IPL and money!
May 26, 2009 Entertainment, Sports
It’s only in its second season yet, but the term IPL and money have almost become synonymous. It’s no doubt that the 20-20 cricket format has been evolved for wholesome entertainment-with all the music, cheerleaders and sixes, and anything which entertains has huge money attached to it; especially when its cricket. Needless to say IPL has made all the parties attached to it-the players, team owners, BCCI and sponsors; all happy.
Well a little bit about the Indian premier league’s origin- so it’s only in its second season, it was launched by the BCCI in the year 2008. The format of the IPL is much on the lines of English premier league (remember all the flashy names like Knight Riders and Deccan chargers!), and the much controversial cheerleaders are also taken from it. The IPL is basically based on the franchise system where the highest bidder gets to own the team. Also this encourages a lot of betting. That is the reason that IPL has huge stakes involved in it. In fact it is not just a sport now, it’s more of a business and the businesspersons involved are A class celebs. Be it SRK, Preity Zinta or Ambani, all of them are big time celebrities. They all have huge stakes in their own teams in IPL, amounting to some hundred crores of rupees! And here is the jaw dropping figure- the total base price for auction in IPL was whopping $400 million! Quite a sum I would call it.
Dhoni was the most expensive player in the first season bought by the Chennai super Kings team and now in season two Andrew Flintoff has beaten Dhoni for the most expensive player title. Basically there much more than meets the eye at the IPL. It has graduated from being a sport to being a form of entertainment and currently the IPL is Post Graduating from being entertainment to a big money making industry.
Tags: BCCI, Cheerleaders, Chennai Super Kings, Cricket, Entertainment, Flintoff, Indian Premiere League, Indian Premiere League 2009, IPL, Players, Sports, Team Owners
Indian Hockey, returning back to the glorious past!
May 26, 2009 Entertainment, Sports
With a cricket crazy nation like ours, where from kids to grandmas are hooked to the square cuts and clean bowled, seldom do we pay much attention to our official national game-hockey. How many times have you ever heard your friends praising our hockey players, and let alone praising, do you even know the player’s names when you know what is the favorite bathroom song of your favorite cricketer?
Well I am not trying to make you feel guilty here but just talking about how your days are going to change as our very own national sport hockey is bringing back home the prestigious trophies. Recently our hockey team beat the host nation Malaysia 3-1 to bring home the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, which was the fourth such experience for our hockey team. This just happened at the right time for India would be facing the world cup challenge next year. And all our team needs right now is support from us fans, the media and the government. All three entities can together bring back the game of hockey to life.
Probably hockey needs to learn a lot from its counterpart cricket. So to begin it needs its own well organized federation like BCCI to make the sport more organized and to fill its shortcomings. The next big support has to come from the media be it electronic or print. Our hockey team has been winning in the past as much as our cricket team but still it fails to make it to the headlines, where as even when a cricketer gets married; his photographs are adorned on the front pages. So probably the media can bring about the much needed change and move up hockey as much as cricket. Well I am not saying that hockey should replace cricket, but may be the two of them could co-exist together.
When people will see or read more of hockey then obviously they are bound to get more involved in it. Also our government should not be partial towards cricket and completely ignore the national sport. I mean have you ever thought when our cricket team wins; the government announces flats, lands and huge sums of money for the cricketers whereas when the hockey players win, they barely make it to a page in the newspaper. So basically the system needs to be revamped, like government investing more in hockey, building proper infrastructure and training facilities, people taking a little more interest in the sport, media putting some extra words on the victories and I am sure soon the game can win back its well deserved position.
Tags: BCCI, Clean Bowled, Cricket, Electronic Media, Favorite Cricketer, Hockey, Hockey in India, Hockey Players, Hockey Team, Hockey World Cup, Indian Hockey, Infrastructure, Media, National Game, National Sports, Print Media, Sports, Square Cut, Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, World Cup
The Best Example of Globalization!
Apr 18, 2009 Entertainment
These days money has become the most powerful factor through out the world. I was really shocked to see that one small game Cricket is going to establish a new example, a new trend which includes the combination of sport ship along with the power of money and glamor. This is for sure the best example of globalization.
I was surprised to see the immense popularity which Indian Premier League, the organization of the T20 cricket matches, by the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI), got during last season. This year, IPL 2 has crossed the boundaries of nation, and now it is all set to develop a new example of globalization.
A tournament which was originally developed for India is now shifted to South Africa (for the reason of General Elections in India). The tournament which was mainly claimed by the organizers that it will provide the platform for the Indian players has now totally shifted to the hands of the players who don’t belong to India. Here are a few examples:
The captaincy of the Kolkata Knight Riders has taken from the Icon Player of team Saurav Ganguly and given to the dashing Kiwi player McCullum. As far as the point of view of the team is concerned, they are free to take any decision in the favor of their team, but I think the idea of dropping Ganguly as the skipper, or the idea of four skippers in a match, which was in air a few days back, are all silly, as without Ganguly there is no identity of the team. As far as my views are concerned, I think Dada should come back to India. People from Bengal are really hurt from this issue and we don’t know why Dada is still there in the team. He is undoubtedly the best ever player of the Kolkata and the team which is representing the City of Joy should for sure include him as the skipper.
The second example is the exit of Mohhamad Kaif and a few more players (all Indian) from the Rajasthan Royals team. The reason behind is still not clear to any one, some one claims it is because of a rift between the skipper and coach Shane Warne and Kaif, some says it is because of an attempt to cut the cost of the team. If the first reason is true then too my views is that the team management require interfering in the matter and solving the matter. If the second reason is true then why they did not remove any player who was not Indian?
These examples are a few examples which are a clear indication that Indian Premiere League is not the Indian League any more. For last season at least it looked like an Indian league whether it is because of the Indian Players in the decision making slot, or whether it was played in the presence of the cricket crazy Indian fans, but this time I am not sure if it can generate the same type of attraction among the Indian people.
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Tags: BCCI, Bollywood, Cricket, Dada, Ganguly, Glamor, Globalization, India, Indian Premier League, IPL, IPL 2, Kaif, KKR, Kolkata, Kolkata Knight Riders, McCullum, Rajasthan Royals, Saurav Ganguly, Shane Warne, South Africa, Sports, T20, Warne
Two Days Four Good News for India!
Feb 1, 2009 Sports
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The Saturday evening and the Sunday morning brought some good news to India, which brought smile to many faces of the nation. These news are related to sports world, though these are proving the increasing power of India. Here are those:
India is shining in Hockey: India started the campaign in Punjab Gold Cup with a victory over New Zealand with a margin of 2-0. In Chandigarh Punjab Gold Cup is going on in between four countries India, New Zealand, Holland, and Germany. Yesterday India defeated New Zealand with the help of the goals by Sandeep Singh and Shivender Singh.
Yuvraj Singh and Ishant Sharma provided 2-0 lead in Sri Lanka: With the help of the powerful performances by Yuvi and Ishant Sharma Team India defeated Sri Lanka in the second ODI Yesterday, which gave them a 2-0 lead in the series. It was the unfortunate decision which costs the wicket of Yuvi otherwise he was looking to build a century against Lankan who were already lost the first ODI against India. Later on Kandambi fight till the last over but that was not sufficient for them.
Yuki Bhambri provided the Grand Slam taste to India: This is really big news, first time a grand slam award to India that too in singles category. Although it is in junior category only but this little Yuvraj of Indian tennis has proved his potential and he has a huge aspect in the coming days.
Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi won Australian Opens Mixed Double Final: The Sunday morning came with huge news of Sania and Bhupathi winning the Australian Open Mixed Doubles title. They defeated Nathalie Dechy (from France) and Andy Ram (from Israel) in Melbourne by 6-3 and 6-1. This is the maiden Grand Slam title for the tennis sensation of India Sania Mirza, although this is the seventh title of Mahesh Bhupathi.
Thus a few good starts at the beginning of the year is clearly indicating that India is going to rule in the year 2009.
Tags: Australian Open Mixed Double Final, Bhambri, Cricket News, Germany, Grand Slam Victory, Hockey News, Hockey Victory of India, Holland, India Beat Sri Lanka, India in Australian Open, Indian victory in hockey, Ishant Sharma, Kandambi, Kandamby, Mahesh Bhupathi, Mixed Double Title, New Zealand, ODI victory, Punjab Gold Cup, Sandeep Singh, Sania Mirza, Second ODI, Shivender Singh, Sports, Sports News India, Sri Lanka, Tennis News, Yuki Bhambri, Yuvi, Yuvraj Singh
Sports and Concerts Tickets!
Dec 23, 2008 Sports
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When ever any international cricket match happen in any city of India, it always become hectic to buy tickets to watch the match. Even if there is any sort of concert in any place we never get the chance to get the tickets easily. I always want to see any test match between India and Pakistan by my naked eye, but due to long queue outside the stadium I never tried to get the tickets.
Even I am the biggest fan of Jagjit Singh’s ghazal too, and I have a desire to see his live concert, but I never get the chance to see the live concert just because of the problem with achieving the tickets. I was always thinking whether there should be any company which can arrange the tickets for me to this type of sports and concerts.
Today I reached to one website which actually works in the same way. Ticket Feeder is a company which arranges the Sports Tickets along with the concert one too. They arrange the premium seat for their customers. They virtually provide the largest nationwide database of sports, concert, and theater tickets. They can arrange the tickets of every major sporting event and concert.
After seeing Ticket Feeder I was just wondering if we could have such a nice brand in our own city too. With the help of them at least I could have seen the live concerts of Jagjit Singh.
Tags: Buy Sports Tickets, Buy Tickets, Concerts Ticket, cricket match, Ghazal Concerts, India, International Cricket Match, Jagjit Singh, Live Concert, Sports, Sports and Concerts, Sports Ticket, Ticket Feeder, Tickets to Concerts
New variety of web addresses on web!
Jun 27, 2008 Technology
An array of new exciting web addresses for the web will be used soon giving a new look to the internet. The common domain names - .com and .edu will be the old stuff as the new flavor of a variety of web addresses like .love, .sky, .sports etc is waiting for you.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) approved measures that will allow top-level domain names to be written in scripts such as Arabic or Cyrillic.
After that any company, organization or country will soon be able to apply for a new Web address extension, called a top-level domain. Icann adopted the new rules after a meeting in Paris.
Top-level domain names (TLD) , refer to Internet name suffixes like .com, .net and .org, among others. Currently, there are more than 200 TLDs, which also include the two-character country codes used by Web sites, such as Britain’s .uk.
“This is a historic resolution,” said Peter Dengate Thrush, chairman of Icann’s board. “It’s going to make a big difference to how the Internet looks and works.”
On Thursday, Internet regulators voted to relax rules on domain names like .com or .edu, which could pave the way for companies or individuals to create new flavored addresses for the Web.
Icann officials said some technical issues for the new system must still be worked out, but it could be reviewing the first applications for new TLDs as early as next spring. Icann officials estimated that prices would start in the low six figures, so the organization can recoup its expenses for developing the new service.
Under the new system, individuals, companies or groups could apply to have any string of letters established as a domain name. It could be a vanity name, for example — .smith — or a category name like .sports or .perfume. A company could also change its domain to reflect its brand, so Apple.com could become Apple.mac, for instance.
It could also sow confusion in the minds of Web users, create a host of new ways to exploit the Web addressing system and start a wave of legal skirmishes over applications to register trademarks — .coke, for example.
The Icann board said it would seek public comment on the guidelines before its next major meeting in November.
Tags: .com, .edu, .sky, Arabic, Britain, Cyrillic, Domain, Domain Names, Icann, Love, Sports, TLD, Top Level Domain, Web Address
Stay alert Umpires, you got competition!
Jun 22, 2008 Sports
With the recent rise in the row over misjudged matches falling in the less deserving side, the ICC introduced a new rule wherein the players could seek for a second opinion by the third umpire if they are not satisfied of the on field umpire.
In the coming test series between India and Sri Lanka which is starting on the 23rd of July, the BCCI announced early this week that this ICC’s new experimental rule would be applied
The new rule allows the batsman or the fielding captain, to make an appeal to the TV umpire for a review of the on field umpire in the case of an unsatisfactory decision. Each team has been allowed three unsuccessful appeals per an inning. If a batsman has been given out by the on field umpire but the batsman is not satisfied with his decision, the batsman appeals to the TV umpire. In case if the reviewal is in favour of the decision of the umpire, it is calculated as unsuccessful, the team being allowed only 3 unsuccessful appeals.
The rule is applicable for all dismissal ways excepting the case when the batsman arrives late on the field. In such a case, the batsman is not applicable to make an appeal to the third umpire.
This system can be compared to a similar system used in tennis but only for simple line calls. Being accepted by the ICC in March, the rule was first to be tested in the comin England-South Africa series, but there was a problem regarding the non agreement of the respective boards.
The actions involved for the appeal are:
- The batsman has to make a T sign with his hands if he is not satisfied of the decision taken by the on field umpire. In such a case, the decision is transferred to the TV umpire.
- If TV umpire is upholding the appeal made, the umpire would cross his hands thrice, each team having three unsuccessful appeals per inning.
The new system has once been tried at the English domestic scene in friend’s provident trophy but a huge criticism had to be faced with it due to no verdict being given in the favor of the appeal made by the TV umpire
Another threat to the system is that the on field umpires could start feeling their decision making abilities being questioned.
Tags: Cricket, ICC, India, Sports, Sri Lanka, Test Matches, Test Series, Umpires
Anand holds Morelia-Linares title!
Mar 8, 2008 Sports
World Chess champion Viswanathan Anand once again proved his intelligence at the Morelia-Linares tournament by defeating former world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in the 14th and final round in Linares.
Anand scored 8.5 points after settling for a facile draw with Veselin Topalov who has 7.5 while putting an end to category-21 tournament. Anand finished a half point clear of Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 7.5) who drew with Teimour Radkjabov (Azerbaijan, 7) in his last game.
Alexei Shirov (spain, 5.5) drew with Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukrainian, 6.5) while Peter Leko (Hungary, 5.5) drew with Levon Aronian (Armenia, 7.5) in the final round.
In the final round Anand playing white, had little troubles against Topalov as the Indian knew that his half point cushion was going to be tough for Carlsen to jump over. In the previous edition too, Anand had won with the same score of 8.5 points but the gap was a little wider. He was a full point ahead of his nearest contenders.
It was a Sicilian Najdorf by Topalov wherein Anand, as demanded by the tournament situation, played it safe and allowed Topalov to get away with an easy equality in the middle game.
“I had a turbulent first half but I caught up by the fifth round with a score similar to last year, after that I had two draws before flying over [to Spain from Mexico]. I feel in people were tired here. I think I was the most stable person here while others were going through roller coasters,” Anand said after winning the tournament.
Anand stated that he scored a half point more at Morelia and there was intersting game there. He termed his first round win over Shirov as his best effort in the tournament. “I really like my win over Shirov, it was a great start to the tournament,” he said.
The Indian star ruled out his participation from the FIDE Grand Prix this year and will next play in the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess tournament.
After Anand had drawn, the responsibilty was on Carlsen’s shoulder to match the world champion and he tried quite hard against Radjabov.
The game was drawn after the teenaged sensation Magnus Carlsen from Norway played 69 moves in spite of winning one of the Radjabov’s pawns.
The moves were like this: V Anand v/s Veselin Topalov: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Bg5 Be6 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. Qd3 Nc6 11. O-O-O Qb6 12. Qxd6 Be7 13. Nd5 Bxd5 14. Qxd5 O-O 15. Qd2 Qxf2 16. Bc4 Qh4 17. Qe2 Rac8 18. a3 Bf6 19. Kb1 Nd4 20. Nxd4 exd4 21. g3 Qg5 22. Rhf1 Qe3 23. Rf3 game drawn.
