IPL introduces ‘time outs’ - $$$

Compulsory 'time-outs' are to be introduced into the Indian Premier League, which starts on 18th April in South Africa, in an attempt to squeeze in more television advertising.

The breaks – each lasting seven-and-a-half minutes – will have to be taken after 10 overs. The IPL are planning to market the added time as an innovative by calling it a tactical 'time out'.

During the ‘time out’, the stadium crowd will be entertained by a live band while television audiences will watch three separate two-and-a-half minute segments, two of which will be sold commercially for an estimated $1 million each. The third will show the teams taking drinks and discussing 'tactics'.

“It is a move that is driven completely and totally by commercial objectives,” a senior production official told Cricinfo. “It is designed purely to make even more money by selling airtime. Nobody could argue that this adds any cricketing value to the tournament or that it can be in the viewers' interest, either in the stadium or watching at home.”

In total there are 118 two-and-half minute television advertising slots for sale.

And if this was not enough, IPL renegotiated its $1.8 billion ten-year broadcast-rights deal with Sony-owned Multi Screen Media (MSM) and World Sports Group (WSG) last month.

Did someone say we are in a 'Recession'!!!

Acclimatising to IPL - 2

This should be the last thing on any Players' mind - adjusting to weather/wicket conditions in South Africa. Most of the players have had a taste of the soil there, but how will it impact players who have not?

This would be an interesting area of skill and even more interesting it would be to watch how this skill set is monopolized/exploited. How the teams would be formed based on the SA pitches would definitely have been sorted out by now. On the other side some say 20-20 is not about Class/Style/Elegance. Its about entertainment! How well a player (batsmen/bowler) performs depends more on his luck rather than his skill set for a particular wicket.

The Indian spectators' concern has been given a preferrence. The schedule has been adjusted to IST, and that should help. Its like the only thing you wanna watch after work would/should be IPL - which is not going to be any different from the first season.

Enjoy!

IPL off to South Africa!

This announcement has caused mixed feelings! There is joy of having the second season of IPL but on the other side it is the political turmoil that has caused the change in venue.

To be honest, I do not understand how complicated things would have been for the IPL governing body to decide on this change, but I do understand one thing - who is at loss! Its not about comparing players' security to the country's General Elections. Its definitely not about which political party is for or against IPL being organised in India. Of course this piece of news has enough matter for the Politicians to debate upon :) . And not to mention, all the eight team owners are satisfied with this decision! This makes me wonder if at all anyone is on the other side of the coin...

Cricket in India cannot be compared to any other soil. The amount of Passion this country has for Cricket cannot be and will never be replaced by any other nation. I still have a clear picture of the Stadiums during the first season. Not an inch of space left vacant. That is Cricket in India! IPL in South Africa will definitely entice the local crowd because of the International Players involved and the game format, and I hope that adds to the flavour!

At the end of the day, it is the players who should be comfortable. If they can focus on the game, nothing better!

F1 09

F1 09 has started of with loads of surprises! 

Its clear after 5 races, the teams who focused on Aero improvements have an edge over teams who spent millions of dollars on KERS. And not to mention, the KERS enabled cars use this option in absolute defence. To start with, there is still lot of work to be done on KERS functioning, so this does not give enough confidence to the teams using it. And so far the use we have seen is to avoid being passed by the car behind! What a mess KERS have turned out to be. There have been a couple of occasions where the McLaren and Ferrari have used this at the start line to gain a few positions, but that has be offset by the lack of aerodynamics/downforce of these cars. Lets hope we seen some development and teams put KERS to better use.

These rule changes have shuffled the constructor's order. Top three team of 08 failed to score points in first couple of races. The current standing are a complete turn around of last year points table, only Force India is glued to the bottom spot :( . But this has added a different flavour to the sport. This has shown that every driver in one of those 20 cars is capable of winning races given a better handling car. This has put an end to McLaren-Ferrari domination of F1. I wonder if this would result in less fan following. Lets not forget that F1 has a different flavour because of the Ferrai fan following crowd. And looking at its performance this year (disastrous pit strategies), this definitely doesn't look good. Not to mention the teams uncertainty for next year's budget cap proposal.

Brawn GP has been more than a life line for Button and Barrichello. Just months before these drivers were without teams! Ross Brawn has showcased his skills can get any team, not only Ferrari, to win races.