Kings XI Punjab
(Mohali)

Mumbai Indians
(Mumbai)

Rajastan Royals
(Jaipur)

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Shoaib Akhtar is being sued by the Pakistan Cricket Board and its chairman for defamation over allegations he made after being banned for five years.A notice served by PCB lawyers accuses Shoaib of claiming in a TV interview that PCB chief Dr Nasim Ashraf tried to “extort” payments from him.Dr Ashraf denies the claims and has demanded that Shoaib, 32, retract them, apologise and pay damages of £1.6m.
The PCB banned him on Tuesday for publicly criticizing the Board.
Ashraf intends to seek “all legal remedies under the civil and criminal laws of Pakistan” unless Shoaib withdraws his allegations. Shoaib had hoped to play for Kolkata Knightriders in the new Twenty20 Indian Premier League but IPL chairman Lalit Modi said they would now not allow Akhtar to compete while he was banned by the PCB. “Shoaib has been banned from playing and until his ban is lifted he cannot play in the IPL,” said league chairman Modi.”We know his appeal against the ban is coming up for hearing,” he said. “We’re hoping his ban will be lifted. He is a great player and we want him to play. Read the rest of this entry »

On Wednesday, the County Championship will splutter into existence for another year with a round of matches at familiar provincial outposts such as Chelmsford and Bristol.Forty-eight hours later, the floodlights will be switched onto full beam at Bangalore’s Chinnaswamy Stadium (capacity 55,000) as the Indian Premier League explodes into life.It has never been that difficult to mock county cricket, with its sometimes comically awful weather and ever dwindling (and ever aging) supporters.But this year, with the IPL set to showcase a blueprint for cricket’s future, the English domestic game seems as out-of-date as black-and-white TV.One problem is that instead of allowing Twenty20 to become the centrepiece of the domestic season, the ECB has retained the three other competitions - one a 40-over league which an internally-commissioned review group wanted scrapped. Even before the counties have embarked on their campaigns this season, the effects of the IPL are already noticeable. Read the rest of this entry »

English cricket chiefs have softened their stance on the Indian Premier League, insisting centrally-contracted players are not banned from playing.They had been told the earliest they could play in the IPL was 2010.An ECB spokesman said team director Hugh Morris will decide which players can be released - but England fixtures will always take precedence.He said: “The ECB has never stated that centrally-contracted players are banned from the IPL.”The head of the Professional Cricketers’ Association Sean Morris said: “There will be a little bit of a window when the England players return from the West Indies.

“They will then be able to participate in possibly the last two weeks of that (IPL) tournament in 2009.”The first six-week competition, which starts in Bangalore on Friday, features most of the world’s top players, including Sachin Tendulkar, Andrew Symonds, Jacques Kallis and Chris Gayle. Read the rest of this entry »

Indian Premier League co-founder IS Bindra has warned England players not to reject their central contracts to take part in next year’s competition.England’s centrally-contracted players have been told they cannot play in the IPL until 2010 at the earliest.But Bindra does not want them to take matters into their own hands.He told BBC Sport: “We will not have any player revolting against their establishment and becoming part of the Indian Premier League (IPL).” England star Kevin Pietersen has described the ECB’s stance as “ridiculous” and there has been speculation that England players could refuse to sign their contracts when they come up for renewal in September.English players are currently the only international stars prevented from competing in the competition. Read the rest of this entry »

Sections of the Indian media have blamed the distraction of the upcoming Indian Premier League for the national team’s worst home Test loss since 1959.
The Hindustan Times claimed: “The Indian cricket board does not seem to care that the players have to focus on the Test series now, not on the IPL.”
The IPL Twenty20 league begins on 18 April, three days after the third and final Test in Kanpur is due to end. Read the rest of this entry »

The Sachin Tendulkar-led Mumbai Indians have roped in Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan as their brand ambassador to drum up support for the team in the Indian Premier League starting on April 18.”Hrithik symbolises the spirit of the team,” said R Balachandran, director of the newly formed Indiawin Sports — a subsidiary of Reliance Industries which owns the franchise outfit, at a media conference to outline the team’s marketing campaign.

The actor is figuring in a promotional video campaign to muster support for the team through a Hindi song “Duniya Hila Denge Hum (Let’s rock the world)”. Read the rest of this entry »

Australian Tom Moody has signed up to coach the Mohali team (Kings XI Punjab) in the money-spinning IPL, the franchise has announced.
“With Yuvraj (Singh) being our captain and Moody as coach, I think everything has fallen into place for us,” Ness Wadia, co-owner of the team, was quoted by the Indian media on Monday.
Moody, 42, a member of two World Cup-winning Australian teams, coached Sri Lanka for two years before leaving in May last year to take up reins for Western Australia. Read the rest of this entry »

Kingfisher Airlines will receive branding on the Umpires’Uniform during the IPL,As per the agreement.,along with several other activation opportunities around the property. 
 The DLF Indian Premier League announced that Kingfisher Airlines has bagged the rights to being the Official Umpire Partner for the league and will also sponsor all Third Umpire decisions during the fifty nine action packed games in the DLF Indian Premier League.

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A top official said here Monday,Sri Lanka have asked Pakistan to re-schedule one-day international series in order to allow their players to take part in IPL. Chief executive of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Duleep Mendis said the team would tour Pakistan only if the dates did not clash with those of the Indian Premier League .
“We have told Pakistan that we are keen to help Pakistan only if it did not clash with the IPL,” Mendis told AFP. Read the rest of this entry »