Kirsten fears IPL money may pose new challenge

New Delhi (PTI): India’s new cricket coach Gary Kirsten feels the huge sums offered by the Indian Premier League could pose a challenge for him in terms of management of the players with heavy pockets

“The IPL is new territory for all of us. So maybe, the kind of money that’s come in presents a new sort of challenge for me,” said Kirsten, who will take over the reins of the team from March 1.

But Kirsten said he would deal with it only when the need arises. “We will focus on that if the need comes.”

Indian players, including even the rookie players like Ishant Sharma and Rohit Sharma, are reaping a rich harvest to play for the IPL, a cash-rich Twenty20 competition.

Kirsten said the IPL was a great opportunity for international cricketers and saw “no reason why it shouldn’t succeed”.

“The IPL is unique because it brings in a new kind of supporter to cricket. It also adds a new dimension to the game. I think it’s great,” Kirsten told cricinfo website.

“But I am clear that it’s not for me. Certainly, not now. My focus right now is on getting my plans in place for the Indian team.”

On the replacements for physio John Gloster and trainer Gregory King, Kirsten said the names were under consideration.

“There are a couple of names in the mix, but we will have to discuss various options before coming to a decision.”

Kirsten said he was keen on bringing along his business associate and mental skills coach Paddy Upton on a permanent basis.

“He brings a tremendous amount of experience into the field, and am sure that will add a lot of value,” said Kirsten.

Just keep your country above IPL: Warne

Melbourne: Purists scoff at it but the Indian Premier League (IPL) is here to stay, says Australian spin legend Shane Warne, who feels it is upto the cricketers to make sure that the cash-rich Twenty20 league does not threaten the international schedule.

“I think that’s (IPL) here to stay, that isn’t going anywhere. If the players make sure that their country’s the number one priority then I don’t think we can go wrong. We should enjoy it, we should embrace it and it should be a lot of fun,” Warne was quoted as saying by the Australian

Associated Press.

The retired tweaker, who will play for the Jaipur team, said IPL offered good money for six weeks of work.

“The money side of things, obviously it’s fantastic, it’s a real bonus for six weeks’ work. Whatever you get is fine by me,” he said.

On the ongoing on-field hostilities between India and Australia, Warne said there was nothing negative about it and the two teams were only being competitive.

“We’ve obviously seen a few emotions out on the field which I think is pretty good. There’s been a few incidents both sides would probably look back on and say, you know, look if we could have done that again we might have done it differently,” he said.

INDIA vs Australia

ROBIN UTHAPPA'S 51

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Gautam's Innings

Chennai Super Kings

Chennai Super Kings is the Chennai franchise for the Indian Premier League.

Franchise history

Chennai Super Kings are a part of the eight club Indian Premier League. The franchise is owned by Indian 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.

Etymology

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.

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.

Current Squad

No	Name	Age	Nationality	Batting Style	Bowling/Fielding		Bidding Price
1	MS Dhoni	26		RHB	WK		US$1,500,000
2	Muttiah Muralitharan	35		RHB	ROB		US$ 600,000
3	Matthew Hayden	36		LHB	RM		US$ 375,000
4	Jacob Oram	28		LHB	RMF		US$ 675,000
5	Stephen Fleming	35		LHB	RMF		US$ 350,000
6	Parthiv Patel	22		LHB	WK		US$ 325,000
7	Albie Morkel	28		LHB	RMF		US$ 675,000
8	Joginder Sharma	24		RHB	RMF		US$ 225,000
9	Suresh Raina	21		LHB	ROB		US$ 650,000
10	Makhaya Ntini	30		RHB	RF		US$ 200,000
11	Michael Hussey	32		LHB	RMF		US$ 350,000

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. He named the team after his liquor brand, the Royal Challenge.Charu Sharma is the CEO of the team and Rahul Dravid is the Icon Player. Martin Crowe, the former New Zealand captain, has also been signed-in as a member of the management team.

Franchise history

Indian Premier League is a cricket tournament being organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI - the governing body for cricket in India), and backed by the International Cricket Council.In the inaugural tournament to be held in Apr-Jun 2008, BCCI has finalised a list of 8 teams who will be participating in the tournament. The teams will represent 8 different cities of India, including Bangalore, and were put up on auction in Mumbai on 20 February 2008 and the Bangalore team was won by Vijay Mallya, who paid US$111.6 million for it. This was the second highest bid for a team in IPL, next only to Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries' bid of $111.9 million for the Mumbai team.

Etymology

Vijay Mallya wanted to associate one of his top-selling liquor brands, No. 1 McDowell's or Royal Challenge with the team. He chose Royal Challenge and named the team as Bangalore Royal Challengers.

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 Wasim Jaffer and Zaheer Khan, West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Aussies' Nathan Bracken and Cameron White, South Africa's Mark Boucher (Wicket Keeper) and Dale Steyn.

Current Squad

1	Rahul Dravid (Captain)	35																					Icon Player
2	Jacques Kallis	32																					US$ 900,000
3	Anil Kumble	37																					US$ 500,000
4	Cameron White	24																					US$ 500,000
5	Zaheer Khan	29																					US$ 450,000
6	Mark Boucher	31																					US$ 450,000
7	Nathan Bracken	30																					US$ 325,000
8	Dale Steyn	24																					US$ 325,000
9	Shivnarine Chanderpaul	33																					US$ 200,000
10	Wasim Jaffer	30																					US$ 150,000
11	Praveen Kumar	21																					Under 22 Player[6]
12	Saurabh Tiwary	18																					Under 22 Player