Tag Archive for 'Rajasthan Royals'

Going, going…

Published
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asianwindow
on February 6, 2009
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At the IPL auction, English stars Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff go for $1.55 million apiece. Cricinfo has the details

Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, the England stars, were sold for US$ 1.55 million each at the IPL auction on Friday, making them the highest-paid cricketers in the Twenty20 league. However, it was Mashrafe Mortaza, the 25-year-old fast bowler from Bangladesh, who stole the show in Goa after attracting a winning bid of US$ 600,000 from the Kolkata Knight Riders that was exactly 12 times his base price of US$ 50,000.

The other stars of the auction were JP Duminy, the South African batsman, who was bagged by Mumbai Indians for US$ 950,000 (base price: US$ 300,000), and most unexpectedly, Tyron Henderson, the Middlesex allrounder, who was bought by Rajasthan Royals for US$ 650,000, which was over six times his base price of US$ 100,000.

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For a list of players sold, click here.

Cricket’s new revolution

Published
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asianwindow
on June 2, 2008
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It’s official. The first IPL tournament is a hit and hosannas have been pouring in on how cricket will never be the same again. Mihir Bose in BBC

Twenty20 cricket may teach us very little on the field of play but, off it, the Indians have built a model which will undoubtedly change world cricket.

I must confess that a week ago when I arrived in India I was sceptical as to what the Indian Premier League meant – but its impact soon became clear.

The Indians have now got a tournament that, even before the semi-finals, had been watched by more than 100 million on television, while the final alone was expected to attract some 30 million.

Crowds have packed out stadiums and the final saw 55,000 fill a new stadium two hours’ drive from Mumbai.

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And in IHT, Huw Richards on frugal Rajasthan’s big win

The Rajasthan Royals, which had already proved itself the best team over the length of the qualifying tournament, showed that it was also the best in the clutch as it took the inaugural Indian Premier League title in Mumbai.

It beat the Chennai Super Kings in a desperately tense final on Sunday, reaching its target of 164 to win from the final ball of its innings of 20 six-ball overs when Sohail Tanvir struck the single run it needed.

As in last year’s first-ever World Cup in the Twenty20 format – when India’s victory created the excitement that led to the creation of, first, the rebel India Cricket League, and then the officially backed the IPL – the organizers were treated to a final that was everything they could have asked for. Chennai battled to its limit. Rajasthan won because Tanvir and its captain, Shane Warne, both chiefly bowlers, kept their nerve when asked to score the final 21 runs from 14 balls.

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