It is a given that all cricketers are judged based on the consistency of their performances. And, on a scale of one to ten, Afridi would be ranked very low. In recent times though, Afridi has done exceptionally well as a bowler. Thus, whatever runs he scores these are considered as a bonus. In short, he has transformed himself into a highly credible bowling all-rounder. While he never came to terms with Test cricket, and, not surprisingly, retired from the long format of the game recently, he still has a lot to offer for Pakistan in ODIs and T20s. And thus, him being the best-selling player during the BPL auction is understandable.

The T20 game is tailor-made to suit big hitters like Afridi and Chris Gayle. The duo and the likes should consider themselves lucky to be playing in an era where T20 is ruling the roost in cricket. Many others bashers like Lance Klusener and Chris Cairns were not so lucky. The significance of boom bang players like Afridi rises in the T20 format for a number of reasons. While in a 50-over-a-side contest, 20-30 runs don’t make much of a difference, the same can prove to be a match-winning knock in the T20 format. And with Afridi one can be rest assured that he will score them at a blistering rate.

What makes the Afridi of now even more dangerous in T20s is the fact that his bowling has come of age, as mentioned above, and backed by the number of five-fors he took in international ODIs last year. Afridi has the ability to both pick wickets as well as squeeze the number of runs as per the demand of the situation, a precious and rarely possessed ability in bowlers, and one that could go a long way in him achieving consistent success at the T20 level. And, not least of all, he is a brilliant fielder. All these qualities combine to make him the perfect T20 package for any side.

As reported in the media, Afridi has decided to skip the BPL dollars in favor of the ODI series against England, a commendable decision made by the destructive batsman. He will be available for the BPL final in case the Dhaka Gladiators make it that far. But, that is another scenario altogether. Before that, he needs to concentrate on doing well in the ODIs and T20s against the Englishmen. Having been their talisman in recent times, the Pakistan team will be looking forward to match-winning performances by him in the upcoming series too. Often in the past he has promised a lot and delivered little. Pakistan cannot afford that scenario now for he is the most experienced hand in their team today, and the former skipper ought to lead from the front.

Afridi’s selection as the most expensive player in the BPL will remain as a jewel in the crown whether he gets a chance to feature in the league or not. More significantly though, he needs to now prove his value as the most versatile cricketer in the Pakistan team, by backing the worth given to him by the BPL with consistent performances against the Englishmen.

Over to Afridi.

By: The Pinch Hitter

Ever since The Pinch Hitter was introduced to cricket at the age of nine, he fell in love with the gentleman’s game. While his desire to take up the sport professionally remained unfulfilled, he substituted the bat with the pen. And since 2003, he has been commenting on the sport for various magazines, websites, enjoying every moment of it. With ‘Over the top’ he hopes to continue enlightening and enlivening ‘cricket companions’ the write way.

The sport of Cricket has evolved over the years adding an element of heightened excitement and thrill to the game and consequently an increase in popularity and fan following. With this, there has been an increase in web sites dedicated exclusively to the game.

Moreover, the ubiquity of mobile phones and the advancements in mobile technology has not only seen the rise of mobile versions of the same websites but also the development of mobile applications offering cross platform support.

Cricket Companion has been the premier choice of cricket fans around the world when it comes to getting the cricket experience on the palm of one’s hand. What makes Cricket Companion stand out from amongst the rest of the crowd is not just its catchy and appealing as well as user friendly interface but the detailed and in-depth source of information it is for everything related to cricket.

With downloads close to 7 million globally and everyday more downloads adding on to the tally in thousands, Cricket Companion is a ‘numero uno’ in cricket related mobile applications.

Some of the features released in the app are:

• Ball by Ball coverage of all international cricket matches
• Detailed Scorecards, Player Profiles, Graphs and other Statistical information on the game
• Textual match commentary and match highlights
• Latest news, features, opinion posts and blogs from the world of cricket
• ‘Cricket Genius Competition’ native only to Cricket Companion; with the users vying for a chance to win an assortment of prizes for having the most points
• Custom set-up of Alerts/Notifications, via sound or vibration, for boundaries and wickets

The cricket world cup played in March 2011 set new records for Cricket Companion with the application registering 635,873 downloads during the 43 day tournament. The app registered 194,205,311 page views with 9,381,386 visits and 2,411,762 absolute unique visitors that broke all previous viewership records.

Seeing the immense potential and user adoption for the app, the Cricket Companion Team has launched a version of the app for the Apple Platform. The app is available at Apple’s iTunes store for free download:

So for those of you who for some out of this world reason do not know about Lagaan – like all good bloggers let me reproduce(and of course edit to my liking) some Wikipedia text to let you in on what it’s all about:

Lagaan is a sports-themed Indian Bollywood set in the Victorian period of the India’s colonial British Rule and revolves around the peasants from a barren village who are oppressed by high taxes imposed by their rulers. They attempt to persuade the British officers to reduce the taxes because of poor agricultural produce. Instead, a wager is offered. If their village team beats a British team in a game of cricket, their taxes for three years would be cancelled. After accepting this wager, the villagers face the arduous task of learning an alien game and playing for a result that will change their village’s destiny.

So I guess by now you would have understood what happened in the movie. That’s how predictable this movie is. In case you are from the ‘dumb’ genre you can always Google it or I can give you a hint (Oh Come On! You should have skipped this bracket …. Obviously the local team beat the British officers in a closely contested game with batting heroics from the lead actor.)

The movies isn’t based on a true story, however, the theme of an ending ‘British Raj’ getting frustrated at the hand of a ‘united Indian effort’ is something one can actually relate to the recent times. The ‘British Raj’ here being the dominance of British at the international cricket management body and their country cricket ecosystem and the ‘united Indian effort’ being India’s heroics producing world beating performance, great cricketing legends on the field and bringing success like IPL to the world cricket off the field. A recent display of this frustration was visible in a Tony Greig interview. Tony, who is eyeing a spot in the ICC (and I have no idea how he is going to manage that), came out all guns blazing against India and their world dominance. In case you missed the action, here is what he said:

“Number one, we have got to try and get the ICC right,” Greig said. “We have a situation at the moment where the ICC is dominated by India”.

“They tell Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and one or two other countries what to do and they always get the vote”. “It’s very hard, but somehow we have got to change things at that level”.

“We are playing too much cricket. I would be getting all the countries from the world and saying hey listen, what is this nonsense of giving Indian domestic cricket an open window?

“To give the IPL (Indian Premier League) an open window, and reduce by two months the time available for cricketers to play around the world, in the current environment is just ridiculous”.

“We have got to look very, very closely and make sure we do not destroy the cornerstone of the game which is Test cricket”. “It is laughable that (Chris) Gayle and (Kieron) Pollard are playing in the IPL when the West Indies are playing Pakistan – that is just ridiculous”.

I guess I would be looking forward to Greig coming in as the ICC chief (I believe that’s the position he is eying). We would surely be in for some action between the ‘Raj’ and …. ‘you know whom’. Surely a good script for Lagaan 2………

“The writer has been hired to write for this blog despite having no previous credentials in blogging. However he is stubborn enough to have pledged that he will keep writing even if no one reads his blog posts – as long as he keeps getting his salary”.

Fast forward three years to 2nd April 2011 at Wankhede, and the images of Tendulkar and Kirsten being carried on the shoulder during the victory lap immediately comes to mind. But the man who led the team to a memorable World Cup victory and played a defining innings in the Final, was quietly walking behind, taking in those moments that would be etched in his mind for the rest of his life.

Not long after that memorable day, MSD once again led his team to a memorable victory. This time he was in Yellow, and it was the Chennai Super Kings that just defended their IPL crown. On being presented the winner’s trophy, Mahi immediately passed it on to his team members and made his way to the back of group, probably once again soaking in another special victory, while the rest of his team were shouting and dancing centre stage.

Such moments, and such instances, for me, define Mahendra Singh Dhoni. There is a royal-like power to his name, and no doubt in his game as well! Add to that power a shrewd cricketing mind, great leadership qualities, immense self-belief, a sense of calmness and humility that is so rare to see in the game today…and you have a man who commands respect! As a railway ticket collector in Kharagpur, little did MSD know that there would come a time when he would only be collecting trophies and laurels one after the other!

Call him destiny’s child, or the man with the Midas touch, or whatever you may, but there is no doubt in my mind that this Rockstar from Ranchi has made his own luck, and deserves every bit of what he has achieved. He has always backed himself, and the results are there for all to see. It isn’t to say he has always made the right calls. He is human, and bound to make some incorrect ones. But most times his bold moves have paid off, and remarkably so. Whether it be giving Joginder Sharma the last over in the T20 World Cup, even though the far more canny and experienced Bhajji had an over up his sleeve; or promoting himself ahead of Yuvraj, who was having the tournament of his life, when India were struggling having lost their openers during the recently concluded World Cup finale, MSD has always played his cards the way he felt they should be played (and somehow always manages to have aces up his sleeve!).

But what is even more amazing is the occasion in which he has made a lot of these brave calls. The above two instances were in World Cup Finals, where a mistake could not only have cost Dhoni the cup, but probably even his home windows! Being at the helm of the Indian cricket team is a high pressure job, with a billion plus people of this cricket crazy nation scrutinizing your every move, but to Dhonis credit he has always followed his own script, and oh boy, what a script it has been so far!

Now with the recent IPL triumph added to his already impressive resume that already reads: The ODI cricket world cup 2011 victory, the T20 World Cup 2007 winners, the IPL Champions 2010, the Champions League 2010 winners, the No.1 ranked test team, and numerous other victories abroad, there is no doubt whatsoever that MSD has printed his name in the book of cricketing legends; and is arguably the greatest captain that Indian cricket has ever had!

You might criticize him for changing his swashbuckling batting style, for coming to receive the World Cup trophies (both!) in a sleeveless shirt, for the swagger in his stride, for persisting with that short-fine leg fielder, for giving those elaborate post-match speeches…or for any other reason you might please. But MSD will probably ignore it all. He will follow what his gut says, and let his achievements speak for themselves. Come what may, he will do it his own way – the Mahi Way!

For me, the look in his eyes, on hitting the six to win the 2011 World Cup Final, is what MSD is all about: calm, bold, fearless and a true Champion!

By: Rohan Rao

“The writer is a freelance cricket columnist who takes guard on leg stump! Currently based in the UK, he is pursuing his undergraduate degree in Management Studies at the University of Nottingham. Having captained his school team, represented clubs in Delhi & Shanghai, and currently playing for his University, Rohan pretty much breathes, eats and sleeps cricket! A die-hard enthusiast, Rohan finds his inner peace when ripping his leg-spinners past the batsman, apart from when seeing, his God, Sachin Tendulkar bat!”

The match was all over once Ashwin responding magnificently as usual to his Captain’s call & removing the biggest threat in this IPL the big man Chris Gayle for a duck in the first over. The move to open with the spinner not only neutralized the ferocious aggression of Gayle, it also played with his mind as evident in his body language & footwork in the three balls he faced, the terror for all bowlers of this IPL was looking both tentative & unsure. In fact the lesson here for teams for the next edition, Chris Gayle has failed only twice in this IPL & both the times when chasing a big total & RCB simply surrendering after his dismissal.

The blazing start from Mike Hussey & Vijay was so unlike the normal CSK innings of building it slowly. The aggression & running between the wickets shocked the RCB bowlers who crumbled on the face of this massive onslaught. This was the master stroke from Captain Cool, he gave the openers the license to loot, turning the normal Chennai batting formula on its head and the move came off handsomely.

There cannot be a more deserving winner than CSK who were smarter than other franchisees in retaining most of the team which had formed the nucleus of the first three edition of the IPL. On the other side of the spectrum there were teams like Dehi Daredevil who let go of all excpect Viru & were reduced to a joke on the field, there was no synergy visible & other than the rare individual brilliance which won them a few matches, most of the time it was watching a rag tag unit going through their motion.

Congratulations to the ‘MEN IN YELLOW‘ for a well deserved win.

Now that it is over a & done with. Here are a Bollywood ishtyle dialogues of IPL IV highlights:

1. Sanjay Dixit to Warne  – ” Suna Poore 50000$ Suna poore 50000$”
2. Graeme Smith – “Naach Gabriella Naach Jab tak tere paon chalenge, mera balla chalega”
3. Gabriella Pasquolotta – “Naheen Mein Loot Gaye Baarbaad Ho gaye, ab toh Bollywood me break de do”
4. Chris Gayle – “Rishte me toh hum tumhare baap lagte hain naam hai BAATSHAH”
5. Saurav Ganguly – “Buddha hoga tera Baap”
6. Preity Zinta – “Aa Gale Lag Ja , Abe Saale ab toh Jeetja”
7. Shilpa Shethy – “Mere press wale bhaiyon, Mein Raj ke bacche ki Ma bane wali Nahi hoon”
8. Bishan Singh Bedi – In public -”Band Karo yeh Naach Gaana huh bandh karo yeh IPL tamasha” In private-”Arre yaar Humko bhi kamaskum commentrator toh baana do yaar”
9. Sunil Gavaskar – “Baap numbari Beta Dus Numbari”
10. SRK – “Baazigaar mein Baazigaar, Are Gambhir Yaar kuch toh Kar”

A BIG Thank You to  BCCI for IPL, IPL for the franchisees, Franchisees for their teams, Teams for their players, players for the action both on & off the field.  Looking forward to IPL V. Cheers !

From the blog Pitch, Itch and Bitch
By: Zishan Ali

The writer is part of the ‘AaM Aadmi’ brigade of India, who live on cricket, Bollywood & oxygen. He has played cricket at the club level & continue to do whenever possible now with the 35 plus crowd. He lives in Bhubaneshwar the city of temples, heat & humidity. He plays tennis regularly in the morning  to keep the calories accumulated the previous night from making a permanent dwelling on himself, though off late the calories seem to be winning. He has two kids Zain & Rean who make sure that their mother Gargi does not have time to nag him or lecture him on his obsession with this English game.

KKR looked a very strong side on paper once the auctions were done and dusted with, and it would be fair to say that they have shown their class in the field too. With the likes of Gambhir, Kallis, Yusuf Pathan, Manoj Tiwari and co., their batting looked very solid. So did their bowling with Lee and Balaji leading the pace attack. But if they lacked in any department it was probably the spin department. But Iqbal Abdulla has, over the course of the tournament, made sure that there would be no chinks in the Knight Rider’s bowling armour. I believe Abdullah’s contribution has immensely benefited KKR, and the fact that he has picked up a number of top order wickets, has played a significant role in KKR’s successful campaign so far. Abdulla is a regular performer in the Mumbai club circuit, and came into this IPL as the leading wicket taker for Mumbai in their last Ranji Trophy campaign. Iqbal also played a key role in India’s Under-19 winning campaign in 2008 under the captaincy of Virat Kohli. Hence he was picked by the KKR to support the likes of Shakib Al Hasan and Yusuf Pathan in the spin department, but has ended up playing a far more vital role.

Another team that looked extremely strong after the auction were the new entrants – Pune Warriors. But, unlike KKR, the Warriors haven’t been able to convert the reputation on paper to performances on the field. In fact it has been quite a disappointing show by the PW. But one guy that has given the Warriors some respectability is Rahul Sharma. A lot, if not most, of us probably hadn’t heard his name. I surely hadn’t, even though he played for the Chargers in last year’s IPL. But Rahul has left no stone unturned to make himself a known, if not a popular, face during this year’s IPL. His bowling figures this year has been nothing short of exemplary, and to think that he currently is the most economical bowler during this year’s tournament is quite unbelievable. Surely you would have thought the likes of Malinga or Vettori or someone else with more pedigree would lead the pack. But this 6 ft 4″ tall leg spinner has surprised everyone, and probably even himself.  Add to that, 14 odd wickets, and the scalp of the Little Master; and it won’t surprise me if Sharma still thinks he’s enjoying a beautiful dream in his hometown in Jalandhar! But it was the very dream of playing cricket that was almost snatched away from Rahul last year when he was diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a severe facial paralysis disease that has severely affected his vision. Hence to think he’s gone through all that, and in fact still at times gets temporarily paralyzed while bowling, makes his story truly remarkable.

There is absolutely no doubt that these two lads have made the most of their IPL opportunity this year, and announced themselves to the cricketing world. However that isn’t to say they are ready for the international call up; in fact far from that. To dawn the international stripes, they need to back this performance in the domestic circuit and prove that they aren’t just a one IPL wonder.

By: Rohan Rao

“The writer is a freelance cricket columnist who takes guard on leg stump! Currently based in the UK, he is pursuing his undergraduate degree in Management Studies at the University of Nottingham. Having captained his school team, represented clubs in Delhi & Shanghai, and currently playing for his University, Rohan pretty much breathes, eats and sleeps cricket! A die-hard enthusiast, Rohan finds his inner peace when ripping his leg-spinners past the batsman, apart from when seeing, his God, Sachin Tendulkar bat!”

As you would be aware, in the previous editions, the top 4 qualified for the semi-finals, and then the winners of the 2 semi-finals progressed to the final. Simple and straightforward, and something we are all used to. However this year, there is a twist! This year the following format will apply:

1. Team 1 and Team 2 will play each other in the ‘1st Qualifier’.
2. Team 3 and team 4 will face off in what is called the ‘Eliminator’.  The team that loses here will be knocked out, but the winner will need to cross another hurdle before making it to the finals, as explained below.
3. The winner of the 1st Qualifier will progress to the final; however the losing team of the ‘1st Qualifier’ will play the winning team of the ‘Eliminator’ in what is called the ‘2nd Qualifier’.
4. And as you might have guessed, the winner of the ‘2nd Qualifier’ will progress to the finals to clash against the winner of the 1st qualifier. In other words, the top 2 teams at the end of the round robin stage will have two bites at the cherry to enter the final; and the 3rd and 4th team will have to prove their mettle twice to progress to the finale.

This new concept might sound a bit too much to take in at once, and hence might be criticized for complicating the game even more; but when you delve deeper and give it a second thought, you’ll probably realise why the concept has been welcomed by a lot of the players and so called experts of the game. Personally speaking, I am a big fan of the concept too and think it’s a brilliant introduction. The major reason being that the format of the IPL is a rather unique
one, as compared to say other sports leagues around the world such as the English Premier League (EPL). I say that because unlike the other leagues, majority of the IPL is based on the round robin concept where each team plays every other team at least once; but then there is also the knock out stage between the top 4 teams. This mixture in a sports ‘league’ is what makes the IPL format unique. On the other hand, say in the EPL, the entire tournament is a pure round robin like format, with the team with the highest number of points at the end of the tournament gets declared the winner. What this essentially means is that if the previous IPL format is followed, it is not necessary that the most consistent team will take home the silverware. The team might consistently perform well throughout the round robin stages (which constitutes more than 90% of the league), but then just one slip in the semi-final or the final and the Cup slips away. And that’s exactly what happened to the Delhi Daredevils in 2009 in South Africa. With 10 wins out of 14, they were at the top of the table, and undoubtedly the most consistent team (2nd in the table, CSK, were a good three points behind). However they came against a storm named Adam Gilchrist in the semi finals, whose blistering knock (85 from 35 balls!) blew the Daredevils out of the tournament.

In essence, the major reason for incorporating this concept is to reward consistency; and in the 20-20 version of the game where a good day for one opposition player can take the game away, I think it’s a great addition. Not only does it give a extra incentive to finish in the top two, but it also eliminates the possibility of a team fumbling into the top 4, and then having one great day to eliminate a team that has been the most consistent for most of the tournament.

Hence I definitely think this new format is here to stay (and why not!), unless of course the format of the tournament is completely revamped and the teams are divided into two separate groups.

By: Rohan Rao

“The writer is a freelance cricket columnist who takes guard on leg stump! Currently based in the UK, he is pursuing his undergraduate degree in Management Studies at the University of Nottingham. Having captained his school team, represented clubs in Delhi & Shanghai, and currently playing for his University, Rohan pretty much breathes, eats and sleeps cricket! A die-hard enthusiast, Rohan finds his inner peace when ripping his leg-spinners past the batsman, apart from when seeing, his God, Sachin Tendulkar bat!”

Another player, who has recently been spoken a lot about, not particularly for his cricket, but for his decision to play the IPL while his country his playing a series versus Pakistan, is the mighty Chris Gayle. If Malinga’s yorkers are lethal, Gayle’s batting is nothing short of brutal. The Kolkata Knight Riders certainly wont disagree, after Gayle’s crucifixion of their bowling attack just a few days before Easter. But the possibility that Gayle might no longer represent his country due to disagreements with the WICB is surely a disheartening thought.

The case of Malinga and Gayle is surely unfortunate, but what is probably worrying a lot of experts and fans around the world is the possibility of such instances developing into a trend. When the likes of Gilchrist and Hayden retired from International cricket and became a part of the glitzy and glamorous IPL, not many questioned their decisions as they were at the twilight of their careers. When the likes of Ponting and Clarke refused to make themselves available for the IPL citing national commitments, people probably believed others would follow suit. But certain instances in the last year or two, and recent cases such as those of Malinga and Gayle referred to above, has shown us that we’ve probably been too naive.

The IPL has opened up a great window of opportunity for players to play the shortest form of the game and yet earn as high as 10 times the money they would receive from their respective country’s board. Obviously, there is no better feeling for a cricketer than to dawn his international stripes. It’s something cricketers dream off. However if you see from a cricketer’s point of view, and especially if his country has a not-so-rich-board, the offer to play for franchises paying you heaps of money is rather tempting. One cannot deny the fact that as much as playing the game is about playing for the pride of your country, it is the cricketer’s source of income too. It is not to say that the amount you are earning should take precedence over representing your nation; however at the same time it is not something immoral that the cricketer is doing. If one was offered a new job that required one to work for 2 months instead of 10; and paid far more than the present one, then who wouldn’t be tempted to grab it?

Hence there is absolutely no point criticizing players for opting for a far more lucrative option. What needs to be done instead is for the ICC to accept that the IPL is not just any other domestic league. Judging by its popularity and quality (and of course by the money involved) it is surely here to stay. Hence instead of avoiding the issue, the administrators
should brace it self and face the challenges of such franchise driven cricket, as it can have a huge impact on the overall health of the game.

A number of experts, fans, and even players have called for a separate window for the IPL in the ICC’s Future Tours Programme. And that is probably the best way to resolve this raging debate. ICC probably needs to take a cue from FIFA. Though the situation is reversed there, with players playing for clubs for most of the year, the scheduling is still quite well planned, with adequate windows provided to play international games.

There is no doubt that players who love and enjoy T20 leagues such as the IPL understand that their country comes first. Hence it would be ideal to have a balance between the two so that players can represent their respective country, but at the same time be available to play for their franchise when required.  Additionally, keeping the earnings aside, the IPL has done great for the game by itself. Not only has it brought players from different countries and cultures playing together, and helped solve past discrepancies (The sight of Bhajji and Symonds hugging each other during a recent Mumbai Indians’ victory was worth a million bucks!), but also it has undoubtedly raised the standards of pretty much all aspects of the game. Hence given the fact that it has certainly benefited the players and the game, it surely deserves a separate window. After all the IPL just wont be the same without the international players; and surely the game wont be the same if the cricketers are more interested in achieving the orange/purple cap rather than wanting to earn the precious international cap!

By: Rohan Rao

“The writer is a freelance cricket columnist who takes guard on leg stump! Currently based in the UK, he is pursuing his undergraduate degree in Management Studies at the University of Nottingham. Having captained his school team, represented clubs in Delhi & Shanghai, and currently playing for his University, Rohan pretty much breathes, eats and sleeps cricket! A die-hard enthusiast, Rohan finds his inner peace when ripping his leg-spinners past the batsman, apart from when seeing, his God, Sachin Tendulkar bat!”

My first recollections of Lalit Kumar Modi were in the days when ICL began to emerge as a cricket league and BCCI directly felt threatened from it. To counter ICL, BCCI came up with the idea of IPL. I was always unaware why Modi was originally made the commissioner but generally it appeared as if it was his idea. Unconfirmed sources do tell us that he originally came up with the idea of league cricket in India way before the ICL came into being. Once the ICL threat settled in, BCCI started to look at ways to counter it and Modi’s idea was picked up. Since it was his idea, he was made the commissioner.

When IPL started back in 2008, cricket was a game merely watched on the TV. There were these sites like cricinfo and cricbuzz but it wasn’t a trend with the masses. Generally one would switch to a website when in office or when a certain match was missed. Credit must go to Modi and his team here, the way he changed things. It started off in 2008, then bettered in 2009 and in 2010 the ipl website launched delivered the best cricketing experience on web ever with a real ‘awe factor’.

I am not sure if it was Modi or some of his team members, but since he was leading the show, I have no hesitation in giving him the credit for revolutionizing the way cricket is being watched on the web. In 2010, IPL stuck deals with Google and aired the experience over YouTube. At times even YouTube fell short of the bandwidth required to manage such a huge audience. It is unknown how much was earned but the idea of serving ads on YouTube for the free broadcast is something only Modi and his team could think of in all those years. I recall visiting the ICC site during the world cup of 2007 and I could hardly find the world cup schedule. It was hidden somewhere ‘aloof and miserable’ and had to be downloaded as a pdf document. Even ICL had a useful website in their first season but they simply neglected it in the second and couldn’t really match up with IPL’s antics on the web.

As a commissioner of the hugely popular tournament, Modi adapted to the growing trends in the world of technology. Even the fact that it was his twitter account that created this controversy that led to his suspension, is something a technology lover like me would easily settle for. For me, it has always been good to watch the way he has carried the IPL image on the internet using social media and the IPL website. Also in 2010, Modi and his team tried a whole lot of new ideas including showing the final live at Lords in 3D and showing the matches ‘ad-free’ in cinemas. Some of these might not have been that effective but nevertheless some fresh ideas were much needed to modernize the way the game of cricket is being viewed.

One thing that I must not miss out while mentioning Modi’s services in bringing the technology revolution to cricket is the mobile front. For all focus of administrators of various tournaments before him, was on the TV rights, he almost gave birth to mobile rights in cricket. IPL second season saw releases of mobile content, live mobile streaming, mobile wap site with community features as well as a mobile application branded for IPL. Then in the third season in 2010, IPL kept up with the mobile tradition and this time also catching in on the Iphone fever with an IPhone app.

Many would argue if I should attribute the above credits to Modi. But I do have a reason for it. I have personally been involved in sports administration for a while and have had a chance to meet different cricket organizers around the world. Being a technology person as well, I have always tried to tempt these guys into bringing technology into the game; however, the responses have never been satisfactory. It’s always about following the same old trend and being cautious while experimenting. Also their lack of understanding of technology is one huge factor, things don’t move along. Watching the IPL creates new properties on the web, wap and mobile, I have always had a feeling that this is very much due to the ‘Lalit Modi factor’. This is something we can get from a progressive individual like him and not from the ‘regular administrators’ who would use their PA to type emails and it would take a day to teach them how to ‘tweet’ from their mobile. Let’s hope that even if he doesn’t survive the current battle, the trends set by him are at least continued by the successor, if not bettered.

The indications of an evident rebuff were seen when Pakistan T20 captain Shahid Afridi went under the hammer to start the auction. Shahid Afridi is one the worlds most wanted players, but no franchise was ready to add him up.  Richard Madley banged his gavel and moved on for other names as no bids were coming for Afridi. Shahid Afridi later claimed that IPL had made fun of Pakistani cricketers. Afridi said, “I feel bad for Indian fans, which are going to miss me playing cricket in IPL this year.”

The silence inside the Trident Hotel spoke a million words of a full scale political war. It seems that IPL has made fun of Pakistan by treating them this way. Pakistanis are World T20 champions and the attitude franchise owners opted was disappointing.

Sohail Tanveer became the second victim. He was the leading wicket taker during the first edition of IPL in 2008. When his name was announced by the auctioneer, the silence continued from franchisers. Tanveer was disappointed with the auction because some franchises had shown interest in singing him in the weeks leading up the auction. Tanveer said that if franchisers don’t want us playing in IPL then they should be clear about it in the first place. He later added, “They mean to say none of our players are good enough to be in IPL”.

The decision taken by franchises is based on political grounds rather than cricketing sense. They should be ashamed as they have hurt image of cricket as sport. At first, Indians made the fuss about visa clearance and then the security issues were raised. The IPL commissioner Lalit Kumar Modi is trying to deflect attention away from this issue. He claims that each team was having their own strategy during the auction. The key factor involved in the auction was availability of the players. The franchise owners have also agreed with Modi that the decision to snub Pakistani players was based on availability for the entire IPL season.

The players like Afridi, Tanveer, Razzaq and Gul are still available during the IPL. They have no international or other domestic commitments; even then they were left unsold. Preity Zinta, owner of Kings XI Punjab, also claimed that availability of players was the only decision making factor during the auction. Any how, the current situation after the auction still portrays that some biasness was shown during the auction.

After enjoying two successful editions of IPL, Lalit Modi is going to face a tough situation this year as he has to face the obligations from PCB and Pakistani players. Whatever is claimed by Lalit Modi and franchise owners, one thing is for sure that IPL can no more claim to be the best cricket league in the world.

If players like Muhammad Kaif and Damien Martyn are purchased on basis of their T20 performance then how it could be possible to leave the entire team of World T20 Champions unsold? The Indians are still unable to answer this question.

The cricketing circles and fans in Pakistan still believe that the auction was completely biased and was based on political tensions between India and Pakistan. Pakistani players have high values and are the best in T20 cricket in the world.