Crickers for sale......

The men behind the Indian Premier League insisted yesterday that the international game has nothing to fear from the fledgling Twenty20 competition. Having banked $1.8bn before a ball has been bowled, and seen yesterday's remarkable player auction enrich the world's best cricketers to the tune of a further $42m, they can afford to be diplomatic.

The reality of the IPL's impact on the game is likely to be very different. Watching yesterday's auction in Mumbai, an unprecedented experiment in which the open market decided selection rather than captains or committees, one fancied cricket will never be the same again.

These are the players picked up by the eight teams in the Indian Premier League. The teams will be completed by Indian players.
The captains were pre-selected and were not part of  the auction.

BANGALORE
Rahul Dravid (Captain)
Anil Kumble (Ind) $526,000
Jacques Kallis (SAf) $981,000
Zaheer Khan (Ind) $491,000
Mark Boucher (SAf) $491,000
Cameron White (Aus) $546,000
Wasim Jaffer (Ind) $164,000
Nathan Bracken (Aus) $354,000
Dale Steyn (SAf) $354,000
Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI) $218,000

CHENNAI SUPERKINGS
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind) $1.65 million
Muttiah Muralitharan (SL) $656,000
Matthew Hayden (Aus) $409,000
Jacob Oram (NZ) $736,000
Parthiv Patel (Ind) $355,000
Albie Morkel (SAf) $737,000
Joginder Sharma (Ind) $246,000
Suresh Raina (Ind) $711,000
Makhaya Ntini (Saf) $215,000
Michael Hussey (Aus) $381,000
Stephen Fleming (NZ) $381,000

DELHI DAREDEVILS
Virender Sehwag (Captain)
Daniel Vettori (NZ) $681,000
Shoaib Malik (Pak) $545,000
Mohammad Asif (Pak) $709,000
Dinesh Karthik (Ind) $573,000
AB de Villiers (SAf) $328,000
Farveez Maharoof (SL) $246,000
Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL) $273,000
Manoj Tiwary (Ind) $740,000
Gautam Gambhir (Ind) $793,000
Glenn McGrath (Aus) $381,000

HYDERABAD
Adam Gilchrist (Aus) $765,000
Andrew Symonds (Aus) $1.47 million
Herschelle Gibbs (SAf) $627,000
Shahid Afridi (Pak) $736,000
Chamara Silva (SL) $109,000
VVS Laxman (Ind) $410,000
Rohit Sharma (Ind) $821,000
RP Singh (Ind) $950,000
Chaminda Vaas (SL) $217,000
Nuwan Zoysa (SL) $120,000
Scott Styris (NZ) $190,000

JAIPUR
Shane Warne (Aus) $492,000
Graeme Smith (SAf) $518,000
Younis Khan (Pak) $245,000
Kamran Akmal (Pak) $164,000
Yusuf Pathan (Ind) $519,000
Mohammad Kaif (Ind) $738,000
Munaf Patel (Ind) $300,000
Justin Langer (Aus) $218,000

KOLKATA
Sourav Ganguly (Captain)
Shoaib Akhtar (Pak) $464,000
Ricky Ponting (Aus) $436,000
Brendon McCullum (NZ) $763,000
Chris Gayle (WI) $872,000
Ajit Agarkar (Ind) $382,000
David Hussey (Aus) $740,000
Murali Kartik (Ind) $460,000
Umar Gul (Pak) $163,000
Ishant Sharma (Ind) $1.03 million
Tatenda Taibu (Zim) $136,000

MOHALI
Yuvraj Singh (Captain)
Mahela Jayawardene (SL) $519,000
Kumar Sangakkara (SL) $764,000
Brett Lee (Aus) $982,000
Shantha Sreesanth (Ind) $681,000
Irfan Pathan (Ind) $1.01 million
Ramesh Powar (Ind) $185,000
Piyush Chawla (Ind) $435,000
Simon Katich (Aus) $218,000
Ramnaresh Sarwan (WI) $245,000

MUMBAI
Sachin Tendulkar (Captain)
Sanath Jayasuriya (SL) $1.064 million
Harbhajan Singh (Ind) $927,000
Shaun Pollock (SAf) $601,000
Robin Uthappa (Ind) $875,000
Lasith Malinga (SL) $380,000
Dilhara Fernando (SL) $163,000
Loots Bosman (SAf) $190,000

Cricket: Harbhajan cleared of racial abuse

The International Cricket Council has cleared Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh of racial abuse.

Harbhajan was originally suspended for three matches after being found guilty of racially abusing Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds during the second test at the SCG. The Indian Cricket Board said the more serious charge, of racial abuse, had been downgraded to the lesser charge of using abusive language at yesterday's appeal. He has been fined 50 per cent of his match fee.

BCCI board secretary Niranjan Shah said: "The racial abuse charges have been dropped. It is finished. The punishment is only for using obscene language."

The decision means threats by the BCCI to cancel the rest of the Indian tour of Australia will no longer threaten the ODI tri-series involving Sri Lanka and the hosts.

The ICC appeals commissioner, New Zealander Justice John Hansen, heard the appeal from Harbhajan and Indian hierarchy against the spinner's ban for allegedly calling Symonds a "monkey" at the SCG. Justice Hansen heard about five hours of evidence from Harbhajan, Sachin Tendulkar, Symonds and Australian captain Ricky Ponting.

India withdraw Hogg complaint

Australia spinner Brad Hogg has been cleared to play in this week's third test against India after the tourists withdraw a complaint against him.

Hogg was due to face the International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee Mike Procter at a Perth hotel on Monday after being charged with using abusive language during last week's ill-tempered second test in Sydney.

However, the case was dropped when India captain Anil Kumble and team manager Chetan Chauhan told Procter they were withdrawing their complaint.

"It's all behind us now, so we can get on with cricket," Procter told reporters.

"It's a wonderful gesture by India, showing what sportsmanship they possess in the way they play the game."

Kumble said India had agreed to drop the charges after he held a face-to-face meeting with Australia skipper Ricky Ponting.

"It was just one of those incidents, probably made in the heat of the moment, and it was important that we moved on," Kumble said.

"So in view of that, we have withdrawn the charges."

India, Australia cricket chiefs meet in Dubai to resolve crisis

The Indian and Australian cricket board will be making a last-ditch effort to resolve the crisis created by the Harbhajan Singh issue and save India's tour down under when the chiefs of the two boards Sharad Pawar and Creagh O'Connor arrive in Dubai to attend an International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting Monday.

A senior Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) official told IANS Sunday that the board has already lined up a contingency plan in case the Cricket Australia (CA) and the ICC Council refuse to sea reason in India's appeal against the three-Test ban on off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.

"The players are so incensed at the match referee's handling of the whole thing that they see a sinister move to harass the Indian players," he said.

"The only way to salvage the situation is for Cricket Australia to prevail upon captain Ricky Ponting not to press the racial charge against Harbhajan."

As things stand, the official said, there is no move to pull out of the tour but if the board's sincere effort to save the series is taken as its weakness then things could go out of hand.

If Dubai effort fails, the BCCI would not be able to rein in the players, particularly the seniors, if they decide to pull out of the tri-series after the four-match Test series, which end in Adelaide on Jan 28. The players naturally want the issue resolved before the first match of the tri-series including Sri Lanka as third team, begins at the Gabba, Brisbane, on Feb 3.

Cricket controversies good news for insurance companies

by: Economic Times

MUMBAI: Cricket may be a game of glorious uncertainties, but the rise in the number of off-the-field incidents has opened up new business opportunities for insurance companies.

The Indian cricket board’s (BCCI) stand-off with the International Cricket Council (the governing body of the game) over the three-Test ban on Harbhajan Singh has brought to fore the financial cost of such wrangles and possible protection.

Even as BCCI’s tough stance against the ban on the Indian spinner cast a cloud over the ongoing India-Australia series, insurance companies have used this as an opportunity to sell cricket bodies ‘libel and defamation policies’ that would cover future match disruptions due to such off-field incidents that have the potential to stall a match or a series.

Initially, event insurance companies were flummoxed when there was uncertainty in the air due to sledging and some controversial umpiring decisions, but they quickly spotted the big business.

Industry sources said some insurers have already approached cricket bodies with ‘libel and defamation policies’ that would cover this new variable. Big broadcasters like Neo Sports, Star Sports and Nimbus are seen as the bulk buyers of such policies as the risk is passed on from the cricket boards to these companies the moment the team arrives on the ground.

The other potential big buyers are the national cricket boards, like the Board of Control for Cricket in India, that have lot at stake if matches go haywire. Since bulk of the money from the gate collections goes to them, they have lot at stake in such events.

For broadcasters, the potential loss from match disruptions is huge, too, particularly the one-day and Twenty-20 versions for which the telecast rights have been won at astronomical prices. Sources point out that their entire revenue model through sale of airtime and cable rights will be grossly affected due to match disruptions.

At present, the main covers they buy are for loss of ad revenue due to rainfall. They also take cover against breakdown of satellites. If there is no live feed on television, the advertisers simply do not play, the sources said. Indian insurance companies have made big payouts in 2007 for matches that were disrupted. The India-Sri Lanka match in Kolkata at the start of the year, which was washed out, and the India-Australia match in Bangalore that was cancelled after 50 overs are the two examples when the insurers had to cough up huge payouts.

Industry sources said nearly Rs 12 crore was paid out to the broadcaster — Neo Sports in India — for the two matches. Similarly, BCCI was paid nearly Rs 15 crore when the India-Pakistan match in Ireland was disrupted, they said and added that last year the claim ratio has been against the insurers.

Smaller players in the chain, like the in-stadium advertisers and local cricket associations, have also begun to purchase insurance policies. The Indian team’s sponsor — the Sahara group — has bought polices for each match, sources said.

Though cricket insurance has existed for several years, what has changed now is the innovative clauses and policies, industry observers said. Earlier, a policy would become inoperative after the first is bowled, but today’s policies are alive till last ball is bowled, although liability comes down as the overs go up, they pointed out.