The captain cool, Dhoni marshaled his troops well (as usual).  No fuss, no emotions guy, Dhoni has demonstrated repeatedly that he is the best cricket captain ever to wear the Indian cap.  A T20 world cup win, a 50 over world cup win, 2 IPL wins and a Champions league T20 win, taking India to the top ranking test team, he has achieved probably everything that he needs to.  And when asked, he simply retorted that he wouldn’t mind repeating the whole thing again.  That’s the kind of hunger that drives champions.

On the other hand, Barcelona showed why they are the best footballing club in the world.  Money can only buy you this much.  The most important thing is for the group to gel well and play as a team.  If at all money could buy success, the musical chairs of managers being played at Chelsea and Real Madrid would have won them tons of trophies.  Or for that matter if star players could power teams to victory, then Sachin Tendulkar would have been a great captain.  These are great examples for teams who have no qualms splashing out millions of bucks to snap up superstars for their teams.

Manchester United might be the best in England, but two consecutive losses to Barcelona in the past 3 years shows that they still have a mountain to climb when it comes to the Champions League.  And if Manchester United cant make it, then it just shows the hollowness of the other teams in the English Premier League (Chelsea, Liverpool & Arsenal included).

And now i shudder to think that i have no sports to look forward to for the next couple of months, with both IPL, Champs League and all the European leagues coming to and end for the season.

The only thing to look forward in the next month is if the second sting Indian team traveling to the West Indies can pull off a miracle.  And to see how the new coach of India, Duncan Fletcher manages the egos in the team.

Above pictures courtesy: Cricinfo & Sun

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Why couldnt the ICC stage matches between the top teams on weekends?  Why is India playing the next match with England more than a week later on a Sunday instead of Saturday or Friday?  Why is the tournament stretched so long in the first place?  Heck, why have 14 teams in the first place?

Iam all for all out participation of minnows in top leagues, but why bring in Canada, Netherlands etc to the world cup.  There should have been a qualifying tournament for the other ICC member teams and only 2 of the winners should have made the cut for the actual world cup.

And then they worry as to why the 50 over format of One dayers are losing their appeal.

Call it tamasha or nautanki, iam still waiting for the IPL.  Gimme my Deccan Chargers and the cheerleaders anyday

And ya, keep that Lalit Modi fella away.  Another shot of his on the TV screen and i might puke.

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Given below is the list of the players (info source: Cricinfo) picked up in the auction and the ones retained by the teams.  The first player in each team (according to my assumption) will captain the team.

The IPL-4 looks much more formidable this time with more players, more teams and no clear favourites.   Again happy to see no Pakistani players in the auction and glad to see them being kept out of the whole tournament.  Hope this courtesy is extended to all their artists too who are feeding off our film & music industry.

First the World Cup in February and then the 4th edition of IPL.  Ah, life’s gonna be busier again.

Previous posts on IPL here

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The story goes like this. Before the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) third season took off, Lalit Modi, former commissioner of the league, made a close friend of his an offer, Modi thought was irresistible.

For Rs. 5 crore, Modi’s friend could buy the rights to have his company’s name plastered on a blimp that would float over stadiums where league matches are played. The mileage it could possibly attract, Modi argued, was worth a lot more than the Rs. 5 crore he was asking for.

His friend, the scion of a prominent tyre manufacturing company in the country thought it too expensive a deal and declined. Modi then took the proposal to MRF, his friend’s arch rival, who saw value in the offer and bought into Modi’s pitch. Estimates vary on how much Modi sold the rights to MRF for. But consensus is, it was anywhere between Rs. 12 crore and Rs. 18 crore.

As the season started to roll, Modi’s friend figured he’d lost out on a sweet deal. And so the next time he met Modi at a league match in New Delhi, he admitted he’d made the wrong call; and that Modi ought to figure a way out to get his brand into the IPL. Modi pointed to the 30 yard circle in the stadium and offered his friend, a buddy from his days at school, an opportunity to re-brand the circle with his company’s name for Rs. 30 crore. “30 friggin’ crores!” the friend yelled and baulked. Modi didn’t blink. “You didn’t take it when I offered you a sweet deal. This is the best I can do now,” he said. A few moments of awkward silence followed.

Apparently, Modi had gone to the home minister’s office to seek clearances for the league matches. But in an appalling breach of protocol, he refused to wait for his turn to meet Chidambaram and instead attempted to barge into the minister’s office. Now, Chidambaram is the kind of man who doesn’t suffer either fools or arrogance and promptly asked Modi to leave. A miffed Modi said some daft things, stormed out of the room and eventually created an altogether avoidable controversy that snowballed into Season 2 being shifted to South Africa.

Read the full article here

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United Spirits’ brands include

Dalmore
Jura
Whyte & Mackay
Black Dog
Antiquity
Signature
Royal Challenge
McDowell’s No.1
Celebration Rum
Bouvet Ladubay
Pinky
Romanov
White Mischief
Kingfisher

United Spirits Limited (USL), the flagship company of The UB Group, today announced that it has crossed the milestone of clocking a sales volume of 100 million cases for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010. This achievement makes United Spirits the world’s second-largest spirits company by volumes, dislodging Paris-headquartered Pernod Ricard.

Key Highlights:

• The retail sales value of the spirits portfolio sales of United Spirits for the 100 million cases sold is Rs. 30,000 Crores

• USL’s 100 million cases contributed Government revenue of Rs. 18,000 Crores through excise and other levies

• USL has dominant market share and the fastest growing brands in most key segments

• USL has outperformed global competitors with USL brands growing 14% while the world’s top 100 spirits brands collectively grew only 1% and this when 18 of the top 25 global premium brands lost ground

• In the last 25 years, USL has sold a total of 740 million cases

• United Spirits launched Black Dog 18 YO in the super premium Bottled — In-India (BII) scotch category to further ramp up its market share

• The company upped the ante in the premium IMFL segment with the introduction of 100% pure grain-based McDowell’s Platinum whisky.

Full article here

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An explosive start to the tournament is expected starting today when the defending champions, Deccan Chargers take on Kolkatta Knight Riders at Mumbai.

IPL3 is even bigger as not only is it back in India, almost all the world players will be there (sooner or later).  And most importantly, there is no Pakistani players (thank God for small mercies).  Hope it stays that way for years to come.

For the first time ever, IPL will not only be streamed lived on youtube, but also will be telecast live in multiplexes around the country.  Imagine watching 3 hours of cricket on a mega 70mm screen with stereo sound and hunderds of screaming fans in a dark hall.

Am sure, i don’t need to spell out my favourites.  Once a Hyderabadi, always a Hyderabadi.

Go Deccan Chargers Go !

Full schedule of IPL3 can be obtained here

All pictures source: Ibnlive, Rediff & Telugupeople

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“The Indian Premier League is becoming a big mafia that wants to control world cricket; it is not only endangering the existence of the International Cricket Council, but also the rest of the cricketing nations.

“It is my message to all cricket boards around the world that the IPL is the biggest danger for their future; if it is not controlled timely it will engulf all boards.

“India is trying to control the world of cricket through the IPL and wants to become a super power; India is trying it and India is doing it,” the Pakistan cricket icon told rediff.com in an exclusive interview, shortly after the players’ auction for the third edition of the IPL in Mumbai on Tuesday.

His reasoning is that “a number of players have refused to play for their own countries because they can earn more money overnight than they could throughout their careers”.

Saying the players are receiving money more than they are worth, he urged the ICC to form rules to curb the League’s expansion.

Mafia? err…ummm… Isnt your son married to the biggest mafia leader’s daughter Mr Miandad?

Full article here

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What an awesome month this has been.  The chaddi gang routed in the elections.  Deccan Chargers coming out of nowhere to win this year’s IPL.  Twenty-20 world cup coming up in another 10 odd days. Yay.

Missing the sleep was worth it.  Tonight, i will have a contented sleep

It was a double whammy for Vijay Mallya yesterday.  His Formula 1 team, Force India just missed out on the points table and his cricket team, Bangalore Royal Challengers just missed out in the finals.

Pictures courtesy: IBNLive & Rediff

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Deccan Chargers will now meet the winners of the Chennai Super Kings and Bangalore Royal Challengers match in the finals of the IPL 2009 on Sunday.

Above pictures courtesy: Cricinfo

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Go Deccan Chargers Go 

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