Its time for ‘Cricketainment’……

Serious cricket got over with India winning the historic Cricket World Cup after 28 years. Now its time for  ‘CRICKETAINMENT’. What is ‘CRICKETAINMENT’? Where glamour and cricket meets with only purpose of providing entertainment is called ‘CRICKETAINMENT’. Once again IPL bazaar will kick off from tomorrow and this time it is much bigger and better. 2 new teams added to the existing 8 teams and these 10 teams will provide entertainment for next 51 days by playing 73 matches. With these teams glamour of their owners also attached and that will make IPL more glamorous and entertaining.

It is official meeting of Bollywood and Cricket. KKR is owned by Shahrukh Khan, Rajasthan Royals co-owner is Shilpa Shetty, Kings XI Punjab co-owner is Priety Zinta, Deepika Padukone is brand ambassador of RCB. Slaman Khan is likely to join Kochi Tuskers as brand ambassador. So its all stars who will be on display in pavilion and ground during IPL matches. IPL has given these stars to make extra bucks apart from their movies. Every team owner will bring platoon of cine stars alongwith him during the IPL matches just to add the spice and these platoon of stars will provide entertainment to the masses who will be watching them on TV or on ground. Its  cricket mixed with entertainment for next 51 days.It has all the makings of a Blockbuster Bollywood movie. Prior to this players were bought and sold like cattle. Bollywood stars are geared up for “song and dance” at various points during the matches. Cheer leaders have been imported from across the world. Advertising is at its peak. The teams have uniforms, logos, anthems and what not. TRP ratings of the official channel will touch new heights during IPL games and news channels will get more masala to run their 24 hour channels. No wonder if we see more cricket masala and less news in next 51 days.

One man who will be missed from this entire event is Mr. Lalit Modi, founder and brain behind the IPL. He was present in last 3 additions but BCCI threw him out from the IPL on the account of financial irregularities. Mr. Lalit Modi was very close to many franchisees and he is the one who is solely responsible for the grand success of IPL but to his misfortune he will miss this year’s IPL. If IPL is among TOP 10 sporting brand in the world today, all credit goes to Mr. Lalit Modi. IPL is conceptualise completely on the basis of American Football and Baseball which are very popular sports in USA and Lalit Modi used all the ingredients of American sports in IPL. Only cricket has replaced football and baseball rest of the drama is same because cricket is very popular sport in India and it has become more popular after India’s World Cup victory.

Cricket’s love affair with Bollywood is not new. Tiger Pataudi-Sharmila Tagore, Mohammed Azharuddin-Sangeeta Bijlani, Mohsin Khan-Reena Roy, Sandeep Patil, Salil Ankola and Syed Kirmani’s foray into acting are just a few examples. Even the great Sunil Gavaskar known for great restraint and concentration on the cricket field succumbed to the glamor of Bollywood and had to try his hand at films. More recently Shoaib Akthar was in the news for considering Bollywood offers. With the launch of the IPL, movie stars and cricketers frequently share the stage whether it is Yuvraj and his Bollywood girl friends or Sreesanth and his dance moves. So the Cricket-Bollywood links are here to stay and be strengthened.

As the time progressed Bollywood understood the importance of cricket and now they are using cricket as a promotional tool for promoting their movies also. Recently during the Cricket World Cup Shahrukh Khan launched the promo of his upcoming movie ‘RA-ONE’. During the World Cup most of the cine stars seen promoting their upcoming movies and it will continue in IPL as well. Even promos of IPL are also very interesting and entertaining.

So fasten your seat belts and get ready to take off in IPL plane for next 51 days. Ticket pricing is one of the concern in this year’s IPL as it is too costly for the common public because it starts from Rs. 500/- and goes upto almost Rs.60000/-. Although people who have the money will go and watch the matches in Stadium.   Those who can’t afford the tickets will watch the entertainment at home on TV. IPL is like Bollywood movie and everyday new movie will release for next 51 days. According to the IPL broadcasting channel, its ‘Bharat Bandh’ for next 51 days due to IPL 4.

Finally, in India nothing is more popular than cricket and cinema. When it comes together, it creates history.

IPL Season 4–Format, Teams and Players

According to new format, there would be total 74 matches in the IPL 4 Fixtures. Out of 74 matches, 70 would be league matches. That is each team will play at least 14 committed matches in the league games as per current clause. Out of 14 matches played by each IPL team, 7 would be played at home venue and while remaining 7 at away venue.There will be two groups, each having 5 teams in it. Although groups have been created, it would not be shown separately in the League Table Points. Each team of one group will play other teams in the same group twice (one home and another away game = 8 Games). Each team of one group will play 4 teams of another group once at either home or away venue (4 Games). Each team of one Group will play two games with one of the predetermined team (random) of another group (one home and another away game = 2 Games).

This way each team will play total 14 games in league games. After all league games are finished of i.e. 70 league matches, Playoff games will begin. Total 3 playoff matches will be played name Game A, Game B and Game C. The last match would be off course Grand Final to be played between winner of Game A and Game C.

Game A – Between 1st and 2nd team spotting in the league points table. (de facto semi final for winner)
Game B – Between 3rd and 4th team spotting in the league points table. (de facto quarter final for winner)
Game C - Between Looser of Game A and Winner of Game B. (semi final)Final – Between Winner of Game A and Winner of Game C.
Looser of Game B and Game C are out of competition straight away.

What the hack, tell me who will be finalist ?

Winner of Game A, gets into Final directly.
If looser of Game A wins the Game C, he becomes finalist.
If winner of Game B wins the Game C, he becomes finalist.

So, League format is bit confusing but one of source of excitement for cricket viewers.

Winner of Game A, gets into Final directly.
If looser of Game A wins the Game C, he becomes finalist.
If winner of Game B wins the Game C, he becomes finalist.
Two new teams have been added by BCCI. One from Pune and another from Kochi. Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab which were suspended earlier, have been readmitted after stay granted by Bombay High Court. It is learn from sources that BCCI has put off the plan to go Supreme Court over this matter.

Kochi and Pune are the two new teams added this year. So total teams in IPL 4 is 10 with 2 new addition to the existing 8 teams.

Details of Teams and Players:

Chennai Super Kings

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain/Wicket-Keeper), Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay, Wriddhiman Saha(Wicket-Keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Subramanium Badrinath, Joginder Sharma, Sudeep Tyagi, Abhinav Mukund, Aniruddha Shrikant, Ganapathi Vignesh, K Vasudevdas, Shadb Jakati, Vijaykumar Yomahesh, (Foreign) Albie Morkel, Michael Hussey, Dwayne Bravo, Doug Bollinger, Scott Styris, Ben Hilfenhaus, Nuwan Kulasekera, Suraj Randiv, George Bailey, Faf du Plessis. Stephen Fleming(Coach)

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Deccan Chargers

Shikhar Dhawan, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Manpreet Gony, Akash Bhandari, Anand Rajan, Ankit Nagendra, Arjun Yadav, Ashish Reddy, Bharat Chipli, DB Ravi Teja, Harmeet Singh Bansal, Ishank Jaggi, Ishan Malhotra, Jaydev Shah, Kedar Devdhar, Sunny Sohal (Foreign) Kumar Sangakkara (Captain/Wicket-Keeper), Kevin Pietersen, Cameron White, JP Duminy, Dale Steyn, Daniel Christian, Chris Lynn, Juan Theron, Michael Lumb.Darren Lehmann(Coach)

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Delhi Daredevils

Virender Sehwag (Captain), Irfan Pathan, Naman Ojha(Wicket-Keeper), Ajit Agarkar, Ashok Dinda, Umesh Yadav, Venugopal Rao, Aavishkar Salvi, Prashant Naik, Rajesh Pawar, Robin Bist, S Sriram, Tejashwi Yadav, Unmukt Chand, Varun Aaron, Vikash Mishra, Vivek Yadav, Yogesh Nagar, Shahbaz Nadeem (Foreign) David Warner, James Hopes, Morne Morkel, Aaron Finch, Mathew Wade, Roloef van der Merwe, Andrew McDonald, Travis Birt, Collin Ingram, Robert Frylinck.. Greg Shipperd(Coach

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Kings XI Punjab

Dinesh Karthik(Wicket-Keeper), Abhishek Nayar, Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla, Bhargav Bhatt, Bipul Sharma, Love Ablish, Mandeep Singh, Nitin Saini, Paras Dogra, Paul Valthaty, Shalabh Srivastava, Siddharth Chitnis, Sunny Singh, Vikramjeet Malik, Amit Yadav, (Foreign) Adam Gilchrist (Captain/Wicket-Keeper), Shaun Marsh, David Hussey, Stuart Broad, Ryan Harris, Dimitri Masceranhas, Nathan Remington.Michael Bevan(Coach)

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Kochi Tuskers

VVS Laxman, S Sreesanth, RP Singh, Parthiv Patel(Wicket-Keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Ramesh Powar, R Vinay Kumar, B Akhil, Chandan Madan, Deepak Chowghule, Kedar Jadhav, Raiphi Gomez, Sushant Marathe, Tanmay Srivastava, Y Gnanswara Rao, Yashpal Singh, Prashant Padmanabahan, (Foreign) Mahela Jayawardene (Captain), Brendon McCullum(Wicket-Keeper), Steven Smith, Muttiah Muralitharan, Brad Hodge, Thisara Perera, Steve O'Keefe, Owais Shah, Michael Klinger, John Hastings. Jeff Lawson(Coach)

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Kolkata Knightriders

Gautam Gambhir(Captain), Yusuf Pathan, Manoj Tiwary, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Jaidev Unadkat, Iqbal Abdulla, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Manvinder Singh Bisla(Wicket-Keeper), Pradeep Sangwan, Rajat Bhatia, Sarabjit Ladda, Shami Ahmed, Shreevats Goswami (Foreign) Jacques Kallis, Brad Haddin(Wicket-Keeper), Shakib Al Hassan, Brett Lee, Eoin Morgan, Ryan ten Doeschate, James Pattinson.Dave Whatmore(Coach)

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Rajasthan Royals

Rahul Dravid, Pankaj Singh, Aakash Chopra, Abhishek Raut, Aditya Dole, Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Paunikar, Ashok Menaria, Deepak Chahar, Dishant Yagnik, Faiz Fazal, Nayan Doshi, Pinal Shah, Samad Fallah, Siddharth Trivedi, Stuart Binny, Amit Singh, Dinesh Salunkhe, Swapnil Asnodkar, Sumit Narwal, Ankeet Chavan (Foreign) Shane Warne, Shane Watson, Ross Taylor, Johan Botha, Paul Collingwood, Shaun Tait.Shane Warne(Coach/Captain).

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Royal Challengers Bangalore

Daniel Vettori (Captain), Virat Kohli, Tillakaratne Dilshan, AB De Villiers (wicket-keeper), Zaheer Khan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Dirk Nannes, Saurabh Tiwary, Mohammad Kaif, Abhimanyu Mithun, Charl Langeveldt, Luke Pomersbach, Rilee Rossouw, Johan van der Wath, Jonathan Vandiar, CM Gautam (Wicket-Keeper), S Arvind, Mayank Agarwal, Arun Karthick, Asad Khan Pathan, Abrar Kazi, Ryan Ninan, Bhareth Narayanan, Nuwan Pradeep.Ray Jennings(Coach)

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Sahara Pune Warriors

Yuvraj Singh(Captain), Robin Uthappa(Wicket-Keeper), Ashish Nehra, Murali Kartik, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Bhuvenshwar Kumar, Dheeraj Jadhav, Ekalavya Dwivedi, Ganesh Gaikwad, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Harshad Khadiwale, Kamran Khan, Manish Pandey, Mithun Manhas, Mohnish MIshra, Rahul Sharma, Sachin Rana, Shrikant Wagh, Shrikant Mundhe, Imtiyaz Ahmed (Foreign) Graeme Smith, Tim Paine, Angelo Mathews, Nathan McCullum, Callum Ferguson, Wayne Parnell, Mitchell Marsh, Jerome Taylor, Alfonso Thomas, Jesse Ryder.Geoff Marsh(Coach)

'Entertainment Ka Baap' is back. IPL 4 Schedule

IPL(Indian Premier League) is back again. It is also popularly known as 'Indian Paisa League' because of its association with big corporate houses who are attached with this tournament as franchisees. From 8th April, 2011, IPL 4 season will start. Below is the schedule of IPL 4 matches. 74 matches will be played in a span of 51 days. 2 new teams added this season. So total 10 teams participating in this season of IPL.

April 8: CSK v KKR, Chennai (8 pm)
April 9: DC v RR, Hyderabad (4 pm); Kochi v RCB, Kochi (8 pm)
April 10: DD v MI, Delhi (4 pm); Pune v KXIP, Navi Mumbai (8 pm)
April 11: KKR v DC, Kolkata (8 pm)
April 12: RR v DD, Jaipur (4pm); RCB v MI, Bangalore (8 pm)
April 13: Pune v Kochi, Navi Mumbai (4 pm); KXIP v CSK, Mohali (8 pm)
April 14: DC v RCB, Hyderabad (8 pm)
April 15: MI v Kochi, Mumbai (4 pm); DD v KKR, Delhi (8 pm)
April 16: CSK v RCB, Chennai (4 pm); DC v KXIP, Hyderabad (8 pm)
April 17: RR v KKR, Jaipur; Pune v DD, Navi Mumbai (8 pm)
April 18: Kochi v CSK, Kochi (8 pm)
April 19: DD v DC, Delhi (4 pm); RCB v RR, Bangalore (8 pm)
April 20: MI v Pune, Mumbai (4 pm); KKR v Kochi, Kolkata (8 pm)
April 21: KXIP v RR, Mohali (8 pm)
April 22: MI v CSK, Mumbai (8 pm)
April 23: KKR v RCB, Kolkata (4 pm); Delhi v KXIP. Delhi (8 pm)
April 24: DC v MI, Hyderabad (4 pm); RR v Kochi, Jaipur (8 pm).
April 25: CSK v Pune, Chennai (8 pm)
April 26: DD v RCB, Delhi (8 pm)
April 27: Pune v CSK, Navi Mumbai (4 pm); Kochi v DC, Kochi (8 pm)
April 28: KKR v KXIP, Kolkata (4 pm); RR v MI, Jaipur (8 pm)
April 29: RCB v Pune, Bangalore (8 pm)
April 30: Kochi v DD, Kochi (4 pm); MI v KXIP, Mumbai (8 pm)
May 1: RR v Pune, Jaipur (4 pm); CSK v DC, Chennai (8 pm)

May 2: DD v Kochi, Delhi (8 pm)
May 3: DC v KKR, Hyderabad (8 pm)
May 4: CSK v RR, Chennai (4 pm); Pune v MI, Navi Mumbai (8 pm)
May 5: Kochi v KKR, Kochi (4 pm); DC v DD, Hyderabad (8 pm)
May 6: RCB v KXIP, Bangalore (8 pm)
May 7: KKR v CSK, Kolkata (4 pm); MI v DD, Mumbai (8 pm)
May 8: RCB v Kochi, Bangalore (4 pm); KXIP v Pune, Mohali (8 pm)
May 9: RR v CSK, Jaipur (8 pm)
May 10: KXIP v MI, Mohali (4 pm); DC v Pune, Hyderabad (8 pm)
May 11: RR v RCB, Jaipur (8 pm)
May 12: CSK v DD, Chennai (8 pm)
May 13: Kochi v KXIP, Indore (8 pm)
May 14: MI v DC, Mumbai (4 pm); RCB v KKR, Bangalore (8 pm).
May 15: KXIP v DD, Dharamsala (4 pm); Kochi v RR, Indore (8 pm)
May 16: KKR v MI, Kolkata (8 pm)
May 17: Pune v DC, Pune (8 pm)
May 18: KXIP v RCB, Dharamsala (4 pm); CSK v Kochi, Chennai (8 pm)
May 19: Pune v KKR, Pune (8 pm)
May 20: MI v RR, Mumbai (8 pm)
May 21: KXIP v DC, Dharamsala (4 pm); DD v Pune, Delhi (8 pm)
May 22: RCB v CSK, Bangalore (4 pm); KKR v RR, Kolkata (8 pm)
May 24: Qualifier 1, Mumbai (8 pm)
May 25: Eliminator, Mumbai (8 pm)
May 27: Qualifier 2, Chennai (8 pm)
May 28: Final, Chennai (8 pm).