Prize Money in Indian Premier League 2010 (IPL)

IPL - Indian Premier League, the other name of shower of money in the game of cricket for everyone. The beneficiary will not not only BCCI but players all around the world.

The overall prize money will be around Rs. 20 crore (US $5 million), with the winners taking home Rs. 8 crore ( US $2 million).

The remaining money will be up for grabs in different forms, like man of the match awards and cash prizes. By contrast, the winners of the 2007 ICC World Cup in the Caribbean took home Rs. 4 crore (US $1 million). The Indian team that won the World Twenty20 got half of that.

TV rights have already gone for over US $1 billion. Franchisees have already committed close to US $723 million. Top players are expected to earn minimum Rs. 4-6 crores per season.

Brand IPL touches the sky closer year by year

After capturing the hearts and minds of millions all across the world, Indian Premier League has now crossed another landmark.

According to a recent study by a UK-based brand valuation consultancy, the brand value of the IPL has more than doubled to USD 4.13 billion (over Rs 18,000 crore) from USD 2.01 billion in 2009.

Interestingly, brand IPL has a higher valuation than English Premier League club Manchester United, which is valued close to USD 3 billion.

"The IPL brand alone has risen significantly from the previous year's valuation providing tremendous economic value to its owner BCCI," Brand Finance, the brand valuation consultancy, said in a media release.

"In comparison to international benchmarks for sporting business such as EPL (English Premier League) which is valued at $12 billion, the IPL juggernaut, in a short span of 3 years, is valued at $4 billion and has the potential to grow further," said Unni Krishnan, Managing Director of Brand Finance India.

"A huge amount of intellectual property is being created by the complete IPL ecosystem which was sustained despite last year's difficult economic conditions. This demonstrates the exponential value of IPL and the brand potential in a cricket loving country like India and other global cricketing countries," Brand Finance said in a release.

The franchises have been a part of this growth. Chennai Super Kings, who were ranked fourth last year, has emerged the most valued franchise in 2010. The CSK franchise has moved up the ladder to number one with a valuation of USD 48.4 million. The Kolkata Knight Riders co-owned by Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan comes in second with a valuation of USD 46 million and the Rajasthan Royals, co-owned by Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty comes in third with USD 45.2 million.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore, owned by Vijay Mallya, is ranked fourth with a valuation of USD 41.9 million and is followed by the Mumbai Indians (USD 40.8 million), Delhi Daredevils (USD 40.5 million) and Kings XI Punjab ( USD 36.1 million). The Deccan Chargers are at the base with a valuation of USD 34.4 million.

Pune and Kochi to play host to new IPL teams

Mumbai / Chennai: Sahara Adventure Sports, a Sahara Group company, and a consortium led by Solapur, Maharashtra-based Rendezvous Sports World Ltd will join the Indian Premier League (IPL) next year after bidding a combined $703.33 million (Rs3,200 crore) for the two franchises up for grabs in the Twenty20 cricket tournament.

Sahara Adventure Sports won the Pune franchise with a bid of $370 million. A consortium led by Rendezvous Sports walked away with the franchise for Kochi, at $333.33 million.

Both bidders won the franchises for the next 10 years, organizers said in Chennai.

In an indication of how much IPL has grown, the two new teams together fetched more than the total Rs2,840 crore that its existing eight franchises had been sold for in 2008. The minimum bid price had been fixed at $225 million per franchise this time, against $50 million in the first auction.

The cities that were up for grabs included Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Kanpur, Dharamsala, Visakhapatnam, Rajkot, Cuttack, Baroda, Indore and Gwalior. IPL had received five bids in all that qualified for the tender process.

Besides the winning Sahara offer, Pune attracted other bids—one from the Aman Group at $261.3 million and another from a consortium led by a Videocon Group company, VP Digital Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which bid $319.9 million. The consortium included Bollywood actors Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Karishma Kapoor, and Panchshil Realty.

Rendezvous Sports bid for Kochi along with Parinee Developers Pvt. Ltd, Anchor Earth, Film Waves and Anand Shah Developers.

Sahara Adventure Sports made an identical bid of $370 million for Ahmedabad, Nagpur and Pune. “They made the highest bid for all three cites and were asked to choose one of the cities. Accordingly, Pune will be their home ground,” said Lalit Modi, commissioner of IPL. “As far as IPL is concerned there is no recession at all. We will continue to be on upward trend,” he added. “I don’t foresee any (further) expansion (of the league) in many years to come, but then you never know.”

The new franchises will select their players in September and October. Modi said they, too, would be allowed only four non-Indian players on the field.

Sahara spokesman Abhijit Sarkar said: “Sahara is the biggest patron of sports in the country and we have been associated with the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) family for the last 15 years. So when we came to know about this proposition of cricket with business, we bid for IPL.”

The IPL commissioner had been reported to have said he was mulling over creating another IPL outside India. But on Sunday, he said there would be only one IPL, although some exhibition matches could be held outside the country.

Meanwhile, minister of state for foreign affairs Shashi Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he had no stake in the Kochi franchise. His role was confined to encouraging the consortium that eventually bagged the team.

The new team owners were to be announced on 7 March in Mumbai, but the process was deferred as IPL received only three bids that qualified.

Rajasthan Royals

Rajasthan Royals is the franchise that will represent the city of Jaipur in the Indian Premier League. The team will be led and coached by Shane Warne. There is no Icon Player for the team. This is the only IPL team to have a foreign captain and playing coach.

The Rajasthan Royals franchise is owned by Emerging Media group. The group acquired the franchise for $67 million.
Players

Rajasthan Royals was the least active franchise during the player auction. The team does not have a designated icon player, which saved a lot of cap space for the franchise. However the franchise was surprisingly low key during the auction, and in the end got penalized by the IPL organizing committee for failing to meet the minimum bidding criteria of $3.3 million. The highest bid by Rajasthan Royals was for the Indian middle order batsman Mohammad Kaif, who came off the board at $675,000. Shane Warne has been named the coach and captain of the side. The Royals are unique as they are the only side to have an English cricketer in their squad, Hampshire's all rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas.

Batsmen

*

Graeme Smith - South Africa - Left-handed Batsman
*

Mohammad Kaif - India - Right-handed Batsman
*

Justin Langer - Australia - Left-handed Batsman
*

Younis Khan - Pakistan - Right-handed Batsman
*

Anoop Revandkar - India - Right-handed Batsman
*

Taruwar Kohli - India - Right-handed Batsman
*

Niraj Patel - India - Left-handed Batsman

Wicketkeepers

*

Kamran Akmal - Pakistan - Right-handed Wicket keeper

All Rounders

*

Yusuf Pathan - Pakistan - Right-handed Batsman/Right-arm leg-break
*

Dimitri Mascarenhas - England - Right-handed Batsman/Right-arm fast-medium
*

Shane Watson - Australia - Right-handed Batsman/Right-arm fast-medium
*

Sohail Tanvir - Pakistan - Left-handed Batsman/Left-arm medium-fast
*

Ravindra Jadeja - India - Left-handed Batsman/Left-arm orthodox spin
*

Siddharth Trivedi - India - Right-handed Batsman/Right-arm medium
*

Swapnil Asnodkar - India - Right-handed Batsman/Right-arm off-break
*

Sumit Khatri - India - Left-handed Batsman/Right-arm off-break

Bowlers

*

Shane Warne (Captain) - Australia - Right-arm off-break
*

Munaf Patel - 24- India - Right-arm fast-medium
*

Morne Morkel - 30- South Africa - Right-arm fast
*

Pankaj Singh - 21- India - Right-arm off-break

Administration and Coaching Staff

Front Office:

* Owner - Emerging Media (Manoj Badale, Lachlan Murdoch, Suresh Chellaram)
* CEO - Fraser Castellino

Coaches:

* Head Coach - Shane Warne
* Physiotherapist - John Gloster

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians will be representative of the city of Mumbai in the Indian Premier League. The team will be led by Sachin Tendulkar, also the Icon Player for the team and coached by Lalchand Rajput, the former Manager of the Indian Cricket Team.

Reliance Industries Limited through its subsidiary Reliance Retail Ltd purchased the rights for the Mumbai franchise of Indian Premier league for a total of $111.9 million during the auction on January 24, 2008. The RIL bid has made the Mumbai Indians the most expensive franchise in IPL.

The team logo has the Sudarshan Chakra with the team’s name engraved in it. The team’s colour will be blue. The choice of the name “Indians” for a regional competition is widely regarded as a blunder.

The mascot is still unknown.
Players

Sachin Tendulkar is the designated icon player and also captain for Mumbai Indians. During the player auction Mumbai Indians successfully bid for 7 players, including two of the heroes of Indian Twenty-20 world cup side in Harbhajan Singh and Robin Uthappa. Sanath Jayasuriya was also another prized catch, along with South African legend Shaun Pollock. The team also added the Sri Lankan speedster Lasith Malinga.

Outside of the player auction, the franchise has also signed up Ajinkya Rahane and Abhishek Nayar (from Mumbai), Yogesh Takawale (from Maharashtra) and Pinal Shah (from Baroda)

Batsmen

*

Sachin Tendulkar (Captain) - India - Right-handed Batsman
*

Robin Uthappa - India - Right-handed Batsman
*

Loots Botsman - South Africa - Right-handed Batsman
*

Ashley Prince - South Africa - Left-handed Batsman
*

Manish Pandey - India - Right-handed Batsman
*

Saurabh Tiwari - India - Left-handed Batsman

Wicket Keepers

*

Yogesh Takawale - India - Right-handed Batsman - Wicket keeper
*

Pinal Shah - India - Right-handed Batsman - Wicket keeper

All Rounders

*

Sanath Jayasuriya - Sri Lanka - Slow left-arm orthodox spin
*

Shaun Pollock - South Africa -Right-arm medium-fast
*

Ajinkya Rahane - India - Right-arm medium

Bowlers

*

Harbhajan Singh - India - Right-arm off-break
*

Lasith Malinga - Sri Lanka - Right-arm fast
*

Dilhara Fernando - Sri Lanka - Right-arm fast-medium
*

Abhishek Nayar - India - Right-arm medium-fast
*

Ashish Nehra - India - Left-arm fast-medium

Administration and Coaching staff

Front Office:

*

Owner - Reliance Industries Limited
*

CEO - R Balachandran
*

President - Mukesh Ambani

Coaches:

*

Head Coach - Lalchand Rajput

Kings XI Punjab

Kings XI Punjab is a sports franchise based in Mohali in the eight team Indian Premier League. The team will be led by Yuvraj Singh who is also the Icon Player and coached by Tom Moody, the former Aussie all rounder.

The owners of Kings XI Punjab include Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia (Bombay Dyeing), Karan Paul (Apeejay Surendera Group) and Mohit Burman (Dabur). The group paid a total of $76 million to acquire the franchise.

India middle order batsman Yuvraj Singh is the designated icon player for the Kings XI Punjab and he will also captain the team. In addition to Yuvraj, the team also contains the promising Indian allrounder Irfan Pathan, Aussie speedster Brett Lee and the Sri Lankan duo of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara in its ranks.
Players

India middle order batsman Yuvraj Singh is the designated icon player for the Kings XI Punjab and he will also captain the team. In addition to Yuvraj, the team also contains the promising Indian allrounder Irfan Pathan, Aussie speedster Brett Lee and the Sri Lankan duo of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara in its ranks.

Batsmen

*

Yuvraj Singh (Captain) - India - Left-handed Batsman
*

Mahela Jayawardene - Sri Lanka - Right-handed Batsman
*

Ramnaresh Sarwan - West Indies - Right-handed Batsman
*

Simon Katich - Australia - Left-handed Batsman
*

Luke Pomersbach - Australia - Left-handed Batsman
*

Karan Goel - India - Left-handed Batsman
*

Tanmay Srivastava - India - Left-handed Batsman
*

Sahil Kukreja - India - Right-handed Batsman
*

Wilkin Mota - India - Right-handed Batsman
*

Yash Gandhi - India - Right-handed Batsman
*

Sunny Sohal - India - Right-handed Batsman

Wicketkeepers

*

Kumar Sangakkara - Sri Lanka - Left-handed Wicket keeper
*

Nitin Saini - India - Right-handed Wicket keeper
*

Pankaj Dharmani - India - Right-handed Wicket keeper
*

Uday Kaul - India - Right-handed Wicket keeper

All Rounders

*

Irfan Pathan - India - Left-handed Batsman/Left-arm medium-fast
*

Ramesh Powar - India - Right-handed Batsman/Right-arm off-break
*

James Hopes - Australia - Right-handed Batsman/Right-arm medium

Bowlers

*

Brett Lee - Australia - Right-arm fast
*

Shanthakumaran Sreesanth - India - Right-arm fast-medium
*

Piyush Chawla - India - Right-arm leg-break
*

Vikram Raj Vir Singh - India - Right-arm fast-medium
*

Kyle Mills - New Zealand - Right-arm fast-medium
*

Ajitesh Argal - India - Right-arm medium
*

Mohammed Mudasir - India - Right-arm medium

Administration and Coaching Staff

Front Office:

*

Owners - Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia, Karan Paul & Mohit Burman
*

CEO - Neil Maxwell
*

President - TBA

Coaches:

*

Head Coach - Tom Moody .

Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata Knight Riders is the franchise representing Kolkata in the Indian Premier League. The team will be led by Sourav Ganguly, also the Icon Player for the team and coached by John Buchanan. The name of the team was revealed on March 10, 2008 with an official team unveiling ceremony on March 11, 2008. The official theme of the team is Korbo, Lorbo, Jitbo Re (We will do it, Fight for it, Win it) and the official colours are black and gold.

Kolkata Knight Riders is a franchise of the eight team Indian Premier League. It was bought on January 24, 2008 by Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment in partnership with Juhi Chawla and her husband, Jai Mehta.

The logo of the team consist of a blazing golden viking helmet against a black background with the name of the team Kolkata Knight Riders written in gold. The main theme of the team Korbo, Lorbo, Jitbo Re (We will do it, Fight for it, Win it) has been created by Vishal-Shekhar duo. A Knight Rider album with several singers and music composers including Usha Uthup and Bappi Lahiri will also be created. The tag line of the team is All the King's Men. The team's official colour is black and gold. Black stands for the courage of Maa Kali and gold stands for the spirit of winning. The jersey was created by Bollywood fashion designer Manish Malhotra. The team also has a mascot named Hoog Lee, who is a lazy Royal Bengal Tiger and loves to eat burgers. The name was chosen after lot of research. The name Knight Riders has been chosen keeping in view of the kids and the youth., and is a obvious reference to the famous television show. Incidentally the Kolkata team playing in the ICL (the rebel league) is named as "Kolkata Tigers".
Players

Sourav Ganguly, the former captain of the Indian cricket team is the icon player and will lead the Kolkata franchise. Also in the team is allrounder Chris Gayle and wicket keeper batsman Brendon McCullum. The most successful captain in world cricket Ricky Ponting follows suit with a bowling attack including Shoaib Akhtar, Ishant Sharma, Umar Gul. Others include Ajit Agarkar, Murali Karthik and David Hussey.

Batsmen

*

David Hussey - Australia - Right-handed Batsman
*

Ricky Ponting - Australia - Right-handed Batsman
*

Salman Butt - Pakistan - Left-handed Batsman
*

Akash Chopra - India - Right-handed Batsman
*

Cheteshwar Pujara - India - Right-handed Batsman
*

Rohan Banerjee - India - Left-handed Batsman
*

Yashpal Singh - India - Right-handed Batsman
*

Debabrata Das - India - Right-handed Batsman

Wicketkeepers

*

Brendon McCullum - New Zealand - Right-handed Wicket keeper
*

Tatenda Taibu - Zimbabwe - Right-handed Wicket keeper
*

Wriddhiman Saha - India - Right-handed Wicket keeper

All Rounders

*

Sourav Ganguly (Captain) - India - Left-handed Batsman/Right-arm medium
*

Chris Gayle - West Indies - Left-handed Batsman/Right-arm off-break
*

Ajit Agarkar - India - Right-handed Batsman/Right-arm fast-medium
*

Mohammad Hafeez - Pakistan - Right-handed Batsman/Right-arm off-break
*

Iqbal Abdulla - India - Left-handed Batsman/Left-arm orthodox spin
*

Laxmi Ratan Shukla - India - Right-handed Batsman/Right-arm fast-medium

Bowlers

*

Ishant Sharma - India - Right-arm fast-medium
*

Shoaib Akhtar - Pakistan - Right-arm fast
*

Murali Kartik - India - Left-arm orthodox spin
*

Umar Gul - Pakistan - Right-arm fast-medium
*

Siddarth Kaul - India - Right-arm medium
*

Ranadeb Bose -India - Right-arm fast-medium
*

Sourashish Lahiri - India - Left-arm orthodox spin

Administration and Coaching Staff

Front Office:

*

Owners - Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla & Jai Mehta
*

CEO - TBA
*

President - TBA

Coaches:

*

Head Coach - John Buchanan
*

Assistant Head Coach - Matthew Mott
*

Physiotherapist - Andrew Leipus
*

Physical Trainer - Adrian Le Roux

Deccan Chargers

Deccan Chargers is the franchise that will represent the city of Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League. The team will be led by V.V.S. Laxman and coached by Robin Singh, presently the fielding coach of the Indian cricket team. There is no Icon Player for the team.

The Deccan Chargers franchise is owned by Deccan Chronicle. The media group acquired the franchise from IPL for $107 million on January 24, 2008. Group M later picked a 20% stake.
Players

The Chargers were among the most aggressive bidders during the first Indian Premier League player auction. The franchise added a lot of explosive power in batting by acquiring some renowned big hitters like Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Shahid Afridi, Scott Styris and Herschelle Gibbs. In addition to all these players, the franchise also includes the Indian test player V.V.S. Laxman, who is a Hyderabad local. They are also employing the services of well-known pacers R.P. Singh, Nuwan Zoysa and Chaminda Vaas. It's been announced by the franchise that Laxman will captain the side during the tournament.

V.V.S. Laxman was supposed to be the Icon Player for the Deccan Chargers, but this meant that the players mentioned above could not be bought as Icon Player's earn 15% more than the next highest earner in the team. However, VVS Laxman relinquished his Icon Player Status, and instead of earning $1 million like other Icon players he earns $375,000, which allows the team to buy the big names and still remain under the salary cap.

Batsmen

*

V. V. S. Laxman (Captain) - India - Right-handed Batsman
*

Rohit Sharma - India - Right-handed Batsman
*

Herschelle Gibbs - South Africa - Right-handed Batsman
*

Venugopal Rao - India - Right-handed Batsman
*

Chamara Silva - Sri Lanka - Right-handed Batsman
*

Arjun Yadav - India - Right-handed Batsman
*

Paidikalva Vijaykumar - India - Right-handed Batsman
*

D Ravi Teja - India - Right-handed Batsman

Wicketkeepers

*

Adam Gilchrist - Australia - Left-handed Batsman/Right-handed Wicket keeper
*

Halahar Das - India - Right-handed Batsman /Left-handed Wicket keeper

All Rounders

*

Andrew Symonds - Australia - Right-handed Batsman/Right-arm Medium/ Off-break
*

Shahid Afridi - Pakistan - Right-handed Batsman/Right-arm Medium/ Leg-break
*

Scott Styris - New Zealand - Right-handed Batsman/Right-arm medium
*

Sanjay Bangar - India - Right-handed Batsman/Right-arm medium

Bowlers

*

Rudra Pratap Singh - India - Left-arm fast-medium
*

Chaminda Vaas - Sri Lanka - Left-arm fast-medium
*

Nuwan Zoysa - Sri Lanka - Left-arm fast-medium
*

Pragyan Ojha - India - Left-arm orthodox spin
*

D Kalyan Krishna 20 - India - Right-arm medium
*

M Sarveesh Kumar - India - Right-arm medium

Administration and Coaching Staff

Front Office:

*

Owner - Deccan Chronicle
*

CEO - J Krishnan
*

President - J Krishnan
*

Manager - [[Vijay Mohan Raj]

Coaches:

*

Head Coach - Robin Singh
*

Assistant Head Coach - Kanwaljit Singh
*

Team Manager - Shishir Hattangadi

Delhi DareDevils

Delhi DareDevils is the Delhi franchise for the Indian Premier League. The franchise is owned by the GMR Group. The team will be captained by Virender Sehwag, who is also the designated the Icon Player for the franchise.

During the franchise auction for the Indian Premier League teams GMR group acquired the rights for the Delhi franchise for $84 million.
Players

Virender Sehwag has been accorded the icon player status in the Delhi team.

Batsmen

*

Virender Sehwag (Captain) - India - Right-handed Batsman
*

Tillakaratne Dilshan - Sri Lanka - Right-handed Batsman
*

Gautam Gambhir - India - Left-handed Batsman
*

Manoj Tiwary - India - Right-handed Batsman
*

Shikhar Dhawan - India - Right-handed Batsman

Wicketkeepers

*

Dinesh Karthik - India - Right-handed Wicket keeper
*

AB de Villiers - South Africa - Right-handed Wicket keeper

All Rounders

*

Daniel Vettori - New Zealand - Left-handed Batsman/Left-arm orthodox spin
*

Shoaib Malik - Pakistan - Right-handed Batsman/Right-arm off-break
*

Farveez Maharoof - Sri Lanka - Right-handed Batsman/Right-arm fast-medium
*

Rajat Bhatia - India - Right-handed Batsman//Right-arm medium-fast
*

Mithun Manhas - India - Right-handed Batsman/Right-arm off-break
*

Mayank Tehlan - India - Right-handed Batsman/Right-arm off-break

Bowlers

*

Mohammad Asif - Pakistan - Right-arm fast-medium
*

Glenn McGrath - Australia - Right-arm medium-fast
*

Brett Geeves - Australia - Right-arm fast-medium
*

Pradeep Sangwan - India - Right-arm fast-medium
*

Yo Mahesh - India - Right-arm fast-medium

Administration and Coaching Staff

Front Office:

*

Owners - GMR Holdings
*

CEO - Yogesh Shetty
*

President - TBA
*

Vice President - T. A. Sekhar

Coaches:

*

Head Coach - Greg Shipperd

Chennai Super Kings

Chennai Super Kings is the Chennai franchise for the Indian Premier League. The team will be led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the highest-paid IPL Player, and coached by Kepler Wessels. There is no Icon Player for the team.

Chennai Super Kings are a part of the eight club Indian Premier League. The franchise is owned by India Cements, who paid $91 million to acquire the rights of the franchise for the next 10 years. Former India test player Kris Srikkanth is the brand ambassador for the franchise, and another former Indian opener V. B. Chandrasekhar will be the chief selector. The brand ambasssadors for the team will be South Indian actor, Vijay and actress, Nayantara.

The M.A.Chidambaram stadium (often referred to as Chepauk, the place where the stadium is located) will be the home ground of the IPL team. The theme song of Chennai Super Kings, penned by Vairamuthu, is presently being composed by G V Prakash Kumar.

The name “Super Kings” is to honor the rulers of the golden era of Tamil culture, the team logo has a Lion to reflect the King of the Jungle. In addition the word “Super” is colloquially used in the state of Tamil Nadu to reflect all things thrilling and exciting and is a word of the lips of almost every one in Tamil Nadu. Incidentally the Chennai team playing in the ICL (the rebel league) is named as “Chennai Superstars”.
Players

Chennai Super Kings are one of the three franchises with no icon player. The lack of an icon player benefited the Super Kings during the bidding as they managed to bid successfully on two (Dhoni & Muralitharan) of the six A listed players.

The team plans to have twenty three players on its roster. Besides the list of players already acquired, the team will pick the remaining members from the three catchment areas - Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Railways - that have been allocated to it.

Batsmen

*

Matthew Hayden - Australia - Left-handed Batsman
*

Stephen Fleming - New Zealand - Left-handed Batsman
*

Suresh Raina - India - Left-handed Batsman
*

Michael Hussey - Australia - Left-handed Batsman
*

Anirudha Srikkanth - India - Right-handed Batsman
*

Subramaniam Badrinath - India - Right-handed Batsman
*

Napoleon Einstein - India - Right-handed Batsman

Wicketkeepers

*

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain) - India - Right-handed Wicket keeper
*

Parthiv Patel - India - Left-handed Wicket keeper

All Rounders

*

Jacob Oram - New Zealand - Left-handed Batsman/Right-arm medium-fast
*

Albie Morkel - South Africa - Left-handed Batsman/Right-arm fast-medium
*

Shadab Jakati - India - Slow left-arm orthodox spin
*

Abhinav Mukund - India - Left-handed Batsman/Right-arm leg-break
*

Viraj Kadbe - India - Right-arm leg-break

Bowlers

*

Muttiah Muralitharan - Sri Lanka - Right-arm off-break
*

Joginder Sharma - India - Right-arm fast-medium
*

Makhaya Ntini - South Africa - Right-arm fast
*

R. Ashwin - India - Right-arm off-break
*

Sudeep Tyagi - India - Right-arm fast-medium
*

Lakshmipathy Balaji - India - Right-arm fast-medium

Administration and Coaching Staff

*

Owner - India Cement Ltd.
*

CEO - TBA
*

Ambassador - Kris Srikkanth, film stars Joseph Vijay and Nayantara
*

Chief Selector - V. B. Chandrasekhar

Coaches:

*

Head Coach - Kepler Wessels
*

Assistant Coach - TBA
*

Physiotherapist - Tommy Simsek
*

Physical Trainer - Gregory King

Bangalore Royal Challengers

Bangalore Royal Challengers is the team that is going to represent the city of Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, the inaugural Twenty20 cricket tournament to be held in India. The team is owned by the liquor magnate Vijay Mallya, the chairman of UB Group. Charu Sharma is the CEO of the team and Rahul Dravid, the captain of the team is the Icon Player. Martin Crowe, the former New Zealand captain, has also been signed as a member of the management team. Venkatesh Prasad, the former Indian fast bowler and the present bowling coach of India has been declared the coach for the team.

Bangalore team was won by Vijay Mallya, who paid US$111.6million for it. This was the second highest bid for a team in the IPL, next only to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries’ bid of $111.9million for the Mumbai team.

Indian actresses Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif were signed as the brand ambassadors of the franchise.

Vijay Mallya wanted to associate one of his top-selling liquor brands, either ‘No. 1 McDowell’s’ or ‘Royal Challenge’ with the team. Ultimately, ‘Royal Challenge’ was chosen, and hence the team was given the name ‘Bangalore Royal Challengers’. The jersey colours of the team are red and golden yellow, and the logo consists of the RC emblem with ‘Bangalore Royal Challengers’ in standard format.
Players

The players in the team (except for Rahul Dravid, who was the Icon Player), were selected in an auction conducted by BCCI on 20 February 2008. South Africa’s Jacques Kallis at $900,000 became the costliest player to be selected to play for the Royal Challengers. This meant that Rahul Dravid, being the Icon Player would be paid $1,035,000 (15% more than the highest bid player in the team). Other players selected included the Indian Test cricket captain Anil Kumble along with his team-mates Praveen Kumar and Zaheer Khan, West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Aussies Nathan Bracken and Cameron White, South Africa’s Mark Boucher (Wicket Keeper) and Dale Steyn.

Batsmen

*

Rahul Dravid (Captain/Icon Player) - India - Right-handed Batsman
*

Shivnarine Chanderpaul - West Indies - Left-handed Batsman
*

Wasim Jaffer - India - Right-handed Batsman
*

Misbah-ul-Haq - Pakistan - Right-handed Batsman
*

Ross Taylor - New Zealand - Right-handed Batsman
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Arun Kumar J. - India - Right-handed Batsman
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Appanna K. P. - India - Right-handed Batsman
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Bharat Chipli - India - Right-handed Batsman

Wicket Keepers

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Mark Boucher - South Africa - Right-handed Batsman / Wicket keeper
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Shreevats Goswami - India - Left-hand Batsman / Wicket keeper
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Devraj Patil - India - Right-handed Batsman / Wicket keeper

Allrounders

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Jacques Kallis - South Africa - Right-arm fast-medium
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Cameron White - Australia - Right-handed Leg-break googly
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Sunil Joshi - India - Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox spin
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Akhil B. - India - Right-arm medium-fast
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Virat Kohli - India - Right-arm medium

Bowlers

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Anil Kumble - India -Right-armleg-break googly
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Zaheer Khan - India - Left-arm medium-fast
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Nathan Bracken - Australia - Left-arm fast-medium
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Dale Steyn - South Africa - Right-arm fast
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Praveen Kumar - India - Right-arm medium-fast
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Abdur Razzak - Bangladesh - Slow left-arm orthodox
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Vinay Kumar R. - India - Right-arm medium-fast

Administration and coaching staff

Front Office:

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Owner- Vijay Mallya
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CEO - Charu Sharma
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Adviser - Martin Crowe

Coaches:

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Head Coach - Venkatesh Prasad
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Assistant Head Coach - TBA
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Physiotherapist - TBA

India vs Pakistan ICC Champions Trophy 2009

Shoaib Malik smashed a magnificent century to give Pakistan the upperhand against India in the Group A match of the ICC Champions Trophy , in Centurion, on Saturday.

After a slow start Malik changed gears in style smashing 128, hitting a total of 16 boundaries in his 126-ball knock. His 206-run partnership in 193 deliveries with Mohammad Yousuf , who hit a composed 87 from 88 deliveries, saw Pakistan change the course of the match completely in the middle overs.

The Indian bowling failed to live upto expectations with senior most Harbhajan Singh the main culprit, giving away 71 runs in his ten overs for just one wicket. Ashish Nehra toiled hard, claiming four for 55 in his ten overs and Ishant Sharma took two for 39.

Imran Nazir survived a run out chance off the second ball of the match when Suresh Raina missed the stumps at the non-striker's end by a whisker as the right-hander attempted to steal a quick run on the off-side.

Nazir then made the Indians pay when he unleashed a cracking cover drive for his second boundary in the third over by Nehra followed by another couple boundaries off RP Singh in the fourth over to race to 20 from 16 deliveries.

Just when it looked the Pakistan openers would run havoc, India struck back when Nehra claimed the vital wicket of Nazir. The right-hander, who made 20 from 17 deliveries, attempted a pull short but top edged it and was neatly held by Harbhajan Singh at mid-on. (29-1, 4.2)

RP Singh was taken off after just two overs, during which he gave away 21 runs, including four boundaries.

But Ishant Sharma fared no better as he also conceded two boundaries in his first over. Captain Younis Khan glanced the first one through fine leg for a boundary while the second was despatched through the cover region.

Akmal smashed Nehra through midwicket for his third boundary as Pakistan raced to 51 for one after just seven overs.

Once again India struck against the run of play when Kamran Akmal inside edged Nehra onto his stumps to be bowled for 19 from 22 deliveries. (53-2, 8.5)

Akmal's wicket saw the run rate fall drastically as Pakistan cruising at 51 for one after seven overs managed only three runs in the next five overs to reach 54 for

two after 12 overs. Ishant, who went for nine runs in his first over, had played a big role in the comeback as he gave away just a single in his next three overs

including two maidens.

Meanwhile, RP Singh back for his second spell came up with the important wicket of captain Younis for 20 (33b). The left-armer bowling from round the wicket got

one to swing away from the batsman taking the edge to wicketkeeper Dhoni. (65-3, 14.4)

RP Singh made a strong comeback in his second spell giving away just four runs in three overs and claiming the wicket of Younis.

Pakistan innings looked stuck as just 20 runs came from the last ten overs with the scoreboard reading 71 for three after 17 overs. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni

took the opportunity to introduce his part-timers in Virat Kohli and Yusuf Pathan hoping to squeeze in a few tight overs.

The Kohli experiment lasted just three overs without much success as the youngster went for 21 runs but at the other end Pathan was doing a good job with just

seven runs from his three overs.

With the part-timers in operation, Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik had no problem getting their eye in as they steadily built the Pakistan innings in the middle overs as the duo brought up their 50-run partnership in 72 deliveries in the 27th over.

Yousuf then broke the sequence of singles with a delicate late cut through third man for a boundary against Pathan and Malik repeated that dose against Harbhajan in the next over.

The two batsmen finally decided to change gears as they slammed another two boundaries in Pathan's eighth over as he conceded 20 runs in his last two overs for 41 runs in eight overs. Those couple of boundaries also brought up the 100-run partnership between the two batsmen as they threatened to cut loose with the final few overs approaching.

Yousuf completed a deserved half-century with a single in the 35th over. The best part about his knock was that he kept it simple with singles and twos and despite

hitting just three boundaries, brought up the landmark in 55 deliveries.

Malik completed his fifty in style in 81 deliveries when he slammed Ishant through point for his fifth boundary in the 36th over. He seemed to have changed gears

after his fifty as he slammed another two boundaries in the same over as Pakistan started to take charge.

Malik continued pounding the third man boundary as he thumped RP Singh for consecutive boundaries to race to 84 from 98 deliveries. Amazingly, the right-hander smashed 34 runs in his last 18 deliveries as the Indian bowlers looked totally clueless against the onslaught.

The last ten overs were a complete turnaround for Pakistan as they hit 83 runs to reach 217 for three after 40 overs.

Malik once again creamed Pathan through his favourite point region for his 12th boundary to move into the 90s. He brought up his century in 108 deliveries with another boundary when he cut Harbhajan through the third man region.

It was raining boundaries through the point and third man region as Yousuf drove RP Singh effortlessly for his fifth boundary.

Finally, Nehra gave his team some much needed relief when he claimed the important wicket of Yousuf. The veteran batsman tried to hit every ball out of the park in the PowerPlay but was beaten by the slower one and was bowled for a wonderful innings of 87 from 88 deliveries, inclusive of seven boundaries. (271-4, 46)

His 206-run partnership in just 193 deliveries for the fourth wicket with Malik had given Pakistan complete control after they were bogged down following a few wickets.

Shahid Afridi needed no time to warm-up as he started with a lofted boundary over the cover region off Pathan in the 47th over. However, he fell off the very next delivery for 4 caught behind by Dhoni attempting another lofted over the off-side.(278-5, 47)

There was no stopping Malik, who taking advantage of the fielding restriction, smashed successive boundaries off Nehra to start the 48th over.

But wickets kept falling from the other end when Umar Akmal perished caught behind by Dhoni for a first-ball duck attempting a big shot. (289-5, 47.5)

Nehra was easily India's best bowler of the day as he finished with respectable figures of four for 55 in ten overs, when all others around him were being carted all around the ground.

Malik's brilliant knock of 128 came to an end in the penultimate over when he holed out to long-on to give Harbhajan his first wicket. The Pakistan right-hander was in complete control, hitting 16 boundaries in his 126-ball knock to help his team post a huge score. Half of his runs came between the third man and point region as Malik fetched 61 runs from that area, having breached that boundary 12 times.

Harbhajan bagged a wicket off his final delivery but his figures read a miserable one for 71 in his ten overs, on a day when nothing worked for him.

Umar Gul tried a wild slog but ended up top edging to be taken by Suresh Raina at point off Ishant for a duck, while Mohammad Aamer hit a slower delivery straight to the mid-on fielder off the first delivery he faced.

Pakistan finished on a huge 302 for nine in their 50 overs leaving India with a tough task on hand in their opening encounter.

Tendulkar targets 15,000 Test runs

Sachin Tendulkar has said he is not satisfied with his achievements and hopes to accumulate 15,000 runs and win the World Cup in 2011.

"I am not pleased yet with what I have done," Tendulkar, who has scored a record 12773 Test runs at an average of 54.58 from 159 matches, said in an interview with the Wisden Cricketer. "Sunil Gavaskar has told me that I have to get to 15,000 runs. He said he would be angry with me and would come and catch me if I didn't. I admire him so much and to score that many would be a terrific achievement, but that is not the only aim." His other big cricketing ambition is to "win the World Cup in 2011".

Tendulkar, 36, also spoke about how he has been consistently playing with pain. "I always play in pain, all the time. I played with a broken finger for the last three months, but you know when pain is manageable or not, and most of the time I can do it," he said. "I can still do what I did when I was 25 but the body is changing, so your thought process has to change too. I have had to change how I think, which is about taking less risk."

Tendulkar also disagreed with John Buchanan, former Australia coach, who felt Tendulkar had become susceptible to the short ball early in his innings because of a lack of footwork. "It is only his opinion; John Buchanan doesn't have to be right all the time. If I couldn't handle short deliveries, then I wouldn't still be scoring runs," he said. "Maybe he needs to change his opinion. There must be something very wrong with all the bowlers around the world that they have allowed me to score so many runs."

Don Bradman had said Tendulkar reminded him of himself and the Indian batsman was the only modern player in Bradman's all-time XI. Does Tendulkar think the same way about anyone? "I would say Virender Sehwag comes closest to my style."

Tendulkar said he was not thinking about retirement yet but he would know when to quit cricket. "I will know when it is the right time, I won't have to be dragged away. I am the person who will make the decision and I will know whether I still belong."

He admitted life after cricket wouldn't be easy. "It's a scary thought. It has been there for my whole adult life, it will be difficult, I have been around for a long time, I can imagine when I finish I will long to face just 10 more balls but you have to move."

Sourav Ganguly received an Honorary Fellowship at the University of Central Lancashire

Sourav Ganguly received an Honorary Fellowship at the University of Central Lancashire, July 15, 2009

Kaneria puts Sri Lanka in a spin

Pakistan leg spinner Danish Kaneria took five for 62 to help bowl Sri Lanka out for 233 on an action-packed second day of the third Test on Tuesday.

Kaneria, playing his first game of the series, bowled superbly to give Pakistan a 66-run first-innings lead.

The tourists lost opener Khurram Manzoor in the final over before stumps, bowled by left-arm spinner Rangana Herath, and finished on 16 for one, a lead of 82 runs.

Fawad Alam was unbeaten on 14 and Younus Khan on nought.

Danish KaneriaFormer captain Mahela Jayawardene top-scored for the hosts with a skillful 79 from 153 deliveries including 10 boundaries.

Tillakaratne Dilshan also scored a gutsy 44 batting with a fractured right index finger and Kumar Sangakkara made a fluent 45.

Sri Lanka, 2-0 up in the series, needed just 3.4 overs in the morning to end the Pakistan innings after the visitors had resumed on 289 for seven.

Left-arm paceman Thilan Thushara grabbed two of the last three wickets to fall, claiming career-best figures of five for 83.

Thushara wrapped up the innings as Pakistan's batting collapsed for the fourth time in the series, the last six wickets tumbling for 14 runs after the second new ball was taken.

GUL STRIKES

The Pakistan bowlers led the fightback after Umar Gul bowled Malinda Warnapura with the first ball of the innings and Khan bowled opener Tharanga Paranavitana for five to reduce Sri Lanka to 23 for two.

Sri Lanka would have been in deeper trouble had Manzoor not dropped Sangakkara on 16, spilling an easy catch at gully after the skipper played Mohammad Aamer away from his body.

Sangakkara stroked seven boundaries before he was adjudged lbw to spinner Saeed Ajmal to the last ball before lunch, although TV replays showed the ball pitched outside leg stump.

Ajmal struck another big blow after the interval with a sharp off break to bowl Thilan Samaraweera for six.

Jayawardene rallied the innings with Angelo Mathews, playing skilfully against quality spin bowling from Ajmal and Kaneria.

Kaneria made the breakthrough just before tea when he induced Mathews to edge a catch to slip.

Kaneria also dismissed Jayawardene with a cleverly disguised quicker ball and he trapped Chaminda Vaas lbw.

Dilshan launched a late assault, hitting two sixes and two fours in his 44 before being last man out.

Vaughan Retires

LONDON (Reuters) - Michael Vaughan touched greatness as an opening batsman then scaled the heights as England captain before a chronic knee injury hastened his premature retirement.
Vaughan, 34, announced he had retired from all cricket on Tuesday after failing to win back his place in the national side and fulfil his dream of playing once more in an Ashes-winning side.
"It has been a hard decision," Vaughan told a news conference at Edgbaston.
"I wanted to give myself one last chance of playing against Australia but I haven't been playing well enough and my body is not reacting how I would like it to be."
Speculation that Vaughan might be recalled for one last tilt at Australia, after leading England to their memorable home victory in 2005, always seemed fanciful.
He has not played for England since resigning as captain last year and passed 50 only three times in 22 innings for Yorkshire.
He was also forced to leave the field frequently to rest his troubled knee which raised fresh doubts about his ability to get through a five-day test.
Vaughan's elegance and class were apparent from the start of his career, although he was never a heavy scorer in county cricket and did not force his way into the England side through sheer weight of runs.

WI squad unchanged for the 3 rd and 4 th ODI

Following West Indies' victory against India in the second ODI at the Sabina Park, Kingston, the West Indian selectors named an unchanged squad for the third and the fourth ODI.

The remaining two One-Day Internationals are scheduled at Beausejour, St Lucia on Friday, July 3 and Sunday, July 5.

Squad: Chris Gayle (Captain), Denesh Ramdin (Vice Captain), Lionel Baker, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Sulieman Benn, David Bernard, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Runako Morton, Ravi Rampaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Jerome Taylor.

We misread the pitch - Dhoni

India's poor batting display in their eight-wicket defeat in the second ODI in Kingston owed to a misjudgment on the part of their batsmen about the pitch, MS Dhoni has said. Dhoni played a captain's innings of 95, which rescued his team from a hopeless situation at 82 for 8, but proved woefully inadequate in the face of an attacking opening stand of 101 led by West Indies captain Chris Gayle.

"We should have paid a little more respect to the bowlers," Dhoni said after the game. "The wicket was a bit difficult, it was swinging around a bit. We didn't judge the wicket well and just went around playing our strokes which really brought our downfall."

Dhoni was involved in a 101-run stand for the ninth wicket with RP Singh, who chipped in with a valuable 23. It was the fifth instance of a ninth-wicket pair putting on a century-partnership, and it saved India's blushes after they were in danger of being bowled out for under three figures. "Once you lose too many wickets then the only thing that you are doing is catching up. RP and me had a partnership otherwise it would have been quite embarrassing," he said.

India's top and middle orders were blown away by some disciplined bowling from the West Indian seamers, led by Ravi Rampaul, who finished with a career-best 4 for 37. India were in trouble as early as the second over, when Rampaul dismissed Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma in a space of three deliveries, and West Indies retained the advantage for the remainder of the game.

India's failure at the top, Dhoni believed, was decisive in their inability to post a challenging score, as the pitch had eased out by the time West Indies began their chase. "Later on, the wicket became better for batting," he said. "When you are batting first, initially you expect the wicket to do a bit and it is the first half an hour and after that you can capitalise if you get up a good start."

While Yuvraj Singh was at the crease India were in a position to fight back hard, but Dhoni added that reliance on just one individual - Yuvraj made a century in the series opener - was not going to win them matches. "Yuvraj is the man in form, he is getting the run for us but we can't expect one individual to score in one and every game.

"You can't expect to bowl the opponent out within 180, especially on a wicket like this. We just wanted to make it difficult. As long as we can stay on the wicket and make it difficult for them to score runs, that was the motivation."

His opposing captain Chris Gayle was full of praise for the fast-bowling duo of Rampaul and Jerome Taylor, who set the stage for the series-levelling win.

"It is nice to square the series. There were some good performances from the guys," he said. "Rampaul and Taylor set the game for us and from now we will look to go strength to strength. There was moisture in the wicket and Taylor and Ravi utilised it well, and the catching was also good, so we just need to keep working on our game."

The West Indies selectors have retained the current squad for the remaining two matches. The teams get a four-day break before the third ODI at Gros Islet on Friday.

West Indies Vs India, 1st ODI start tomorrow at Kingston

West Indies and India prepare for the first of four one-day internationals, in Jamaica, after extremely contrasting World Twenty20 campaigns in England. India entered the tournament as one of the favourites but underachieved tremendously, losing all their matches in the Super Eights stage. As a result of their second-round elimination, India reached the Caribbean even before their hosts, who exceeded expectations by qualifying for the semi-finals, where they lost to Sri Lanka.

For India, a team shaken by defeat, injury and fatigue, this series is the last before a long break until the Champions Trophy in September. They will do well to focus on the task at hand, rather than think about the lengthy rest their tired bodies deserve. India are weakened for they are without Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina and Zaheer Khan, four key players either injured or resting because of their hectic schedule in recent months. Their unavailability, though, opens up rare opportunities for players on the fringes of the national squad such as Dinesh Karthik, S Badrinath and M Vijay because the Indian one-day side has been a settled unit for a while now. It also gives others, such as Ashish Nehra, a new lease of life for few would have expected him to return after four years on the sidelines.

West Indies' performance in the World Twenty20 was a dramatic improvement from their efforts during a torrid summer in which they lost both the Wisden Trophy and ODI series to England. Their run to the final four, though, was largely Gayle-powered and they will want more players to contribute during the ODIs against India before the home series against Bangladesh in July. They too have tinkered with their squad for the first two games, surprisingly leaving out Lendl Simmons and Darren Sammy, recalling Runako Morton and Narsingh Deonarine, and included the uncapped Darren Bravo.

ODI form guide
(last five matches, most recent first)

India - LWWNW

India's last ODI series was the five-match contest in New Zealand which they won 3-1 with one washout.

West Indies - LLNLL

West Indies' last five one-dayers were all against England and they didn't win any, losing two at home and two away with one being abandoned.

Watch out for ...

Ashish Nehra: The left-arm medium-pacer last played an international for India in September 2005 after which a spate of injuries kept him out of contention. However, a strong performance in the IPL, where Nehra was the third-highest wicket-taker with 19 at 18.21 each, coupled with the axing of Munaf Patel and Irfan Pathan, paved the way for his return.

Darren Bravo: If he's anywhere near as skilled as his sibling Dwayne, India have a problem on their hands. Darren Bravo's an unknown quantity to people outside the Caribbean, having played only 15 first-class games and eight List A matches for Trinidad & Tobago. It will be interesting to see what responsibility he's given, if he plays, in the first two games against India.

Team news

India have a few decisions to make regarding the composition of their final XI. Should Rohit Sharma continue opening in Sehwag's absence? Or should he move down the order to give Vijay or Karthik a chance at the top? What of S Badrinath? Another worry for the team management is the delayed arrival of Karthik, Vijay and Badrinath due to issues with obtaining a transit visa to England. They were scheduled to arrive in Jamaica on Thursday evening.

India (likely): 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Dinesh Karthik, 3 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 S Badrinath, 6 Yusuf Pathan, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Ishant Sharma, 10 RP Singh, 11 Ashish Nehra.

Simmons' omission from the West Indies squad was surprising considering he scored 150 runs during the World Twenty20, including a 50-ball 77 against South Africa, and took a four-wicket haul in the group match against Sri Lanka. They also omitted Darren Sammy who has been an underrated allrounder in the West Indian outfit.

West Indies (likely): 1 Chris Gayle (capt), 2 Runako Morton, 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6 Darren Bravo, 7 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 8 Jerome Taylor, 9 Ravi Rampaul, 10 Suleiman Benn, 11 Lionel Baker

Stats and trivia

* West Indies have won four out of their last five ODIs in Jamaica - against India, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Ireland. India have played only two ODIs at Sabina Park of which they lost one and won the other.

* Only once has a team made more than 300 at Sabina Park: Pakistan made 349 against Zimbabwe during the 2007 World Cup. The highest target successfully chased there is 254 when South Africa made 255 for 2 against West Indies in 2005.

Quotes

"The West Indies is playing good cricket at the moment. They had a very good World Twenty20 tournament, but in 50 overs, you have time to settle down."
MS Dhoni is aware he is against an in-form team

"Both teams are looking to win and they (Indians) are trying to prove something against us. At the same time we want to get more wins under our belt and continue our development."
Chris Gayle

Pakistan salute 'awesome' Afridi

Pakistan superstar Shahid Afridi was hailed as 'awesome' on Sunday after the mercurial all-rounder led his country to the World Twenty20 title.

Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by eight wickets to claim their first major title in 17 years at a sell-out Lord's.

Afridi hit an unbeaten 54 off 40 balls, his second consecutive half-century, and former captain Shoaib Malik made 24 not out during a match-winning partnership of 76 for the undefeated third wicket.

"It was a pressure match. When I walked out to the wicket I was thinking I have to stay until the 20th over," said Shoaib.

"Shahid was awesome today and all credit to him. I told him to stay at the wicket and I will get some runs, that we can finish the game. He's a great cricketer."