Tuesday 7th June, 2011 15 BY RUSSELL PALIPANE For the second year running, Dhoni- ndians’ obsession with cricket led IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings remains unsatiated – diehard fans retained the handsome diamond-studded Iwill again be watching ball-by-ball trophy despite a serious challenge from telecast of matches of India’s five-week the re-energised Royal Challengers from tour of the West Indies, writes Coomi Bangalore. Kapoor of ‘staronline’. The final was a tame affair, with the Thank God, it is over. Or is it? After Challengers’ key player, West Indian 51 days of non-stop cricket, when the opening batsman and former skipper Indian Premier League IV was finally Chris Gayle, failing to fire. over on May 28, a section of the people The winner walked away with a heaved a collective sigh of relief. cheque for US$1.5mil (RM4.5mil); the Employers and parents hoped that runner-up received half of that and the life would once again return to the nor- two semi-finalists, US$300,000 mal “normal.”Due to the hectic cricket (RM900,000) each. schedule, with the 37 day-long World Cup In fact, IPL was all about big money. having preceded the IPL by a mere six At the end of each match – there were 74 days, the new “normal” was for the in all – cash awards were given to the nation to stay glued to television sets to Man of the Match and for the Best Catch watch cricket. of the Match. Then there were other Bazaars and cinema halls reported awards in kind from various sponsors. thin attendances, the writer adds. The Board of Control for Cricket in Bollywood did not release a single India (BCCI), flush with huge funds from new film for fear of cricket preoccupy- the telecast rights, IPL franchisees fees, ing the cine-goers, while parents com- sponsorship money from various crick- plained of students neglecting studies eting paraphernalia, gave a slew of more Chris Gayle M. S. Dhoni The April-May period is hardly ideal for the strenuous game of cricket. It was common to see cricketers sweat- ing buckets in the sweltering tropical heat, with many a foreign player inter- rupting the game for water breaks. A notable feature of the IPL was the huge presence of foreign players in the 10 franchisees. Although only four foreign players could be in the starting 11, the bench strength of each franchisee boasted of a large number of them. Indeed, five of the 10 teams were led by foreign players. ner Rahul Sharma were two such play- However, midway through the tour- Australians outnumbered players during the exam season. cash awards. ers who proved themselves on the big nament, Ganguly was picked up by the from other cricketing nations, while the And the general entertainment tele- Even state level players, who had no stage. new franchise, Pune Warriors. Sri Lankan players had to leave mid-way vision channels lost audiences to the national exposure, profitted immensely But one of the biggest duds of IPL-IV Much was expected of him, but through the competition, because of lone television channel which had from the IPL. was former Indian captain, Saurav Ganguly flopped badly. prior national commitments. bought exclusive rights to cricket tele- Bought by the franchises for the low- Ganguly. Clearly, not everyone can be Sachin. Most teams had foreign managers, casts. est possible amount of US$40,000 No franchise bid for him when the Despite being senior to Ganguly in age, bowling and fielding coaches, physios, However, Indians’ obsession with (RM120,000) each, a number of hitherto auction for players was held a few Tendulakar was still a formidable per- etc. cricket, delivered live to millions of former and led Foreigners could not have earned this homes by one or the other televi- his side to the kind of money in a few short weeks back sion channel which pays millions semi-final, home. of dollars through competitive bid- where they lost Meanwhile, on the eve of the depar- ding for the telecast rights, to the Royal ture of the truncated Indian II for the remains unsatiated. Challengers, West Indies, the BCCI held a gala func- Diehard fans will again be captained by tion at a five-star hotel in Mumbai, where watching ball-to-ball telecast of Kiwi all round- it had gathered all the present and past matches with the Indian team hav- er Daniel greats of Indian cricket. ing resumed its five-week tour of Vettori. It was a veritable feast for the fans, West Indies on June 4. Tendukar’s with the greats of yesteryears, mingling Admittedly, the odd hours of captaincy drew with current national players. the live telecast and the low rank- criticism, for Typically, the BCCI bestowed very ing of the current West Indies team lack of strate- generous cash awards to all members of would result in a much diminished gic thinking the World Cup winning team. interest. and aggres- It also honoured 75-year-old former In any case, half-a-dozen IPL- sion. great, Salim Durrani, with a handsome scarred stars of Indian cricket It is notable cheque and a citation. have opted out of the West Indies that a few However, the problem of fitting the tour. Whether if it was due to sheer years ago, he IPL in the international cricket calendar fatigue or injuries, it is anyone’s had voluntari- remains unresolved. guess. ly relinquished Although most foreign players would Led by captain M. S. Dhoni and the captaincy like to be part of the IPL because of the iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar, of the national huge monetary benefits, their national at least six top-notch players have side, finding cricketing bodies cannot often spare stayed back. Adam Gilchrist Sachin Tendulkar the task too dif- them due to prior commitments. The fourth version of IPL yet ficult and not Since Sharad Pawar now heads the again established the leadership of India too conducive to his batting. International Cricket Council, the BCCI captain, Dhoni. unknown cricketers came to the notice months ago. Though the IPL proved immensely expects to find a stable window in the Not for nothing is he called ‘Captain of the national selectors. Last season, he had captained popular, it had created a problem of IPL cricket calendar. Cool’. Batsman Paul Valthathy and off-spin- Kolkata Knight Riders. scheduling in the annual cricket calendar. The league is certainly here to stay. BY DUNCAN WHITE well below their best, Young must surely The Swiss captain’s shot deflected off their own — Milner and Ferdinand post. t might have damaged England’s have proved his importance to the side. Rio Ferdinand but Hart managed to could not convert decent headed chances England responded swiftly.Wilshere chances of automatic qualification John Terry had demanded one last readjust his body to block and then get — but they were struggling to contain lured his Arsenal team-mate Johan Ifor Euro 2012 and been a salutary push from his team-mates at the end of his left boot to Derdiyok’s follow up. the Swiss. Djourou into a foul inside the area. reminder of the stubborn flaws in Fabio another long season. For the first few The Swiss full-backs went sprinting So it was not entirely surprising that Slovenian referee Damir Skomina gave Capello’s side but at least this group of minutes it looked as if they had listened. forward at every opportunity and they took the lead with 32 minutes the penalty and Lampard squeezed the players showed mental resilience in Bent, probably just offside, scam- England’s wingers, Milner and Walcott, played. Barnetta flicked the ball over ball underneath Benaglio, for his 22nd coming back from two goals down to sal- pered clear in pursuit of Terry’s ball were struggling to track them. Lampard and, running past him, went to international goal. vage a point at Wembley. over the top and his cross was intercept- From one such surge down the left, ground with barely any contact. That England had reduced the deficit England have now dropped four ed by Phillipe Senderos, with Theo Reto Ziegler pulled the ball to the edge of Lampard turned away in disgust. could not disguise the need for a tactical points in their three home games, fol- Walcott running in behind. Glen the ‘D’ for Valon Behrami. The Barnetta took it himself and his in- adjustment. Lampard was replaced at lowing the goalless draw with Johnson had a header from Lampard’s Fiorentina midfielder took a heavy swinging cross cleared the straining leap half-time, with Young coming on to play Montenegro, and will be under pressure corner saved by Diego Benaglio touch, allowing Ashley Cole to hurl him- of Ferdinand and curled just inside the off Bent in a 4-2-3-1. The effect was dra- to win in both Bulgaria and Montenegro moments later; it was a bright start. self into the block. far post. matic, as England looked far more fluid if they are to finish top of their group. It was also deceptive. Eren Derdiyok, Brave defending but the Chelsea If there was an element of sheer bad with the mobile Young creating problems Tranquillo Barnetta, the Bayer for the Swiss. Leverkusen winger, scored two soft free- Pretty much his first contribution kicks – one at the near and one at the far was to set Walcott up for a run at the post, to put Switzerland in a command- Swiss defence. Djourou came across to ing position but England levelled thanks England-Switzerland tackle but appeared to take out his to a Frank Lampard penalty and a sec- Arsenal team-mate just outside the area.