franchise owners

IPL: Into the play-offs, into the night

The suspense has ended.IPL play-offs have been decided.

Super  Sunday will repeat itself in two instalments on the 24th and 25th of May, 2011 at the Wankhede.

It’ll be the Royal Challengers Bangalore versus Chennai Super Kings in the first qualifier.

Mumbai Indians and Kolkatta Knight Riders will clash once more on Wednesday in the eliminator.

The Eliminator? Sounds like a wrestling tie to me.

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Random cricketing thoughts on the IPL and beyond

The Ducksworth-Lewis method of calculating second-innings totals has come under the scanner.Mahela Jayawardene and Stephen Fleming criticised the system as being ‘unfair’ and not really suited to T20 cricket.

Brickbats are justified since T20 is a racier, pacier form of cricket compared to ODIs, which are in comparison relatively sedate.

Franchise owners, at the IPL auctions, took player availability into account while making their selections. No team wished to have key players missing during the critical part of the tournament.

Nita Ambani to utilize Wankhede boxes to host RIL AGMs (Satire)

Reliance Industries and Aditya Birla group will host their annual general meetings (AGMs) and extraordinary general meetings (EGMs)  at the newly renovated Wankhede stadium from 2011 onwards.

“For the next 10 years, shareholder meetings will be held at the cricket stadium. You see, Mukesh Ambani wishes to make optimum utilization of his three boxes secured from the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA).” said Mr. Phanketilal Patel, Mukesh Ambani’s closest chamcha.

The meetings will be conducted at the stadium to ensure that the most people can be accommodated.

IPL scenarios under the scanner: Interesting possibilities!

With the IPL imbroglio boiling over and culminating in the expulsion of two teams, Kings XI and Rajasthan Royals, let’s take a quick look at the scenarios that could unfold:

1> The two franchise owners could go to court thus staying the auction of players in Jan 2011. This could have the effect of jeopardising or at the least delaying IPL 4 with two possibilities arising:  one that the teams are reinstated and thus IPL 4 goes on as scheduled , with some last-minute patch-ups and glitches.

The other is that the BCCI move is upheld and Raj Kundra and Preity Zinta sustain losses on their investments. The fans of Rajasthan Royals and Punjab XI are left feeling disgruntled and the other franchisee owners are left holding their queasy tummies in the sickening realization that the BCCI is a law unto itself and business motivations can take a backseat.

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