Kolkata Knight Riders - only IPL team to make substantial profits

Kolkata Knight Riders may not have made the semi-finals of the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL) season, but the market grapevine is abuzz that they are, perhaps, the only franchise to make a substantial profit.

Bollywood star SRK(Shahrukh Khan) appeared visibly disappointed with his team's performance, particularly in the later half of the league, as they finished sixth in the eight-team Twenty20 tournament. But market sources insist that his team had broken even before the half-way stage itself, thanks to vigorous merchandising.

The team management has finalised plans to invest the profits in a manner that would enhance the image of the Knight Riders. One of the projects that can give them greater visibility is their ultra modern world class academy headed by their high-profile Australian coach John Buchanan.

"We had a roller-caster ride in the first season, but we see a brighter future for us and for that we have to tap talented players and nurture them. The proposed academy will act as the nursery for the Knight Riders," team director Joy Bhattacharya told reporters.

He also said that the IPL had showcased talent in domestic cricket.

"The IPL gave a great opportunity to local players like Ashoke Dinda or Wrdiddhiman Saha to perform so well on the bigger stage and helped them to get into the India A side. The academy will scout for talent from all over the country so that we get the right mix of players for our side," he said.

Asked if the proposed academy would be a take-over of an existing one as speculated, Bhattacharya said: "It is too early to take the call. All I can say is that the academy would be headed by John Buchanan."

Bhattacharya said a review of the performance of the team was done, but refused to be drawn into any discussion over the reported differences between the franchise owners and the captain. "Everything is fine with the team and the review has addressed the issues that had cropped up during the tournament."

"We are confident the second season will produce better results for us," he said.

IPL Latest - Ganguly, Warne fined 10% of match fees

Kolkata Knight Riders captain Sourav Ganguly and Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne have been fined 10 per cent of their match fee on account of violating the code of conduct of ICC, said Lalit Modi, IPL commissioner here today.
Lalit Modi said, ”the decision has been taken by the IPL governing body which met here today to discuss the incident which occured in the match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals yesterday.” ”Umpire G Pratap Kumar has also been suspended for one match,” he added.
Modi said, ”Sourav Ganguly has been fined under clause 1.3 of the ICC code of conduct as he had no right to pressurise the umpire.He was charged with showing dissent to an umpire’s decision. He is therefore fined 10 per cent of his match fee while Shane Warne has been fined for publically criticising Ganguly.” Ganguly, who did not seem convinced with a catch taken by Rajasthan Royals’ Graeme Smith in yesterday’s match, asked umpire Kumar to refer the decision to third umpire.
Asad Rauf, the third umpire, however, went with Ganguly and ruled him not out after watching the inconclusive replays several times.
Modi further added,”Similarly Mr Shane Warne in his press conference yesterday, breached the ICC rules under Level 1 offence and he, therefore, has been reprimanded.
”The objective of the IPL is to play with the spirit of cricket and under the ICC’s rules. Mr Shane Warne’s was found to have breached level 1 clause 1.17, which is public criticism of any player or match official,” he said.
He said the umpire was suspended because he did not consult the leg umpire and directly refered the issue to third umpire to seek a decision over Ganguly’s catch taken by Graeme Smith.
He further added that, ”the umpire was unaware of the rules and regulations to this effect that is why he has been suspended.” Modi said the IPL governing body has decided to impose a fine of 500 dollars over a team who fails to maintain the required over rate in the match.
”It has been decided that the skipper of the paricipating teams will not speak to the media except prior to the match and after the match.
Modi, however, made it clear that banned speedster Shoiab Akthar will not be allowed to play in the IPL until Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) allow him to play.
Replying to a question the IPL commissioner said that Kolkata Knight Riders can include another player in place of Chris Gayle who got injured and is not fit to play now.
Earlier yesterday, match referee Farokh Engineer was seen moving around wearing Rajasthan Royals uniform, Modi said the matter has come to his notice and the board will look into it.
He expressed his surprise over Rajasthan Royals’, who were rated as the underdogs in the tournament, outstanding performance saying that, ”Shane Warne’s leadership has done wonders for the team.”Source: UNI

IPL (Indian Premier League - How it all happened

Cricket was earlier a very lenghthy game with shortest form ODI's duration ranging from 8 - 10 hours . it was a time consuming model so in order to bring the excitement into cricket as in case of the English Premier League of Football and to bring cricket on a much broader spectrum BCCI decided to start Indian Premier League (IPL) on the lines of EPL and other much famous games played world wide.

So IPL commitee was made under the chairmanship of MR. Lalit Modi and it started on 18/4/2008 in bangalore with decent opening ceremony.

IPL History:

The BCCI launched the Indian Premier League (IPL) on the lines of football’s English Premier League and the National Basketball League (NBA) of the US.
The IPL is a professional Twenty20 cricket league created and promoted by the BCCI and backed by the ICC. The Twenty20 league made it's debut in April 2008, with eight teams comprising a minimum of 16 players each. The league will last for 44 days and will involve 59 matches.
The IPL works on a franchise-system based on the American style of hiring players and transfers. These franchises were put for auction, where the highest bidder won the rights to own the team, representing each city.
The auction for the same took place on January 24, 2008 and the total base price for the auction was $400 million. The auction went on to fetch $723.59 million.
The Mumbai franchise owned by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) was the most expensive franchise - fetching $111.9 million closely followed by Vijay Mallya’s United Breweries which paid $111.6 million for the Bangalore franchise .
Media house Deccan Chronicle won the Hyderabad chapter of the IPL for $107 million, while India Cements’ Chennai franchise cost $91 million.
Bollywood also made its presence felt with two of its leading stars bagging the ownership of their respective teams - Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla’s Red Chillies Entertainment buying out Kolkata for $75.09, while Preity Zinta and her beau Ness Wadia bought the Mohali team for $76 million.
GMR , the infrastructure development group which who are involved in a project for revamping the Delhi airport, bagged the ownership of the Delhi team for $84 million and the Emerging Media , consisting of its CEO Fraser Castellino, Manoj Badale and Lachlan Murdoch and other investors won the rights for the Jaipur franczhise for $67 million.