Mumbai: Aussie seamer Mitchell Johnson and vice-captain Michael Clarke have been approached by the Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Lalit Modi to take part in the League next year.

Modi spoke to Clarke, who is in India currently with the Australian team, during the Australians stay at Jaipur.”He told me the other night he wants me to play in next season’s IPL. Lalit said there was another auction coming up,” Clarke has been quoted as saying in The Herald Sun.

“I am very much interested and definitely want to be part of the IPL. It’s just about timing for me. I think we have some One-Dayers in Pakistan, but the following year we are available for the whole time,” he added.Meanwhile, Modi himself was reported as saying he expected Clarke and Johnson to appear in the league in the second season.

“A few new players would be joining the IPL, from Australia, too. We hope Clarke and Johnson will join,” he said.
Source:cricketnext.com

ANDREW Flintoff will play in the Indian Premier League next season, according to the tournament’s chairman Lalit Modi.

The Lancashire all-rounder is top of the megabucks Twenty20 league’s wish-list alongside England captain Kevin Pietersen.

However, as with all England players, Freddie must wait to see if the terms of his next ECB central contract allows him to play in the IPL.If the 30-year-old star does sign up, he can expect to earn a six-figure fee for a couple of weeks’ work. But he would probably miss the start of Lancashire’s 2009 campaign.

While most of cricket’s biggest names cashed in on this year’s inaugural event, English players were conspicuous by their absence with only Hampshire all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas taking a bit-role with eventual winners Rajasthan.Players have been able to double or even triple their annual incomes in a few weeks with the IPL, with India’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni the top earner on $4.5m for three seasons with the Chennai Super Kings.

“As for the influx of English players I am certain that the Indian Premier League will definitely see the likes of Flintoff and Pietersen playing next year,” said Modi, who is now one of the leading figures in world cricket.

Having proven he is finally over his ankle woes with some outstanding displays for England this summer, Freddie will join England in Antigua at the end of next month for the multi-million dollar Stanford Super Series, which sees the national side take on a West Indies All-Star XI, with the winning players walking away with £570,000 each.

That has been seen as the ECB’s way of stopping their top stars being lured by the IPL in what will be a busy year for England, which starts with a tour of the West Indies followed by the World Twenty20 tournament, a visit by Sri Lanka and then the Ashes.

Following the trip to Antigua, Flintoff and Lancashire team-mate Jimmy Anderson will travel to India in December for the start of a tour which includes two Tests and seven one-day internationals. LANCASHIRE suffered last-ball heartbreak in the final of the Over-50s County Championship.

Needing four to beat Oxfordshire on the Nursery Ground at Lord’s, Lancashire instead lost their final wicket to lose by three runs.Middleton captain John Punchard was man of the match, scoring 76 and finishing with figures of 2-14 from his nine overs.

At one point Lancashire had reduced Oxfordshire to 53-6, but 75 from Adrian Manger helped them to 186-8 from their 45 overs.And although they got off to a solid start, Lancashire fell just short of their target as they were bowled out for 183.
Source: manchestereveningnews.co.uk

A fragile all-rounder whose progress has been hampered by umpteen injury breakdowns, Shane Watson believes he has put behind the nightmares and profusely thanks the Indian Premier League (IPL) for resurrecting his stop-start career.

Back in the mix again, Watson believes he is through with his quota of slings and arrows and his career is finally back on track largely because of IPL.

“It came at the right time for me, no doubt about that,” the strapping blond, standing at a towering 1.83m, said.

“It was of international level. Playing for the Rajasthan Royals was a great opportunity for me and that too under the great Shane Warne. It was a true testament of your calibre and I was simply privileged to be part of IPL,” gushed the all-rounder, who missed the warm-up match against Board President’s XI because of viral fever.

Watson also took the opportunity to thank his charismatic captain-cum-coach at Rajasthan Royals.

“Shane was amazing. He provided me the right opportunity and instilled confidence in all the members. He was simply superb as a captain,” said Watson, who was judged the Most Valuable Player in IPL.

Watson doesn’t hesitate to admit that he also benefited from all-rounder Andrew Symonds’ absence, which paved the way for his Test recall.

“No doubt about that. At number six, Symonds was doing a great job. I don’t know what would have happened had he been part of the squad. But this is an opportunity for me and I have to make the most of it,” he said with a palpable sense of urgency.

Despite being around for six years, Watson has played just three Test matches so far, in contrast to his 72 ODI appearances and the swashbuckler reckons he faces a new challenge in the longer version of the game.

“Test matches are different ball game altogether. When the ball starts turning from day four, you know it’s a different challenge for you. But I’m here to put my best foot forward and help Australia win the series,” he said.

Former Australia skipper Steve Waugh tipped Watson to be Australia’s first genuine all-rounder since Keith Miller but umpteen stress fractures, back niggles, hamstring and calf injuries saw the youngster rehabilitating more than playing.

Watson, however, believes he had never been in better shape and hopes his career is finally ready to take off.

“My body often let me down, especially whenever I thought I had an opportunity. It was really frustrating to spend time in rehabs when you should have gone out to play. In fact it was my injury that allowed Symonds to cement his place in the side.

“But I believe I have come out of that phase. I know the conditions here and I’m in great shape. I believe I’m giving myself the best chance to finally live up to the expectation here,” added the all-rounder.
Source: beta.cricket.yahoo.com

Indian Premier League’s Chairman Lalit Modi was among the recipients of the ‘CNBC Awaaz Consumer Awards 2008’ for the Twenty20 league’s phenomenal success in its first year of inception.

The Indian Cricket Board’s vice president, whose brainchild was the multi-million dollar IPL which took the cricket world by storm, won the channel’s newly introduced special category award “for transforming cricket in India”, and was conferred with the honour at a function in Mumbai, a media release said.

Sharad Pawar, who headed the BCCI for three years when the IPL was conceived and put in operation by Modi, said in his speech that the league is one of the strongest brands that India has in the world.

In lighter vein Pawar, the Union Agriculture Minister who relinquished his BCCI post on September 27 after completing his term, wondered who has become a bigger brand — IPL or Modi himself, the release said.

Modi, in his acceptance speech, thanked Pawar for taking the initiative and putting the IPL in place after the idea had been placed on the backburner by the BCCI for many years.

Other special awardees were Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar (Entertainment Brand Ambassador of the Year) and public sector firm BSNL (Hall of Fame), the release said.

The winners of the special category of awards introduced this year were selected through a poll by the channel and a jury panel, the release added.

Source: hindustantimes.com

Indian Premier League chairman Lalit Modi has stated he is “certain” the second edition of the tournament will feature some of England’s top players.

IPL officials are currently gearing up to follow this year’s hugely successful inaugural Twenty20 event, which saw the Rajasthan Royals emerge victorious.While the majority of cricket’s top nations saw their star players take part in the event, English players were conspicuous by their absence with only Hampshire all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas taking an ultimately peripheral role for Rajasthan.

Participating players have been able to double or even triple their annual incomes through a few weeks with the IPL, with India’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni the top earner on US 4.5 million for three seasons with the Chennai Super Kings.However, although there are scheduling issues as the IPL calendar clashes with the English domestic season, Modi is confident the 2009 tournament will see the likes of Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff in action.

“As for the influx of English players I am certain that the DLF Indian Premier League will definitely see the likes of Flintoff and Pietersen playing next year,” the IPL chief told PA Sport.In the meantime, Modi, who is now one of the leading figures in world cricket, is promising the 2009 IPL season will be bigger and better than its first outing.However, he has ruled out any immediate prospect of the League expanding from its current eight franchises.

“One can only expect much bigger and better things from the adrenalin packed Twenty20 format, which is fast paced and exciting and so appeals to a global audience,” Modi added.

“As for the DLF Indian Premier League, we have identified areas of improvement around spectator comfort and the in-stadia experience, which we will rigorously implement in the coming season.

“That being done we will also be sitting down with the franchises in October to discuss and evolve improvement areas for the next season.”As of now I do not think we will be adding to the number of franchises. However, that is a decision we will take slightly later in the year.”There is already talk of franchises playing matches overseas and then there is the Champions League Twenty20, which we have just announced.

“As for expanding the number of franchises, that decision will be taken only after the initial three years. All I will say is that the sky is the limit and hopefully our franchisees will utilise these opportunities to their advantage.”
Source: sportinglife.com