Road to IPL 2009.

[Julian87]

Cool, cheers mate. Yeah, I reckon they may try and pick up a bargain medium pacer, or bowling all rounder or two from Aus/RSA as you said.

 

[four_or_six]

Cool, cheers mate. Yeah, I reckon they may try and pick up a bargain medium pacer, or bowling all rounder or two from Aus/RSA as you said.

I hope so... I wouldn't like to see them go the same way as all the other teams and pay stupid money to have a load of big internationals sit with their feet up on the bench.

 

[Arjun]

Looking at their team, they have strength in the batting internationals (Smith, Watson, Langer, Younis, Akmal) and not so much in the bowling (M Morkel, Warne, Tanvir).

Morkel was once a target for the Kolkata franchise, since he was warming the benches (or wasn't even signed on) for the Royals. With Tanvir gone, he may be drafted as the strike bowler/lower-order striker that the team will miss.

I'm assuming Watson won't bowl much, and I wonder how much Warne will bowl.

This is Warne's team, so he may bowl all overs all the time. Watson's bowling had spearheaded the Royals' charge last time, with pace as well as bounce, so they will need him to bowl regularly.

Akmal not being available isn't a bad thing- it may be a good thing. The local wicketkeeper, Rawat, is good enough. They need a strike bowler, so they should look for one. With England players likely to play, they can try to buy out a place for Flintoff, since most other teams (maybe post-Pollock Mumbai?) don't need him.

 

[Arjun]

Uthappa and Zaheer have swapped places. Good thing, I'd say. Of course, the bowling is a man down with Nehra likely to go to Delhi after Pollock retired. Now, how will the Mumbai Indians assembly look?

• Sanath
• Sachin
• Dhawan
• Bravo (RMF)
• Nayar (RM)
• Saurabh Tiwary
• Takawale (WK)
• Harbhajan (OB)
• Zaheer (LFM)
• Dilhara (RFM)
• Malinga (RF)
• POSSIBLE SWAPS: Kulkarni and Bosman for Tiwary and one of the Lankans, Nel for one of the Lankans, Dwayne Smith as an injury cover, Bosman for one of the Lankans with Nayar as a full bowler

We are still unsure about the fitness of the Lankan seamers. If both are ready, then this team will have a very strong bowling unit with more than useful support, but batting is still a concern.

 

[Arjun]

Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, the new all-rounder from UP, is on the radar of Deccan Chargers. He doesn't appear to be any better than the usual little medium-pacer from India in an IPL team (Vijaykumar, Kalyanakrishna, Vinay Kumar, Akhil, Yo Mahesh, Sangwan, Wilkin Mota, those bit bowlers from Mumbai) but he'll also get runs. Deccan, however, need wickets.

 

[brockley]

Wasn't bravo a temporary signing.
He was never in the auction.
Anyway he will be on the tour to england when the IPL is on.

 

[cowboysfan]

Wasn't bravo a temporary signing.
He was never in the auction.
Anyway he will be on the tour to england when the IPL is on.

IPL 2 starts from april 10th to may 24th.the odi's in england start from 21st of may.sobravo may be available for most of the IPL.

 

[G.I.Joe]

If I'm not mistaken, temporary signings are going to be disallowed now onwards. So my guess is Bravo will have to go through the auction process, unless Mumbai are given first preference considering he played for them last season.

EDIT: The English players have been granted a 3 week window between the series' against the West Indies.

 

[cowboysfan]

thats great-I think KP is heading to bangalore-great news if true.

 

[FBU]

From The Mail
Here's where the Indian Premier League-bound players are likely to be heading and how much they are poised to earn:

KEVIN PIETERSEN: Bangalore Royal Chargers, £600,000 (three weeks).
ANDREW FLINTOFF: Chennai Super Kings, £500,000 (three weeks).
PAUL COLLINGWOOD: Not yet known, £150,000 (three weeks).
OWAIS SHAH: Not yet known, £80,000 (four weeks).
RAVI BOPARA: Three unidentified clubs interested, £80,000 (four weeks).
SAMIT PATEL: Delhi Daredevils, £80,000 (four weeks).
DIMI MASCARENHAS: Rajasthan Royals, £80,000 (four weeks).
GRAHAM NAPIER: Mumbai Indians, £60,000 (six weeks).
MATT PRIOR: Entering auction, £50,000 (three weeks).
IAN BELL: Entering auction, £50,000 (three weeks).
LUKE WRIGHT: Mumbai Indians, £40,000 (six weeks).

 

[Tim]

Bangalore will have a bit more oomph in their batting this time around with Pietersen joining Ross Taylor.

 

[superkingdave]

Ha ha, hope no one bids for Ian Bell.

Would be very surprised if Collingwood gets that kind of money for 3 weeks, and to be honest Flintoff and Pietersen should be a bit less as well. Napier could be a bargain or a complete failure

 

[duffer]

That's huge for Bangalore and Chennai. Chuffed with Luke Wright too, is a smokey to be this year's Shaun Marsh for mine.

 

[honestbharani]

Man, this IPL is going to be bigger than last after all...

 

[four_or_six]

Isn't it going to be totally daft with all these international players this year? If there are ten per team and only four play, I would have thought the rest would get pretty bored. Maybe it's okay as a one-off to earn money, but I wouldn't have thought they'll enjoy it much in the long run.

 

[G.I.Joe]

I think the first few seasons will involve a lot of trial and error as the teams figure out which players work best for them. The shedding of the flab might follow later to make it a truly premier league.

 

[Precambrian]

I think the first few seasons will involve a lot of trial and error as the teams figure out which players work best for them. The shedding of the flab might follow later to make it a truly premier league.

I hope Bangalore doesnt get decommissioned.

 

[TT Boy]

Ha ha, hope no one bids for Ian Bell.

Would be very surprised if Collingwood gets that kind of money for 3 weeks, and to be honest Flintoff and Pietersen should be a bit less as well. Napier could be a bargain or a complete failure

Yeah would be seriously funny. Some of the England guys I wouldn't touch with a barge pole, especially as they are only doing a three week job. Guys like Bell could take that long to get in.

 

[TT Boy]

Don't know if it has already been reported but all-rounder, Andrew McDonald has joined David Warner at Dehli.

 

[Precambrian]

Don't know if it has already been reported by all-rounder, Andrew McDonald has joined David Warner at Dehli.

That's news! Delhi has really gone amok in their signings.

Gutted at the lack of transparency as compared to last year.