Details about Sunanda Pushkar: The mysterious owner of IPL Kochi team

Sunanda Pushkar, the mysterious owner of the new IPL Kochi team, is believed to be the third would be wife of Shashi Tharoor. Shashi Tharoor had been married twice before. His first marriage was with Tilottama Mukherji, an academician based in Kolkata. Tharoor used to know her back in her school days in Kolkata. His second marriage was with Christa Giles, a Canadian civil servant. Christa Giles currently works with the United States on disarmament issues. Sunanda Pushkar has her own spa business in Dubai.

It was IPL Chairman, Lalit Modi, who broke out this confidential piece of information by giving out the names of the stake holders in the new IPL franchise. In a Tweeter message, Lalit Modi said,

“I was told not to get into who owns Rendezvous, specially Sunanda Pushkar. Why?”

The new IPL Kochi team has seven owners, they are-

Rendezvous Sports World (25% free)

Rendezvous Sports World (1% purchased)

Anchor (27%)

Parinee (26%)

Film Waves (12%)

Anand Shyam (8%)

Vivek Venugopal (1%).

The Rendezvous Sports World is a consortium which consists of eight members- Kisan, Shailender and Pushpa Gaikwad, Sunanda Pushkar, Puja Gulathi, Jayant Kotalwar, Vishnu Prasad, Sundip Agarwal. Out of the 25% free equity, Sunanda Pushkar holds 18%.

The signing of the franchise agreement took place on April 10, 2010. News reports say that, a union minister called up an IPL official and told not to look for details about Sunanda Pushkar. Later, it was revealed that Sunanda Pushkar is close with Shashi Tharoor and the two were seen together in New Delhi’s social circles for quite some times.

Interestingly, the idea of creating a “five member consortium” to have an IPL team for Kochi was spearheaded by Tharoor himself. Though he mentioned that he has no financial interest, it is now clear that Tharoor had other intentions. The sale price of Kochi IPL team was Rs.1,530 crores and 18% of that amount is a big amount and if it comes out that Tharoor is some how related in the matter will pose a big threat for his political career.

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Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rajasthan Royals Preview and Live Score IPL 2010 18th March

Tomorrow on 18^th March 2010, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will take on Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their home ground M Chinnaswamy Stadium. It is going to be the second consecutive home match for Royal Challengers Bangalore. The match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals is scheduled to be the only one game for the day. This much exciting match has caught the attention to the audience. This match will kick off at 14:30 GMT and 20:00 Indian Standard Time. This is going to be an exciting and thrilling fight between last year’s runners up team Royal Challengers Bangalore and inaugural champion team Rajasthan Royals. I hope that fans will enjoy it very much.

Visiting team Rajasthan Royals is under huge pressure after losing their two matches in the third edition of Indian Premier League. They lost to both Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils. No doubt, they will struggle hard to get their first victory against Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2010.

On the other hand, home team Royal Challengers Bangalore will try to get their second consecutive victory in a row. They will take inspiration from their superlative victory against the Kings XI Punjab on Tuesday. However, they were back from a defeat which came against Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday. As it is the home match for RCB club, so they will get advantage from home crowd.

Rajasthan Royals will have to fight not only with RCB but also with injury. Injury will be a big problem for Rajasthan Royals team. Fans are excitedly waiting to see how they overcome this problem. Injuries of Graeme Smith and Dmitri Mascarenhas have put the club under immense pressure. They are the key players of Rajasthan Royals team. Even they were the member of this team when they won the inaugural champions trophy in 2008. Because of their injuries, they have been ruled out for the rest of Indian Premier League.

Graeme Smith fractured his right middle finger while taking Virender Sehwag’s catch during Rajasthan Royals’ match against Delhi Daredevils. English all rounder Dmitri Mascarenhas has injured his ankle in the same game.

However, Rajasthan Royals should look for replacement to fill up overseas players in the tournament. Players name have not been confirmed yet for replacement. In another report, I have seen that IPL official confirmed that Rajasthan Royals cannot avail any replacement at this stage of the tournament. In this situation, they will have to bank on their overseas back-up to fill up empty position.

The good news for Rajasthan Royals is that they are going to get support as some of their foreign players are on their way to India. Among them South African off-spinner Johan Botha, Australian pair of Adam Voges and Damien Martyn are expected to join in the squad. Even Australian all rounder Shane Watson is likely to come in the squad. Hard hitter batsman Yusuf Pathan is facing doubt to play for tomorrow’s match as he is suffering from shoulder injury. However, he is hopeful about his return after shaking off his injury.

You should know that Yusuf Pathan is the only centurion in IPL 3. His 37-ball 100 came in their first encounter against Mumbai Indians. Despite scoring century, he could not lead his team to a victory.

Royal Challengers Bangalore will get advantage against the injury affected Rajasthan Royals. Host team is hunger for a victory. They are eyeing for a victory against Rajasthan Royals. It is going to be a third game for both teams in this tournament. It is expected to be a high scoring game as M Chinnaswamy Stadium is helpful for batsmen.

Most of you are excitedly waiting to enjoy this game live on stadium. However, it will not be possible for all of them. Most of the fans will have to depend either on TV or on websites. Ten Sports and SuperSport will watch this game live. If you can not see it live on TV then get live score from several websites that I have given below-

cricinfo

cricketnirvana

sity sports

action8cricket

thatscricket

Let us see who will get the victory in this match. I think that Royal Challengers Bangalore will defeat Rajasthan Royals. Opposite can happen as it is T20 cricket.

Mumbai Indians squad in IPL 2010

Mumbai Indian was bought with the highest amount of money in the original auction of Indian Premier League or IPL. However, in the last two seasons, the team has disappointed almost everyone. It had a strong squad and even Mumbai Indians squad 2010 also looks very strong but it is not clear how they are going to perform this season.

Before anything, I am giving you the Mumbai Indian 2010 squad for IPL:

SR Tendulkar, M Ali, DJ Bravo, S Dhawan, JP Duminy, CRD Fernando, Harbhajan Singh, ST Jayasuriya, Z Khan, DS Kulkarni, R McLaren, C Madan, I Malhotra, SL Malinga, GR Napier, AM Nayar, KA Pollard, AT Rayudu, R Sathish, KS Sahabuddin, R Shukla, AP Tare†, SS Tiwary

If we look at the list then you will find that in batting they have Sachin Tendulkar who is also the captain of this team. Tendulkar has very excellent form in the latest series against South Africa and he scored more than one centuries. Tendulkar is not the only great batsman here. Mumbai Indians has another batting legend in Sanath Jayasuriya. Jayasuriya is still in good form and in Twenty20 cricket he can be a dangerous batsman for the opposition bowling attack. So, if there any Tendular and Jayasuriya both are in form then can demolish any bowling line up.

When it comes to bowling then there is Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan. They are also good bowlers for Indian team and they can be dangerous too.

When I looked at the Mumbai Indians for 2010 I felt that the squad is balanced but what I don’t see is that there is proper combination. I don’t think that Sachin Tendulkar is a great captain and the captaincy should go to Jayasuriya. Tendulkar should be relieved of the captaincy pressure and then he can perform better and he can inspire other players in his team. 

Sun Direct and MAX will broadcast IPL 2010 on HD

Sony Pictures Television International’s MAX channel formed an alliance with Sun Direct. Under this alliance, both the channels will telecast IPL matches in High Definintion (HD) on the platform of Sun Direct. Sony Entertainment Network’s CEO, Man Jit Singh, told reporters that IPL cricket matches on HD broadcast will give cricket lovers a unique and new world class experience. According to Tony D Silva, COO, Sun Direct, HDTV would provide five time better experience over a normal television. HDTV is considered to be one of the world’s best digital broadcast platforms.

Lalit Modi, Chairman and Commissioner of IPL had been very happy with the alliance. He said that the high-octane action of IPL 2010 will set a new broadcast benchmark for the industry. Now, worldwide fans of cricket can enjoy the game one a wide range of platform.

Set MAX, owned by Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI), is one of the fastest growing movie channels of India. The channel was launched in 1999. Currently, it is viewed by 45 million households in India. MAX is part of the bouquet channels distributed by TheOneAlliance, a jointventure between SET India Pvt. Ltd. and Discovery Communications India.

Sun Direct is a DTH service headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It is a 80:20 venture between Maran family of India and the Astro Group of Malaysia. Sun Direct TV was registered in February 16, 2005.

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YouTube Gets HSBC as Sponsor for IPL 2010 Live Broadcast

One of the major attractions of IPL 2010 is that all the matches will be broadcast live in YouTube owned by Google. So, live video streaming of IPL matches is going to ensure that more people will be able to watch the matches live. Internet is growing everywhere and many people now-a-days do not have access to television but they have access to computer and internet. Thus, it is a new innovation and it will also help YouTube to become more popular in India.

YouTube is now taking some sponsors for this event. It has already got HSBC bank and we are also hearing the names of companies like HP and Samsung. It is not clear how much money Google has paid BCCI for online live casting but the deal is for two years.

The participation of HSBC as sponsor will surely help Google to earn more money. When Google acquired YouTube few years ago for $1.65 billion then many people did not understand how Google is going to earn money through it. Now, it seems that broadcasting matches can be a good source of income. 

BCCI vs Australian Players: Security Issue of IPL 2010

Right now Lalit Modi and some Australian players are perhaps engaged in war of words. Some of the Australian players are concerned about the security arrangements of Indian Premier League season 3 which is going to start from 12 March 2010. They are concerned that security will be a big problem and for this matter they are not sure whether they should take part in it or not.

There are concerns also among players from New Zealand, South Africa and England. However, the payers of Australia are more vocal because they come from a rich country and they earn decent amount of money from their board. England, South Africa and New Zealand players do not earn in the same level like Australian cricket players and that is perhaps why they are not that vocal until now.

On the other hand, IPL Chief Lalit Modi is adamant that security arrangements are good and there is no question of changing the venues from India. So, Lalit Modi has stated that whether foreign players come or not IPL 2010 will take place and if foreign players do not come then it is their lost. BCCI don’t mind and do not have any problem if foreign players do not come because basically it is an Indian cricketing event and the main money comes from the Indian market.

Here, the problem is that both sides know that than it each other. The foreign players from England, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia are crazy for the money that IPL can offer in just five weeks. Secondly, if they boycott this time then Lalit Modi and BCCI can take revenge by banning them from future eventS. Then, it will be a huge loss for the players in terms of money. On the other hand, the players are worried for their safety and security.

Lalit Modi has the same kind of dilemma. On the one hand, he desperately wants the foreign players TO take part because if IPL third edition is played only with Indian players then the major attraction will be lost. As a result, revenue from TV rights and other kind of sponsorships may decrease quite a bit. At the same time, Lalit Modi and BCCI officials know that they can not afford to take out of IPL at this moment. All the arrangements have been made and there is just 15 or 16 days left. So, if they now try to shift IPL to a foreign venue like South Africa then it will be very expensive and BCCI will not be able to make good profit.

I think that in the end at least, some of the foreign players will give up their demand about security. It is true that Indian government will try its best to ensure that no problem happens in this sporting event. Secondly, the money is really too attractive to pass out.

Schedule of Indian Premier League IPL 2010

Indian Premier League 2010 or IPL third season is going to start from 12^th March 2010. Thus, there are only few days left before the start. It has now become perhaps the largest annual event of cricket in the world and sometimes IPL matches overshadow international cricket. The third season will be bigger and there are new innovations and technologies involved with it. The number of teams will be same- eight clubs and I think that this is the last time that eight clubs will play in IPL. From next season, the number of teams is likely to increase.

IPL second edition or 2009 edition of Indian Premier League was held in South Africa. It coincided with 2009 general election in India and as a result, there was concerned about security and IPL organizers were forced to take this event to a foreign country. Although, it was held in South Africa, the match timing was almost same like IPL 2008 held in India and as a result, TV viewers in India did not have any problem. Attendance in the stadium was not that much but it did not create any problem for the BCCI because they earned a lot of revenue through TV rights, sponsorships and advertisements. Now, it seems that in the third edition, security again becoming a major problem. This time there is no elections but many people are worried about security threats in India.

Here is the Schedule of IPL 2010:

No.	Date	Round	Teams	Time	Venue
1.	12th March 2010 (Friday) Day-Night	Round Robin League	Deccan Chargers vs Kolkata Knight Riders	GMT 14:30   Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai
2.	13th March 2010 (Saturday) Day-Night		Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals	GMT 09:30 Local Time 15:00 Indian Standard Time 15:00	Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai
3.	13th March 2010 (Saturday) Day-Night		Kings XI Punjab vs Delhi Daredevils	GMT 14:30   Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh
4	14th March 2010 (Sunday) Day-Night		Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore	GMT 10:30 Local Time 16:00 Indian Standard Time 16:00	Eden Gardens, Kolkata
5	14th March 2010 (Sunday) Day-Night		Chennai Super Kings vs Deccan Chargers	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai
6	15th March 2010 (Monday) Day-Night		Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Daredevils	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad
7	16th March 2010 (Tuesday) Day-Night		Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kings XI Punjab	GMT 10:30 Local Time 16:00 Indian Standard Time 16:00	M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
8	16th March 2010 (Tuesday) Day-Night		Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Eden Gardens, Kolkata
9	17th March 2010 (Wednesday) Day-Night		Delhi Daredevils vs Mumbai Indians	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
10	18th March 2010 (Thursday) Day-Night		Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rajasthan Royals	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
11	19th March 2010 (Friday) Day-Night		Delhi Daredevils vs Chennai Super Kings	GMT 10:30 Local Time 16:00 Indian Standard Time 16:00	Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
12	19th March 2010 (Friday) Day-Night		Deccan Chargers vs Kings XI Punjab	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Barabati Stadium, Cuttack
13	20th March 2010 (Saturday) Day-Night		Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders	GMT 10:30 Local Time 16:00 Indian Standard Time 16:00	Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad
14	20th March 2010 (Saturday) Day-Night		Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bangalore	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai
15	21st March 2010 (Sunday) Day-Night		Deccan Chargers vs Delhi Daredevils	GMT 10:30 Local Time 16:00 Indian Standard Time 16:00	Barabati Stadium, Cuttack
16	21st March 2010 (Sunday) Day-Night		Chennai Super Kings vs Kings XI Punjab	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai
17	22nd March 2010 (Monday) Day-Night		Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai
18	23rd March 2010 (Tuesday) Day-Night		Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Chennai Super Kings	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
19	24th February 2010 (Wednesday) Day-Night		Kings XI Punjab vs Rajasthan Royals	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh
20	25th March 2010 (Thursday) Day-Night		Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai
21	26th March 2010 (Friday) Day-Night		Rajasthan Royals vs Deccan Chargers	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad
22	27th March 2010 (Saturday) Day-Night		Kings XI Punjab vs Kolkata Knight Riders	GMT 10:30 Local Time 16:00 Indian Standard Time 16:00	Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh
23	27th March 2010 (Saturday) Day-Night		Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Delhi Daredevils	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
24	28th March 2010 (Sunday) Day-Night		Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings	GMT 10:30 Local Time 16:00 Indian Standard Time 16:00	Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad
25	28th March 2010 (Sunday) Day-Night		Deccan Chargers vs Mumbai Indians	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai
26	29th March 2010 (Monday) Day-Night		Delhi Daredevils vs Kolkata Knight Riders	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
27	30th March 2010 (Tuesday) Day-Night		Mumbai Indians vs Kings XI Punjab	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai
28	31st March 2010 (Wednesday) Day-Night		Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore	GMT 10:30 Local Time 16:00 Indian Standard Time 16:00	MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai
29	31st March 2010 (Wednesday) Day-Night		Delhi Daredevils v Rajasthan Royals	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
30	1st April 2010 (Thursday) Day-Night		Kolkata Knight Riders vs Deccan Chargers	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Eden Gardens, Kolkata
31	2nd April 2010 (Friday) Day-Night		Kings XI Punjab vs Royal Challengers Bangalore	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh
32	3rd April 2010 (Saturday) Day-Night		Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals	GMT 10:30 Local Time 16:00 Indian Standard Time 16:00	MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai
33	3rd April 2010 (Saturday) Day-Night		Mumbai Indians vs Deccan Chargers	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai
34	4th April 2010 (Sunday) Day-Night		Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab	GMT Local Time Indian Standard Time	Eden Gardens, Kolkata
35	4th April 2010 (Sunday) Day-Night		Delhi Daredevils vs Royal Challengers Bangalore	GMT 10:30 Local Time 16:00 Indian Standard Time 16:00	Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
36	5th April 2010 (Monday) Day-Night		Deccan Chargers vs Rajasthan Royals	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Jamtha, Nagpur
37	6th April 2010 (Tuesday) Day-Night		Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai
38	7th April 2010 (Wednesday) Day-Night		Rajasthan Royals vs Kings XI Punjab	GMT 10:30 Local Time 16:00 Indian Standard Time 16:00	Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
39	7th April 2010 (Wednesday) Day-Night		Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Daredevils	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Eden Gardens, Kolkata
40	8th April 2010 (Thursday) Day-Night		Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Deccan Chargers	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
41	9th April 2010 (Friday) Day-Night		Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh
42	10th April 2010 (Saturday) Day-Night		Deccan Chargers vs Chennai Super Kings	GMT 10:30 Local Time 16:00 Indian Standard Time 16:00	Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Jamtha, Nagpur
43	10th April 2010 (Saturday) Day-Night		Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
44	11th April 2010 (Sunday) Day-Night		Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab	GMT 10:30 Local Time 16:00 Indian Standard Time 16:00	Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
45	11th April 2010 (Sunday) Day-Night		Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
46	12th April 2010 (Monday) Day-Night		Deccan Chargers vs Royal Challengers Bangalore	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Jamtha, Nagpur
47	13th April 2010 (Tuesday) Day-Night		Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Daredevils	GMT 10:30 Local Time 16:00 Indian Standard Time 16:00	Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai
48	13th April 2010 (Tuesday) Day-Night		Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai
49	14th April 2010 (Wednesday) Day-Night		Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
50	15th April 2010 (Thursday) Day-Night		Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Daredevils	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai
51	16th April 2010 (Friday) Day-Night		Kings XI Punjab vs Deccan Chargers	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharmasala
52	17th April 2010 (Saturday) Day-Night		Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai Indians	GMT 10:30 Local Time 16:00 Indian Standard Time 16:00	M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
53	17th April 2010 (Saturday) Day-Night		Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Eden Gardens, Kolkata
54	18th April 2010 (Sunday) Day-Night		Kings XI Punjab vs Chennai Super Kings	GMT 10:30 Local Time 16:00 Indian Standard Time 16:00	Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharmasala
55	18th April 2010 (Sunday) Day-Night		Delhi Daredevils vs Deccan Chargers	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
56	19th April 2010 (Monday) Day-Night		Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Eden Gardens, Kolkata
57	21st April 2010 (Wednesday) Day-Night	1st Semi-Final	TBC v TBC	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
58	22nd April 2010 (Thursday) Day-Night	2nd Semi-Final	TBC vs TBC	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
59	24th April 2010 (Saturday) Day-Night	3rd Place Play-off	TBC vs TBC	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai
60	25th April 2010 (Sunday) Day-Night	Final	TBC vs TBC	GMT 14:30 Local Time 20:00 Indian Standard Time 20:00	Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai

In fact, I was reading a news report that many of the top foreign cricketers may boycott IPL about security. Many players from Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa are worried about security concerns. They want to know about the security arrangements of BCCI. It should be mentioned here that most of the top foreign players are from these four countries and this has been a problem for IPL. Paul Marsh is chief executive of Australian Cricket Association and he said:

“We have got about 25 players involved so it would be a lesser tournament.

All the money in the world is not going to help you if you are not around to spend it.

The independent report has identified some serious concerns with aspects of the current security process. Specifically these concerns relate to the reported direct threat against the event and the status and implementation of the IPL's security plan.

The process from here is for all players associated to meet with their player groups and for all of us to feed back the concerns raised from these meetings to the IPL. This will be coordinated through our peak body the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA). From here we will await a response from the IPL."

BCCI man and IPL check Lalit Modi has strongly said that moving IPL third season out of India is out of question. He stated that there was no big security threat concerning the organizing of IPL next month and tries to assure all the players that there is no big problem. He also reacted sharply by stating that the success of IPL does not solely depend on foreign players.

Lalit Modi has another reason to be concerned about. If BCCI had to move IPL into another country like South Africa or England then it will become very expensive for BCCI. They have to take all the players and anything outside of India is somewhat expensive. Naturally they don’t want to take this risk. So, Lalit Modi and his colleagues in BCCI are determined to arrange IPL 2010 in India.

A few weeks ago, the auction for the third season was held and in it Pakistani players were left out. This caused a lot of anger in Pakistan and it is perhaps a bit ironic that a T20 tournament will take place without any player from the world champion. Many people in Pakistan are still angry over this matter. IPL teams will also miss the England players for the first three weeks because England is now in Bangladesh.

One good thing for Lalit Modi and his colleagues in BCCI is that this time there is no threat of Indian Cricket League or ICL. Last year, rebel Indian Cricket League was almost destroyed because of economic recession. Now, there is no sign that ICL will again come back in near future. The same can be said about American Premier League or APL. Last year there was a lot of media coverage that APL might take place in USA but in the end nothing happened. Thus BCCI officials are perhaps in a very happy and confident mood because of the absence of any competition.

Last year, the global economy was under economic recession. Even Indian economy was suffering from this recession. As a result, companies were less willing to spend money on advertisements and sponsorships. However, still because of the huge popularity of cricket in India, IPL was the success in terms of earning revenue. This time, things are much better for most of the major companies and may be they will be willing to spend more money on sponsorship or advertisement.

IPL 2010 will be memorable for new technologies and innovations. The matches will be broadcast live on YouTube website owned my Google. As a result, many people will be able to watch the matches live on internet. All you need is to have good speed. I guess that many companies in India will be eager to ban YouTube during the time IPL will take place because they might want to keep their employees off from watching cricket matches during office hours. The last four matches will be broadcast in 3D technology in various cinema halls in India. This may upset some movie producers in the country.  

IPL 2010 will finish at 25 April 2010. After just four days, T20 world cup 2010 will start in West Indies. Last year, India performed very badly in T20 world cup 2009 and Champions Trophy 2009. Some people were annoyed with BCCI for this matter that and felt that BCCI gave too much focus on IPL and did not bother about the success of national team. So, BCCI officials have to keep in mind that this year India must do well in T20 world cup.

IPL is making BCCI richer and stronger in the world cricket but it is surely damaging international cricket. Now-a-days, many cricket players are not that much bothered about international cricket because they can earn huge amount of money by playing five or six weeks in IPL. ICC is helpless because BCCI is the richest board and they have now more power than ICC in world cricket. This is not good for the game of cricket because what I can see is that cricket is dying a slow death in most parts of the world and if this trend continues then after 10 years very few people will be interested about cricket outside of India.