Australia captain Ricky Ponting, currently under fire for his tactics in the lost series in India, said he could not imagine giving up international cricket to play the Indian Premier League but doubts if that would be the case with everyone.

“If the IPL keeps growing … the next generation might opt for franchise over country. Everyone in the game should work towards ensuring that never happens,” he wrote in his new book Captain’s Diary 2008: A Season of Tests, Turmoil and Twenty20 to be released on Thursday.

Ponting said if the IPL is extended players will be under pressure to choose one form of the game over another.”It will be tougher to retain the public’s interest [in Tests] and eventually the golden goose will be no more,” he said. Ponting said the money on offer from the IPL will make it difficult for some players to continue representing their countries.

“We cannot afford to lose teams such as New Zealand and the West Indies from international cricket, but my fear is that this could happen if the game cannot strike a balance between Tests and ODIs and the IPL’s riches,” he said. “Unless such a balance can be achieved, I could see some countries’ cricket teams declining in the way Zimbabwe’s sides have struggled over the past few years.”

West Indies players also have an option of playing in the Twenty20 league launched by billionaire Allen Stanford, who recently put up US $ 20 million for a single Twenty20 match between England and his Stanford All Stars team.

“The best cricketers in the game want to keep representing their country, but if it’s going to be costing them [a lot of] money then there are tough decisions ahead for players and also for administrators,” he said.

Ponting has come in for a lot of flak after Australia went down 2-0 in the four-Test series in India. The world’s number one team were beaten by a margin of two Tests or more for the first time since their 3-1 defeat against West Indies in 1988-89.
Source: rediff.com

England’s top players hope a meeting in India on Saturday can pave the way for them to play in next season’s Indian Premier League.Giles Clarke and David Collier of the England and Wales Cricket Board will meet IPL chairman Lalit Modi.Players’ chief Sean Morris told BBC Sport: “Most England players have had discussions with IPL franchises.” But the IPL haven’t announced their fixtures yet and we don’t definitely know England’s commitments.”

He added: “The IPL has been a great success and any top cricketer would want to compete in it.” As things stand, players will find it very difficult to play in the IPL, because the Indian competition’s fixtures will clash with England’s. And they do not want to sign their central contracts until this is clarified. The IPL is expected to run from 10 April to the end of May, while England play their final one-day match against the West Indies on 3 April and then begin their proposed Test series against Sri Lanka on 7 May. But Sri Lanka’s tour is not expected to go ahead because 13 of their top players are playing in the IPL.

If their tour is scrapped, the West Indies are waiting in the wings to deputise and play a two-Test series, just weeks after England have returned from playing a three-Test series out there. Modi reiterated that he will not allow England players to play in only a handful of IPL matches. “That does not work for us,” he told BBC Sport. “They have to be available for a substantial period for them to be in the auction over the next two years. That’s what the next contract period will be. “I am told the England players are quite eager to take part, as one would expect any player anywhere in the world to be. And yes, they have had talks with a few of the franchises.”

The fixture clash has created an impasse that Modi and the ECB hope to resolve on Saturday. ECB spokesman Andrew Walpole refused to comment on the meeting when contacted by BBC Sport. But it is understood Collier and Clarke will push for the IPL to be moved back a couple of weeks to accommodate England players, who have still not signed their central contracts because of the uncertainty they face. “The guys are keen to get the central contracts signed and we are 99% of the way there,” Morris said. “We are just waiting on a few little details. We are basically waiting for Clarke and Collier to get back from India.

“The Stanford and IPL windows are new things that have never been there before, it’s a new workload. We don’t know what the calendar is going to be for next year and are waiting to be told. “Until then, we don’t know what the guys are committing to in signing the contracts and we need that to be clarified. The players themselves are pretty comfortable about the situation.” Manoj Badale, the owner of the winners of the IPL tournament, Rajasthan, said he hoped this weekend’s meeting would resolve the position regarding England’s players.

“We have decided to hold off approaching England players until we get clarification, but have been led to believe there might be some clarification after this weekend,” he told BBC Sport. The 2009 IPL player auction is due to take place in January.
Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Colombo (PTI): Sri Lanka Cricket’s bid to stop its players from participating in next year’s Indian Premier League is not a surprise for the players’ association here, which alleged SLC made a similar effort last year to put a spoke in the wheel of the IPL-bound cricketers.

Sri Lankan Players Association (SLPA) Graeme Labrooy said SLC doing everything to stop the players from playing in next year’s IPL was not a one-off incident. “Unfortunately even this year, SLC tried its best to schedule a tournament in Pakistan during the IPL even after permission was given to the players to sign for IPL. So we don’t see it as one-off,” Labrooy said.

“We are handling matters with Sri Lanka Cricket on a daily basis and I would say that players have signed a three-year contract (with IPL) and the board was aware of it. That is why I think the Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge has taken right steps of releasing the players to play for the IPL,” Labrooy said.

According to him, despite the bitterness stemming from SLC’s hardline stance against its Indian counterpart, BCCI’s USD 40 million bailout proposal was still on. “Definitely there is hope to revive (the offer),” Labrooy said. “They (the BCCI officials) did not say the deal is off. It is still on. But let us get our relationship on the road,” Labrooy said.

The offer involved Sri Lanka’s participation in the Champions Twenty20 League for the next 10 years and was put forward by the BCCI as a solution for the loss Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) might incur due to the aborted England tour next year.
Source: hindu.com

Former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming has predicted that the success of the Indian Premier League and Twenty20 will encourage more youngsters in his country to choose cricket over rugby. He will not be playing for the Chennai Super Kings in next month’s Champions League but was hopeful of taking over as the IPL team’s coach.

Fleming, who retired in March after 14 years with the New Zealand national team, said that the new riches in the sport suddenly make the life of a professional cricketer a lot more attractive. “I think with the introduction of the IPL there’s now a financial pathway to attract athletes to the game so the All Blacks may not get all the best athletes anymore,” he said. “We may start to get a few more coming our way because it’s now a career option for a lot of our students in New Zealand.”

Fleming, 35, played the last of his 111 Test matches in the home series against England eight months ago but is still wielding his familiar Gunn and Moore bat on the world stage. This weekend, he’s been in Hong Kong captaining former international foes Justin Langer, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Sanath Jayasuriya in an All-Stars team in the Hong Kong Cricket Sixes. He’s hoping to stay sharp before playing for Wellington in February’s domestic Twenty20 competition followed by the second edition of the IPL, starting in April.

Fleming said he’s interested in working as a player-coach for Chennai but nothing was confirmed yet with further discussions due to take place.

“If there’s a role as a player-coach, I’m certainly keen to develop that side of things with Chennai,” he said. “I love the strategy of the game, I love Twenty20 and how the IPL is bringing cultures and players together. “But I don’t plan on being a national coach or a first-class coach. The IPL is a little bit different as you are bringing players together for a short period of time. There are challenges in that. But it’s the sort of competition that I like.”

Exploring new business opportunities, Fleming has been dabbling in sports management, representing former team-mates including Brendon McCullum, Tim Southee and James Franklin. “It’s the first step into the business world. I’ve been meeting a lot of people and seeing what opportunities are around now,” he said. “Looking after the players is quite challenging. It’s going to take a bit of time but I’m trying to find out who I am and what I want to do.”

His involvement with national players means that Fleming has been following the New Zealand team’s fortunes more closely than he might otherwise. He’s full of praise for new captain Daniel Vettori, who took over the Test reigns a year ago on the tour of South Africa as Fleming remained in the side as a batsman.

“I think Dan’s doing very well. He’s a world-class player,” he said. “Unfortunately we’re going through another rebuilding phase, which we always seem to be doing. That’s just because of our lack of resources. There is some talent in the side, though.”

During the Hong Kong Cricket Sixes, Fleming seemed a model of relaxation as captain of the All-Stars team, keeping wicket, rolling the arm over as a bowler and enjoying the raucous atmosphere at the Kowloon Cricket Club. Even though Fleming hit the winning runs in a six-wicket victory over Sri Lanka, two earlier defeats – including a shock five-wicket loss to Hong Kong – meant that the All Stars were knocked out of the Cup competition on the opening day.

Fleming is happy to play in unique tournaments like the Hong Kong Sixes, slightly removed from the cricketing mainstream, saying that he doesn’t miss the intense pressure of the international scene.

“As a Test captain, every word was scrutinised so you had to be very measured about what you said and very guarded,” he said. “You couldn’t always speak openly because of how it might be construed and what kind of headline you’d wake up to tomorrow. “Being happy is the key. You go through cricket with a lot of anxiety as you do with any job. But if you can spit out the other side and have a life that’s fulfilled and that you’re comfortable with, then you’ll be a happy man.”
Source: content-usa.cricinfo.com

Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd has officially admitted that it is looking to sell its IPL franchise, Hyderabad’s Deccan Chargers. The Hyderabad based media company has given the mandate to KPMG Corporate Finance to advise on the sale.

The company informed the BSE that KPMG Corporate Finance was mandated to run the process to identify the strategic buyers for Deccan Chargers. Earlier media reports suggested that Australia-based NRI industrialist Vikas Rambal could be one of the potential buyers for a majority stake in Deccan Chargers. An 80% stake in the franchise is held by the publishing house, and the remaining 20% is held by Group M, the media arm of the ad conglomerate WPP.

Earlier reports have indicated that Deccan Chronicle may sell its entire stake for anywhere between $175-200 million. This might still be a premium of 55-70 percent over its acquisition price. Deccan acquired the franchise for $107 million and has paid about $5.8 million as players fees.

The team also paid Andrew Symonds $1.35 million, making him the highest paid player in the league. However Deccan Chargers could not make it in the recent IPL, and they finished at the bottom of the table. Also since then there has been a change of guard at Deccan Chargers with Adam Gilchrist replacing VVS Laxman as the team captain and Robin Sharma being fired as the team coach, the things are likely to change at the team. With some of the franchises like Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals managing to break even or even spinning a profit, the IPL franchise is turning out to be a lucrative business opportunity..

Vikas Rambal, who is sponsoring Champions League Twenty20 side Waca Warriors, is the chairman of Australia’s North West Chemicals and Fertilizers. He had expressed interest in buying an IPL team.

Besides Deccan Chargers, Rajasthan Royals, the IPL champions backed by UK based investment group Blenheim Chalcot, is another franchise which is looking for investment.

A lot of corporates have also showed interest in having their own teams. Sahara Group was said to be interested in Kanpur team and Reliance ADAG in a Ahmedabad team. Future Group is also said to be interested in buying a team. Some banks and financial institutions have also showed an interest in buying IPL team. Some of the names doing the rounds during bidding process included ICICI Venture, Sequoia Capital and India Value Fund. Also international players like Providence, Macquire Bank, DE Shaw, Deutsche Bank, Alcazar & Engelfield have also showed interest.

Since IPL might allow new teams only after a couple of years, this is the only opportunity to buy a team.

Source: contentsutra.com