Cricket in India goes Frenzy .....Will Indian Premier League take off ?

With the Indian Premier League saga starts with the so called auction of players was interesting to see the League culture coming to india . Dhoni was the star of the show and he went for 1.5 mill after starting at $400k .Parthiv Patel sold for $325,000 in the auction.Who the hell paid for this guy . I wouldnt pay a penny or paisa rather for that crap . I cant believe they raised $800m in TV rights for these games .It more like a business than a sports in india now . I think with the economy growing more and more firms will ride this marketing bandwagon .

All the big names are the owners like Vijay malliya who already owns the force india F1 team , shaaruk khan ,mukesh ambani, preity zinta and juhi chawla ...when the heck these girls became interested in cricket?.

But I have mixed feelings about this league . On one hand it will be exciting to see cities competing among each other and a mix of national and international players playing for each city. Other hand there will be no sense of national zeal in supporting your country in the match . I never found a match with players from different countries very exciting . Some matches which were organized for fund raising and stuff were pretty boring .or may be I am used to the stereotype matches amoung different countries. But I think the county cricket model is already working in england although I never watch those matches . You can never say this is in india and indians are crazy about cricket . The crowds can make even a dull match exciting. and more importantly these will be 2020 games which are sure far more exciting then the 1 day matches.

The interesting part would be seeing ricky pointing under sourav ganguly's captiancy . I dont how these guys will work with each other if they are rivals in internationally .


But i think cricket didnt needed any more publicity in india . It is already the most popular and unfortunately the "only" popular sports in india . I would love to see such leagues for hockey and football in india .




TOP 10 WINNING AUCTION BIDS
Mahendra Dhoni: $1.5m (Chennai)
Andrew Symonds: $1.35m (Hyderabad)
Sanath Jayasuriya: $975,000 (Calcutta)
Ishant Sharma: $950,000 (Mohali)
Irfan Pathan: $925,000 (Mohali)
Brett Lee : $900,000 (Mohali)
Jacques Kallis: $900,000 (Bangalore)
RP Singh: $875,000 (Hyderabad)
Harbhajan Singh: $850,000 (Mumbai)
Chris Gayle: $800,000 (Kolkata)
IPL teams so far:

Bangalore
Rahul Dravid (capt)
Jacques Kallis (SA): $ 900,000
Anil Kumble (Ind): $500,000
Cameron White (Aus): $500,000
Zaheer Khan (Ind): $450,000
Mark Boucher (SA): $450,000
Nathan Bracken (Aus): $325,000
Dale Steyn (SA): $325,000
Wasim Jaffer (Ind): $150,000

Calcutta
Sourav Ganguly (capt)
Ishant Sharma (Ind): US$950,000
Chris Gayle (WI): $800,000
Brendon McCullum (NZ): $700,000
David Hussey (Aus): $625,000
Murali Karthik (Ind): $425,000
Shoaib Akhtar (Pak): $425,000
Ricky Ponting (Aus): $400,000
Ajit Agarkar (Ind): $350,000
Umar Gul (Pak) $150,000

Chennai
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind): $1.5 million
Jacob Oram (NZ): $675,000
Albie Morkel (SA): $675,000
Muttiah Muralitharan (SL): $600,000
Matthew Hayden (Aus): $375,000
Stephen Fleming (NZ) $350,000
Parthiv Patel (Ind) $325,000
Joginder Sharma (Ind) $225,000
Makhaya Ntini (SA) $200,000

Delhi
Virender Sehwag (capt)
Manoj Tiwary (Ind): $675,000
Mohammad Asif (Pak): $650,000
Daniel Vettori (NZ): $625,000
Dinesh Karthik (Ind): $525,000
Shoaib Malik (Pak): $500,000
AB de Villiers (SA): $300,000
Tillekeratne Dilshan (SL): $250,000
Farveez Maharoof (SL): $225,000

Hyderabad
Andrew Symonds (Aus): $1.35m
RP Singh (Ind): $875,000
Rohit Sharma (Ind) $750,000
Adam Gilchrist (Aus): $700,000
Shahid Afridi (Pak): $675,000
Herschelle Gibbs (SA): $575,000
VVS Laxman (Ind): $375,000
Scott Styris (NZ): $175,000
Nuwan Zoysa (SL): $110,000
Chamara Silva (SL): US$100,000

Jaipur
Graeme Smith (SA): $475,000
Yusuf Pathan (Ind): $475,000
Shane Warne (Aus): $450,000
Munaf Patel (Ind): $275,000
Younis Khan (Pak): $225,000
Kamran Akmal, (Pak): $150,000

Mohali
Yuvraj Singh (capt)
Irfan Pathan (Ind): $925,000
Brett Lee (Aus): $900,000
Kumar Sangakkara (SL): $700,000
Sree Santh (Ind): $625,000
Mahela Jayawardene (SL): $475,000
Piyush Chawla (Ind): $400,000
Romesh Powar (Ind): $170,000

Mumbai
Sachin Tendulkar (capt)
Sanath Jayasuriya (SL): $975,000
Harbhajan Singh (Ind): $850,000
Robin Uthappa (Ind): $800,000
Shaun Pollock (SA): $550,000
Lasith Malinga (SL) $350,000
Dilhara Fernando (SL) $150,000
Stat Source :BBC



Vishal