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After fighting one hell of a series at the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) and boosting her team’s morale to the core, the Punjabi Preity is back on the Bollywood front with all her energies jam packed and so are her schedules as she is lined up with four films and the famous Bacchan world tour.

The oh so busy bee explained how the game got her so engrossed even not realizing the stuff she is missing out at the film front and informs that she has to start dubbing for two different movies titled “Har Pal” and “Heroes”.

The latter movie comprises of Salman Khan as her co-star. She has also signed a cameo in Salman’s next home production starring Kareena and the man himself. The film has been titled Mr. and Mrs. Khanna. Explaining her friendly bonding with Salman, she expresses her excitement to work for him and clarifies it not to be an ordinary item number but an interesting cameo. Another reason she states for agreeing to the stint is the director of the movie, Mr. Prem Soni being a very dear film and on the lighter note, she chuckles and reasons that as Salman has played a lot of Prems in different movies, so this cameo is for Prem.

Another prestigious director going ga-ga over Preity’s work is none other than Deepa Mehta of the Water fame who has cast her in her next Punjabi movie titled, “heaven on Earth” and claims that she is the best actress she has worked with till date.

Describing her experience of the Indian Premier League, she claimed that she has enjoyed the series to the core and learn her lessons too. Rubbishing the rumors of her sitting on a player’s lap, she claimed that it is not at all her to make a public spectacle by do8ing such a thing and denied her being of that sort.

The Mohali team co-owner also revives of the series time when she even got to realize who her real friends was, because there were a lot of her so called friends cribbing over not being called for the matches and making issues of no sense.

Learning her experiences from the series Preity admits she sure is a more mature person after the IPL and explains that there are a lot of things to be looked after for the next season of the Indian Premier League but as of now she has her commitments totally to the Bollywood front and is all set to deliver hits and recreate her magic on screen and on stage as well as she performs on stage with the Bachchan parivar on their World tour.

Tags: Bachchan, Bachchan Family, Bollywood, Deepa Mehta, DLF IPL, Har Pal, Heroes, Hindi Movie, IPL, Kareena, Kareena Kapoor, Mohali, Movie, Mr. and Mrs. Khanna, Preity, Preity Zinta, Punjab, Salman, Salman Khan, Water

After the first IPL was over with a lots of pim pom, it was reported that Mahendra Singh Dhoni who got the highest bid in the landmark IPL auction in February, worth nearly Rs 1.5 lakh for each of his run during the 44-day tournament.

Although Dhoni, the Chennai Super Kings captain has lost the IPL final against The Rajasthan Royals, the Chennai franchise owners has shelled out a whopping Rs six crore for the Indian ODI and Twenty20 captain. Dhoni tallied 414 runs at an average of 41.40 in 14 innings and thus each run was worth Rs 1, 44,927.

Shaun Marsh son of former Australia opener Geoff Marsh, who was tournament’s top scorer, was bought for a paltry Rs 12 lakh recorded an aggregate of 616 runs at a brilliant average of 68 runs which means Rs 1948 for each run.

In fact, none of the franchise owners showed any interest in the Aussies, who were simply overlooked in the first two rounds of bidding before Kings XI Punjab coach Tom Moody roped him in just nine days before the IPL got underway.

Marsh, however, can still draw some relief from the fact that his sterling show in the Twenty20 event at least won him an ODI recall in the Australian team.

Gautam Gambhir (534) trails Marsh in the run-getters chart with an average of 41.07 and the left-hander proved a good buy for the Delhi Daredevils, who had coughed up Rs 2.9 crore for him.

Tags: Chennai, Cricket, Dhoni, IPL, Marsh, MS Dhoni, Shaun Marsh

It is reported that Pakistani speedster Mohammad Asif was detained at Dubai Airport for possessing contraband drugs today. He was returning back to Pakistan from Mumbai after his participation in the recent Indian Premiere League.

It is reported that PCB officials reached Dubai to help him out. Pak board sent his senior officer Nadeem Akram who will help to solve the matter with the help of Pakistan embassy in Dubai. Nadeem told that they are in a continuous touch with the concerned officers. Custom officers have taken Asif in their custody but he was not detained.

He was taken in custody at the airport. He is said to be in possession of drugs that are banned in the country and it was the second occasion when the pacer was involved in such an incident.

Akram told that the liquid obtained from Asif’s bag is sent for testing. Once tested it will be clear what that substance is, which created the doubt due to which Asif was held.

It is needed to be told that the laws against drugs are very strict in Dubai and if Asif found guilty, he can be jailed for a period of 4-10 years.

He had played for Delhi Daredevils in the IPL. The Pakistan is going to play in India-Bangladesh tri-series, scheduled to be held later this month. The speedster was selected on Monday for the tri-series and his absence will be a major setback for the team.

Tags: Asif, Cricket, Fast Bowler, India, IPL, Pakistan

Rajasthan Royals won the first IPL finals on Sunday at Dr. DY Patil stadium in Mumbai. The royals leaded by Shane Warne won against M S Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings by three wickets against the target of 164 set by CSK. Rajasthan were awarded a cheque of Rs. 4.8 crores.

The last over of the match was the deciding over and was really nail biting as the victory was undecided till the last delivery. Finally the trophy was over taken by the Rajasthan Royals. Yusuf Pathan from winning side with his 56 runs off 39 balls and taking three wickets emerged as the hero of the day. He is awarded the DLF maximum sixes as well as the man of the match award.

Lots of turning points in the match kept the viewers stick to their chairs. Graeme Smith, who is out with a hamstring injury, was replaced by Kamran Akmal in Rajasthan Royal team. After winning the toss, Shane Warne invited the Chennai Super Kings to bat. Stephen Fleming and Parthiv Patel gave an impressive steady start. Raina added the highest individual runs of 43 runs to the team. Dhoni remained not out with 29 runs adding to the total of 163.

Royals got his first stroke as the loss of Niraj Patel at the start of the game who made only 2 runs. Later the play swung up and the score rises. The catches dropped of Yusuf Pathan at 13 and 33 cost Chennai Super Kings a lot. The fielding aspect of Chennai Super Kings was at lowest yesterday.

Pathan hit massive sixes making the target easy for the team to hold the IPL trophy with highest individual score of 56 in the final.

Shane Warne-Sohail Tanwir partnership for the 8th wicket was also very crucial for the team.

Sohail Tanvir — the wrong-footed pacer from Pakistan, for his 22 wickets, won the purple cap while the orange cap for the highest scorer went to Shaun Marsh of Kings XI Punjab.

Australia’s Shane Watson, who played a key role in Rajasthan Royal’s title triumph, was declared as the man of the tournament with 474 runs, including four half centuries, and 17 wickets.

In spite of lots of controversies, first IPL mixed with glamour and entertainment was a grand success.

Here comes the champions of the first IPL Tournament:

Tags: Champions, Chennai Super Kings, DLF IPL, DLF IPL Final, First IPL, IPL, MS Dhoni, Rajasthan Royals, Shane Warne, Shane Watson, Sohail Tanvir, Yusuf Pathan

IPL Twenty-20 is the latest cricket fashion which is rocking in the cricket world nowadays. After 56 matches, the semis of the league are going to start today with the battle between Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals. It is getting popularity among the cricket fans but the same is surrounded with lots of controversies and gossips since its start.

Before the start of the IPL, the issue of boycotting the coverage by the media gave a major jolt to this league. The IPL was reported to have sold the new media rights to the Twenty20 tournament to an unnamed US web company in a $50m deal. BCCI had said that all photographers covering IPL matches were mandatory required to upload photographs on IPL’s official website at their own cost which was later rejected to soften media norms for IPL.

After a lot of pressure mounted by the issue, the matter is resolved but it was just a starting. Eligibility of Shoiab Akhtar for IPL made the headlines after this issue. PCB has banned Shoiab Akhtar for 5 years to represent Pakistan but as a professional player he was likely to be eligible to play for Kolkata Knight Riders. BCCI didn’t want to create any problem so asked him to get permission from PCB failing which he was not allowed to play for KolKata Knight Riders. Only a week after PCB has stayed the order by a month and new enquiry will take place after that. Due to this he is now available to Knight Riders for selection.

Anyhow, these gossips were just trailers only. The big picture came into light with a new controversy. Harbhajan-Sreeshanth slap row was a biggest jolt to the IPL as well as to the cricket history. It was a shocking incident of slapping by Harbhajan after the Kings XI Vs. Mumbai Indians clash in Mohali on April 25 which left the cricketers embarrassed. The incident flamed up when the BCCI asked the short tempered Harbhajan to explain the action. Frustrated with his lose, Bhajji slapped Sreesanth and the incident is caught by cameras of media. The issue was bounced high by the media thereafter. Finally the issue came to an end on May 14 when Bhajji was banned for 5 ODIs and was warned by the Cricket Board of a life ban for any further misconduct on his part. That was one of the very toughest times for the career of the 27-year-old off spinner Harbhajan.

Later BCCI also banned an umpire to stand in a match on this topic. The umpire has made any comment on the Sreesanth’s behavior and he got the reward.

Sehwag was no more left away from controversies. The match between Delhi Daredevils and Deccan Chargers was stopped at a very crucial point in the 19th over when Shewag complained to the umpires that the crowd is throwing stones at him. Sehwag was very upset with the incident which wiped off the happiness of his victory in the match.

Shahrukh-Ganguly tashan was one more sensational gossip of IPL. A reported rift between Kolkata Knight Rider’s owner Shahrukh Khan and skipper Sourav Ganguly came in light after the team’s poor performance against the Rajasthan Royals which cost them their chance to feature in the top four teams. The two have also conflicts over various issues like team selection, team combination and player selection. Shahrukh Khan and Captain Sourav Ganguly had different opinions about team composition and players to buy during the auction. The other major reason for the rift is Shahrukh’s faith in coach John Buchanan that saw him giving more powers to the Australian in team issues surpassing Ganguly. The King Khan further upset Ganguly by announcing that Buchanan would be taking control of the team next season. Bid for the players in the auction was another issue between them. The two however now says that there are no differences between them and all issues are resolved now.

Shahrukh was also warned by the BCCI to follow Code of Conduct in cricket. The Anti Corruption Unit officials had cautioned the actor about going into the dressing room and the team dug out during the IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings. BCCI supported the law against Srk also. King Khan was highly disappointed by this issue and the warning. He even said that he would keep him away from IPL now. But later he was permitted to cheer the team from dug out.

Now come to the colorful part of IPL. Cheerleaders, which are new in Indian cricket, gave a new color to the game but on the same side it gave rise to a hot debate among the politicians and the officials. Vijay Mallya, the owner of the Bangalore Royal Challengers, started the trend of keeping the cheer-leaders with the team and others followed. There was a lot of hue and cry about the dressing of these cheer leaders. They were finally made to wear so called decent looking clothes by the moral brigade of Mumbai. Political leaders also gave their comments in the matter. Some protested it while others found nothing insane in the dancing of cheerleaders. But still the cheerleaders are cheering the viewers and fans of cricket in the play.

Another issue which rose on cheerleaders was the racial abuse directed towards two dark skinned cheerleaders hired by the Kings XI Punjab team. They have alleged that they were asked to sit out just before the April 19 match of the IPL played in Mohali because they were not white. Cheerleaders Ellesha Newton and Sherinne Anderson were banned from performing at a major cricket match in India.

Shane Warne and Ganguly’s views on field leaded a new controversy in IPL. Rajasthan Royals’ skipper Shane Warne lodged a complaint against his Kolkata Knight Riders counterpart Sourav Ganguly for resorting to time-wasting tactics during their IPL match and refusing to accept the fielder’s word on a “clean catch”. Ganguly dismissed the Australian’s claim that he had violated the spirit of the game by indulging in delaying tactics and refusing to accept the fielder’s words on a ‘clean catch’.  Later Shane Warne and Sourav Ganguly fined 10 per cent of match fees. Shane Warne fined for his comments in press conference. Ganguly fined for his on-field behavior.

Recently a complaint has been filed against Kings XI Punjab co-owner Ness Wadia for allegedly publicly insulting and using derogatory language against Mohali police chief Ranbir Singh Khatra during Friday’s IPL match between the Punjab team and Deccan Chargers at PCA stadium, Mohali.

The police officer lodged a complaint with Mohali deputy commissioner that Wadia had used “insulting” language on him. The complaint also encircled IPL commissioner Lalit Modi for smoking in the Long Room of the PCA stadium in an earlier IPL match.

One more issue is in the air. Despite loosing the semi final berth Mumbai Indians are hosting the semi finals and final in Mumbai, since the owner of Mumbai Indians has bid the highest value for the team. So this issue has created some sort of flame. Skipper of Rajasthan Royals Shane Warne is not happy with this. He was looking for hosting the semi finals in the top two teams place.

So these are a few colorful events from the cricketing world of India, but I am not sure where the cricket in between these issues is?

Tags: Controversies, Cricket, Ganguly, Harbhajan, Harbhajan Srresanth Row, India, IPL, Slap, Sreesanth, T 20, Twnty 20

A complaint has been filed against Kings XI Punjab co-owner Ness Wadia for allegedly publicly insulting and using derogatory language against Mohali police chief Ranbir Singh Khatra during Friday’s IPL match between the Punjab team and Deccan Chargers at PCA stadium, Mohali.

Disappointed by the behavior of Wadia, Khatra said, ”What hurt me the most is when Wadia said he didn’t want to talk to small and mean people.”

Wadia apparently accused the police of stealing T-shirts and liquor and of being involved in black marketing of tickets.

The police officer lodged a complaint with Mohali deputy commissioner that Wadia had used ”insulting” language on him. The complaint also encircled IPL commissioner Lalit Modi for smoking in the Long Room of the PCA stadium in an earlier IPL match.

Khatra said that DDR had been registered against Modi at Mohali police station in this connection.

Khatra said, ”I was passing by when I noticed Modi smoking and told him that this is a public place and such behaviour is not acceptable.”

Tags: Cricket, IPL, Kings XI Punjab, Lalit Modi, Mohali, Ness Wadia

A senior Board of Control for Cricket in India official on Thursday said that the Board will be ready to probe in the matter regarding the allegations of racial abuse by 2 London based cheer girls who spoke to the media about it a month after they claimed the incident took place.

The dark-skinned cheer girls, who were hired by the Kings XI Punjab team, through event management company Wizcraft International Entertainment, had alleged that they were asked to sit out just before the April 19 match in Mohali because they were not white (skinned).

The board said that if any formal complaint is lodged by them with the Indian Premier League, they will look into the matter.

“I am surprised why these cheer girls have taken over a month to speak out and that too in the media. As far as I know, there has been no complaint from them lodged with the IPL,” BCCI Joint Secretary and IPL committee member M P Pandove said in Chandigarh.

He said IPL will “definitely look into the matter if it is brought to the notice of the IPL commissioner by the alleged victims officially”.

However, Kings XI Punjab chief executive officer Neil Maxwell has already denied any truth in the racial abuse and he termed the allegations as baseless.

Tags: BCCI, Cheer Girls, Cricket, IPL, Kings XI Punjab

Kolkata Knight Riders chief executive Joy Bhattacharya on Wednesday denied any rumors of differences between team owner Shah Rukh Khan and captain Sourav Ganguly. He said that there is no truth in reports and the rumors are all baseless and false.

According to media reports, the two have reported rifts on several issues including team selection and also on Coach John Buchanan being given more power by the owner in running the team.

“We have nothing to say because we think there is no problem in running the team. The reports of rift between Sourav and Shah Rukh are all baseless. The report doesn’t attribute to any source or official. It was an imagination of the reporter’s mind,” Bhattacharya told.

Captain Sourav Ganguly, while leaving Kolkata for his team’s match against Delhi Daredevils, said, “I have no problems with Shah Rukh.”

Bhattacharya admitted that the only problem for the team is “we are losing matches.”

The Knight Riders are already in a bad situation after their loss to Rajasthan Royals Tuesday night in the Indian Premier League, and it will need a miracle for the Kolkata team to get into the semi-finals. This created a lot of pressure on the players and left the owner in trouble.

Tags: Cricket, Dada, Ganguly, IPL, Khan, KKR, Knight Riders, Kolkata, Saurav, Shah Rukh, Shahrukh, SRK, Suarav Ganguly

Indian Premier League authorities issued fresh guidelines, which cleared the deck for the presence of a franchise owner in the team dug-out during the Twenty20 tournament. The decision was taken today after Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan was denied entry to his team’s dressing room on Sunday.

IPL chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi announced today that the organizers will issue an all-area accreditation badge to one member of each of the eight team franchisees, following the ejection of Shah Rukh from the dug-out by the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit officials of the International Cricket Council.

Modi said that suitable measures would be taken to avoid a repeat of such incident.

“There have been reports in the media about denial of a team owner access to the dug out and dressing room. The IPL is conducted as per the rules and regulations of the ICC, whose ACSU officials were just doing the job entrusted,” Modi said.

“This is what we intend to do by giving each of the team owners one such badge each. They do have the right to sit with the players in the dug outs and dressing rooms,” Modi told a media conference in Mumbai on Monday evening.

Modi said that it is the first year of IPL and If we make mistakes, we are willing to set them right.

Earlier, the ICC expressed surprise at Shah Rukh’s statement that he had been ejected by ACSU personnel. The ICC said the IPL is a domestic tournament and the game’s governing body did not have any role in formulating the rules.

“The reported incident has nothing to do with the ICC as the IPL is a domestic tournament which is being held under the Rules and Regulations of the BCCI,” an ICC spokesman said from Dubai.

“Furthermore, the ICC Board in its meeting held in Dubai on 17-18 March had decided that IPL will introduce a code of conduct, an anti-corruption code and an anti-doping code that complies with ICC regulations,” he said.

Khan, disappointed with ICC regarding the issue said, “I don’t know the ICC rules. I’ll tell only one thing. Nobody dare stop me from coming to Kolkata. I’ll be here whenever my team plays a match at the Eden”.

Tags: Bollywood, Cricket, IPL, Lalit Modi, Shah Rukh Khan

In favor of ICC code of Conduct, BCCI today has said that the law is above all and even Bollywood superstar and Kolkata Knight Rider’s owner Shah Rukh Khan would have to keep out of the dug out following Code of Conduct. BCCI said that they would issue a notice hoping that all would comply in the ongoing IPL.

Earlier in the day, the Anti Corruption Unit officials had cautioned the actor about going into the dressing room and the team dug out during the IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings.

Shah Rukh Khan on Sunday night expressed disappointment at the ICC Anti Corruption Unit barring him from going to the team dug out and dressing room in the remaining matches of the IPL.

However the Kolkata team director, Joy Bhattacharya, has defended the franchisee owner Shah Rukh Khan saying that the ICC Code of Conduct does not apply to the team owners and even if it does, it does not matter because Shah Rukh is their 12th man.

“I like to hang around with the boys. I am very energetic. I am very disappointed that the ICC has stopped me. I don’t know the ICC rules. I’ll tell only one thing. Nobody dare stop me from coming to Kolkata. I’ll be here whenever my team plays a match at the Eden,” said Khan.

ICC had earlier said that the dugout was exclusively for the players and the team manager. The officials of the lucrative Indian Premier League have decided to hold a meeting in order to decide the composition in the player’s dugout.

“I work hard. I want them to work harder. I would have liked the Kolkata Knight Riders to reach the final,” said the actor for his team success.

SRK said “With the help of colleagues we’ve done something for this. Still there is a long way to go before it becomes the number one sporting brand”.

Tags: Cricket, Eden Garden, IPL, Khan, King Khan, Kolkata Knight Riders, Shahrukh Khan