Indian Premier League For Cricket

First, it was tennis  association chief who said - something like the IPL would be started for tennis in India with city based teams fighting each other, now comes the news that the Basketball chief feels that the same idea could work for Indian basketball. Whether these will work or not is another matter altogether. Hockey is already being played in that format through the Premier Hockey League with foreign and Indian players playing for the various cities. It has generated good interest and has the active support of the sports channel ESPN which telecasts all the matches live. The hockey is four years old now. A football league is also being talked about.

But a basic point people should be aware of is that these sports will need more stars and more quality to find spectator support otherwise they will go nowhere. 

The IPL is gaining official acceptance. The ICC will be soon deciding on a window in the cricket calendar for this immensely popular and successful tournament. Players associations and leading cricketers are all demanding that IPL be made a part of the ICC calenar so players will get to play in the whole tournament rather in bits and pieces that most overseas players had to resort in the last edition.

With the kind of money and glamour associated with IPL, it’s no wonder that parents want their sons to become the next Dhoni or Gambhir. So, Sreesanth gets a lot of phone calls from parents asking for advice on how to become successful in IPL and how to qualify or be picked up by the 8 teams in the IPL!!

Saurav Ganguly got the best batsman and overall player award at the Castrol Asian Cricketer of the Year Awards in Karachi. With his father ill and in hospital at London - Saurav could not be present personally to receive the award but his wife Dona was present to collect it from the hosts.

Dona said - the award meant a lot to Saurav.

Saurav has been out of the national side in the one dayers but he is in the running for selection to Test matches.

Dada Rocks!!

Gibbs will be parting with a lot of money if his wife who wants a divorce from him has her way. She is demanding a huge sum of money as alimony and settlement claiming he was “erratic, verbally abusive and aggressive”.  This is a double blow for Gibbs who was earlier arrested for drunken driving.