The domestic Twenty20 winners of West Indies, Sri Lanka and New Zealand, as well as Delhi Daredevils, will also get an opportunity to participate in the inaugural Champions Twenty20 League, to be held from October 8-23 in India, just after the Champions Trophy. Lalit Modi, the tournament’s chairman, said the prize money for the tournament will be US$ 6 million, and the draw will be held in London on June 23 after which the venues will be finalised.

Delhi have been included on the basis of having topped the round-robin stage of the 2009 IPL. They will be joined by Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers Bangalore, the 2009 IPL finalists.

Sialkot Stallions, the winners of Pakistan’s domestic Twenty20 tournament, will not feature as originally scheduled because their government has restricted travel to India.

Other 2009 domestic finalists and winners include Victoria and New South Wales (Australia), Cape Cobras and Eagles (South Africa), Otago (New Zealand), Trinidad and Tobago (West Indies) and Wayamba (Sri Lanka). England’s Twenty20 Cup only begins on Monday and the finalists will only be decided on August 25.

Delhi Daredevils this year have highest points from the league. But from next year, the third team from India will be decided from a play-off between the two losing semi-finalists.

The tournament was initially supposed to held from December 3-11 2008 in Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore but was put off after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. The cancellation came as a huge blow for the teams that qualified for the 2008 edition, as they would have received at least US$250,000 as participating fees. Each team gets a minimum guarantee amount for playing in the tournament.

To read our previous posts on IPL click on the following links.

IPL 2009 – Gethu and Vethu Players

IPL – Resurgence of the Seniors

IPL – Emergence of the Younger Players

IPL Semifinal 2

IPL Semifinal 1

IPL Semifinals Preview

Vagaries of the IPL

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

These two teams weren’t even sure of a semi-final berth till the last few matches and today they have defeated two other teams which were seated comfortably at the top of the league table. Well, it all comes down to this – T20 is anybody’s game and the master of the day will make it through.

Emergence of the Younger Players

This edition of IPL has seen the emergence of a few exceptional cricket players from India. It was a remarkable platform for them to exhibit their talents. If it weren’t for the IPL, we wouldn’t have come to know of inspiring players like S Jakati, R Ashwin, Manish Pandey, Virat Kohli, B Akhil, Sangwan, Rahane, A Nayar, T Suman, R Jadeja, Sudeep Tyagi, Pinal Shah, Asnodkar, and list goes on. Their talents wouldn’t have been widely recognized by the media and public if it weren’t for the IPL. And a few with talent strong enough to pull victory to their side are sure to go places.

The Indian Premier League has given them the much required boost to the career and a chance for them to rub shoulders with some of the all time cricketing greats and even a chance to out-perform them. This is a and will be a great chance for local cricketers to make a mark on the international level. With domestic cricket in India almost always being neglected by the media, this can be their gateway to the great cricket world.

To read our previous posts on IPL click on the following links.

IPL Semifinal 2

IPL Semifinal 1

IPL Semifinals Preview

Vagaries of the IPL

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

What a turn it has been for the two team lying at the bottom last year. The underdogs winning has always pleased the minds. Even halfway through the tournament Bangalore didn’t look that threatening. Now all of a sudden, they are knocking off every other team. They have won the last match against the other finalist with Manish Pandey hitting a superb century. Well, Manish was the Man of the Match for this semifinal too. He scored quick runs in the early overs putting the pressure on Chennai. And Dhoni’s team had yielded to that pressure. Hats off to Manish for another wonderful innings right when it was most needed.It was a crucial partner ship between him and Dravid who also chipped in with a number of boundaries.

One should really thank RP Singh for that. Yeah! If he had taken that catch in the last league match we wouldn’t have found a Pandey and he would’ve been lost in the crowds.A catch dropped did cost them their match but found a big hitter for India.

It was remarkable to see Kumble out performing Dhoni in every aspect. Age has done nothing to him. He is as young as ever. He has wonderfully adapted himself to the format of T20. That was missing in Dhoni’s game today. He seems to have succumbed to the pressure of being a good captain. We also have to appreciate Ray Jennings apart from Anil Kumble for bringing the boys together and making them gel together.Mally looked a happy man and looked great for partying. Of course, there’s enough reason to party, especially after making it to the final of one of India’s greatest cricket tournaments.

As far as Chennai’s performance was considered they didn’t fire at all. The overs soon after the strategic time out one expected at least some fireworks. But it didn’t come. Dhoni and Raina relied too much on singles and wasted opportunities. As i said in the previous post, it is the Australian mentality to go after the best performer, and that was what required off Chennai. Instead they tried whiling off the spell of Kumble and vd Merwe. Even during bowling, Dhoni didn’t properly utilize his bowlers at the right time. The fielding was poor and they could have done much much better. All these factors combined to bring about the downfall of one of the favorites to win the IPL.

Instead, it is the underdogs fighting it out in tomorrow’s final. Yet, it going to be cracker of a match and would make a great match to watch.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Four teams have made that decisive cut to enter the semi finals, with that last league match deciding who plays who in the semi finals. Let us have a brief analysis of the performances of the semi finalists.

Delhi Daredevils – Leading the pack with 20 points. This was the team which had assured itself of a semi-final spot after its 9th match itself and had a lot of opportunity to experiment and try out other players. It’d be good for them that their openers and other top order batsmen which includes Gambhir, Warner, Sehwag, Dilshan, de Villiers, etc are all in great form and also their bowling department led by Nehra is doing particulary well. Incidentally Nehra with 18 Wkts is also a serious contender for the Purple Cap. So after getting the team to proper shape, Sehwag would be hoping that they fire on all cylinders in the first Semis to cement their finals slot.

Chennai Super Kings -After that unsteady start to the tournament the team made sure that they do well enough to secure a semis berth. They are a team which had been performing consistently with the bat and the ball in all the matches. Though their fielding hadn’t been up to the mark, they made sure that their performance with the bat and ball overshadowed their poor fielding. Their openers have been performing well and it is probably the only team to have utilised its first six overs to the full extent and also the middle order chipping in with some useful runs.

Royal Challengers Bangalore -They are the team with the maximum momentum. The team which had been written off as a test team last year and the team which had a disastrous start to this season performed extremely well to clinch the third spot in the league standings this year. They have won four matches consecutively and have the much required momentum with them. They also seem to have discovered new talent among their players. Its a positive sign and all one can expect them to do is to put on a great show against the Chennai and who knows they might even upset the Super Kings. They don’t have the pressure and reaching this position itself can be termed as an achievement and anything more would be a bonus.

Deccan Chargers – After a wonderful start to the season 4 wins from 4 matches, they just managed to get 3 more wins from the remaining 10 matches. In the last few matches the battling order of the Deccan has collapsed after the departure of the openers and they relied heavily Rohit Sharma in these matches. He did it in the match against KKR but couldn’t manage it in the other two matches. Its time the team has a reality check and make sure that its batsmen especially Symonds stay till the end and finish it off for their team.

Fixtures -

1st Semi-Final

Friday 22 May 20:00 IST  – Delhi Daredevils v Deccan Chargers
SuperSport Park, Centurion

2nd Semi-Final

Saturday 23 May 20:00 IST - Chennai Super Kings v Royal Challengers Bangalore
New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

An exciting contest on the cards. Enjoy the Semi-Finals.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.