Indian Premier League (20/20)

[fairfranco]

Well the auction for the players kicked off today in this completey new way of doing things.

much like playing fantasy games, each team has a certain amount of money they can spend, their are a host of top players available to them and they bid to get them in their team.

the top players went for $1.5million (Dhoni) and $1.35 million (Symonds).

Shayne Warne was expected to top the spends but maybe common sense prevailed with him not being the ideal 20/20 player and he went for $450,000.

Teams are available at http://www.indianpremiercricketleague.com/team.htm

i'm liking the look of the hyberbad team:

Adam Gilchrist
Andrew Symonds
Herschelle Gibbs
Shahid Afridi
Scott Styris
VVS Laxman
Rohit Sharma
Chamara Silva
RP Singh
Chaminda Vaas
Nuwan Zoysa

some awesome hitters in there and a few decent bowlers to boot. who can wait to see what sort of run rate Afridi, Symonds, Gibbs and Gilly can put togetehr>?!

[thetitan]

i know, this is kind of like 'fantasy cricket'.

i can tell you now, hyderabad won't win - they'll have a few awesome passages of play and win a few games, but as exciting as they will be, they surely won't be consistent enough to win outright and they look hugely imbalanced.

i'm most interested in the under 22 players from India - players like Jhunjunwala were a revelation in the ICL with their fielding and energy...I think that energy and motivation are key factors here...looking through the teams, they're all pretty much equally talented, but some will be more motivated than others.

Also the players who did best in the ICL were the under-rated ones...in this tournament it's all relative but I expect AB de Villiers, David Hussey to prosper. Spinners will also be as crucial as ever.

I'm off for a scouting mission a couple weeks before this kicks off so hopefully I can get a better feel for all of this.

cant wait for the tourney to start, havent been excited about a cricket event since...erm, the last 20/20 tournament a couple of months ago!
_________________
Corner vulture

Jimmy Bullard for England Captain. Seriously.

[princecap]

Updated list:

IPL team line-ups after Wednesday's auction:

Bangalore
Rahul Dravid (capt)
Jacques Kallis (SA): $ 900,000
Anil Kumble (Ind): $500,000
Cameron White (Aus): $500,000
Zaheer Khan (Ind): $450,000
Mark Boucher (SA): $450,000
Nathan Bracken (Aus): $325,000
Dale Steyn (SA): $325,000
Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI) $200,000
Wasim Jaffer (Ind): $150,000

Chennai
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind): $1.5 million
Jacob Oram (NZ): $675,000
Albie Morkel (SA): $675,000
Suresh Raina (Ind) $650,000
Muttiah Muralitharan (SL): $600,000
Matthew Hayden (Aus): $375,000
Stephen Fleming (NZ) $350,000
Mike Hussey (Aus) $350,000
Parthiv Patel (Ind) $325,000
Joginder Sharma (Ind) $225,000
Makhaya Ntini (SA) $200,000

Delhi
Virender Sehwag (capt)
Gautam Gambhir (Ind) $725,000
Manoj Tiwary (Ind): $675,000
Mohammad Asif (Pak): $650,000
Daniel Vettori (NZ): $625,000
Dinesh Karthik (Ind): $525,000
Shoaib Malik (Pak): $500,000
Glenn McGrath (Aus): $350,000
AB de Villiers (SA): $300,000
Tillekeratne Dilshan (SL): $250,000
Farveez Maharoof (SL): $225,000

Hyderabad
Andrew Symonds (Aus): $1.35m
RP Singh (Ind): $875,000
Rohit Sharma (Ind) $750,000
Adam Gilchrist (Aus): $700,000
Shahid Afridi (Pak): $675,000
Herschelle Gibbs (SA): $575,000
VVS Laxman (Ind): $375,000
Chaminda Vaas (SL) $200,000
Scott Styris (NZ): $175,000
Nuwan Zoysa (SL): $110,000
Chamara Silva (SL): US$100,000

Jaipur
Mohammad Kaif (Ind) $675,000
Graeme Smith (SA): $475,000
Yusuf Pathan (Ind): $475,000
Shane Warne (Aus): $450,000
Munaf Patel (Ind): $275,000
Younis Khan (Pak): $225,000
Justin Langer (Aus) $200,000
Kamran Akmal (Pak): $150,000

Kolkata
Sourav Ganguly (capt)
Ishant Sharma (Ind): US$950,000
Chris Gayle (WI): $800,000
Brendon McCullum (NZ): $700,000
David Hussey (Aus): $625,000
Murali Karthik (Ind): $425,000
Shoaib Akhtar (Pak): $425,000
Ricky Ponting (Aus): $400,000
Ajit Agarkar (Ind): $350,000
Umar Gul (Pak) $150,000
Tatenda Taibu (Zim) $125,000

Mohali
Yuvraj Singh (capt)
Irfan Pathan (Ind): $925,000
Brett Lee (Aus): $900,000
Kumar Sangakkara (SL): $700,000
Sree Santh (Ind): $625,000
Mahela Jayawardene (SL): $475,000
Piyush Chawla (Ind): $400,000
Ramnaresh Sarwan (WI) $225,000
Simon Katich (Aus) $200,000
Romesh Powar (Ind): $170,000

Mumbai
Sachin Tendulkar (capt)
Sanath Jayasuriya (SL): $975,000
Harbhajan Singh (Ind): $850,000
Robin Uthappa (Ind): $800,000
Shaun Pollock (SA): $550,000
Lasith Malinga (SL) $350,000
Dilhara Fernando (SL) $150,000
Loots Bosman (SA) $150,000

Withdrawn
Mohammad Yousuf (Pak)
Ashwell Prince (SA)

[fairfranco]

Titan do you know what kind of times the games will be played?

I guess with it being India they're fairly decent for us English people. but was wondering if they'll be evening games or day games?

should be some good betting though.

[thetitan]

on cricinfo they're saying the early matches are on at 9:30am GMT and the Day/Night ones are on at 2:30pm GMT, so that would be perfect for us.

Been looking at the prices they've paid for certain players, and there have been some huge anomalies, considering that the amount in USD is the salary that each player is receiving for 44 days' work this year.

This article really made me laugh, somehow I don't feel too bad for someone who 'only' rakes in $400,000, doesn't do much for Ponting's whiney image! Although you can see where he's coming from, his team-mate Chris Gayle is getting paid double that!

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ipl/content/current/story/339085.html



There have been some curious buys already, possibly the worst value for money deal was Ishant Sharma at $925k, although I get the feeling that Ganguly had something to do with that extortionate amount - all of the 'icon' players get 15% more than their team's maximum bid.

Strange to see how Yusuf Pathan is worth as much as Graeme Smith.

Having looked through the teams again, I like Mohali - they're being coached by Tom Moody and have Jayawardene and Sangakkarra...so there's already a strong Sri Lankan connection and they'll have a good team spirit with Moody in charge.

But out of all the teams, I really fancy Delhi to go far. They've got the perfect blend of players, all extremely talented, exceptional fielders, and generally under-rated players.

Good value buys for me (it's all relative though, 300k is still footballer's wages!):

Styris @ 175k, Chamara Silva @ 100k, Mike Hussey @ 350k, Sarwan @ 225k, Umar Gul @ 150k, Chanderpaul @ 200k, de Villiers @ 300k


Poor value buys IMO: Ishant Sharma @ 925k, Suresh Raina @ 650k, Wasim Jaffer @ 150k, Uthappa @ 800k, Kallis @ 900k, Munaf Patel @ 275k, Manoj Tiwary @ 675k

Almost all of these are Indian, obviously they have huge marketability but there's no point having huge appeal if you get knocked out before the semi-finals!
_________________
Corner vulture

Jimmy Bullard for England Captain. Seriously.

[princecap]

The whole issue with expensive Indian players is pretty much the same as really expensive English players, they are over-rated and easily marketable. So I am not shocked by the prices, although a bit surprised!

Personally, I will be rooting for Delhi since I am from that part of the country. Lookig forward to the whole tournament, should be good I think. I hope.

[bigmoose]

I've not paid any attention to IPL. When i heard a few months back McGrath, Warny & Lara were going to be involved plus other retired Test players i thought it was some old boys jamboree. How wrong i was. I'm still confused how players got bought yet some won't be available this time. Are they 2 year contracts? And i thought Shane Bond chucked in test cricket to play, but he's now Hampshre overseas player until Warny finishes his Poker & getting tonked all over the place again in the sub-continent.

Wealey-eyed Ricky's indignation at not being that expensive stung him into a ton for Aussies yday.

Early odds up on Betfair. Hydrebad are marginal favourites at the mo. But they look short of runs to me, if list above is correct. Gilly & Styris look way past their best. Symo yet to score well in international 20-20 and probably most unwelcome in India. Unless boom-boom (Alfridi) has one of his flukey days where it all clicks.
_________________
Steve

[welshie1]

news today that Setanta have got the rights to broadcast all matches live here in the UK

[princecap]

Thats good news, although any source welshie (not that I don't trust you! Just wish to read up on it..)

[welshie1]

ye sure mate I knew I should have put a link up


http://www.sportinglife.com/cricket/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=cricket/08/02/25/CRICKET_IPL.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/feb/25/sportsrights.television?gusrc=rss&feed=media

[thetitan]

it's only good news for Setanta subscribers!

looks like i'll need to fork out!
_________________
Corner vulture

Jimmy Bullard for England Captain. Seriously.

[murrayfield]

Omg..... Setanta is really taking over... another lump sum out of my account every year is all i need.