the boundary and completed the catch one-handed to shut the door on Mumbai. The filmstar Mithun, known for his outlandish stunts, would have been proud. © ESPN EMEA Ltd.
