***Official*** IPL 2009

[pasag]

The objectives are mutually exclusive.

Not really, you can have it as a place where all the world's best come together and also where lesser known Indian players can get valuable experience and exposure (and also maintaining an Indian flavour to the whole thing). You just have to ensure that the former outweigh the latter so any drop in quality isn't too noticeable.

 

[pasag]

Tendulkar, Hayden, Jayasuriya, Warne, Kumble, Dravid all doing very well. Great day for the oldies.

 

[Briony]

The number of Indians we know little about detracts from the competition. It would be much better if they lifted the international representation to about six. What's the point of having expanded squads of players from other countries if very few of them can play? Shocking batting performance from Warnie's team which seems light on for stars. Where are their opening strike bowlers? Where are their gun batsmen?

Interesting to see Hayden finally strike form.

I was surprised that Chennai couldn't find room for Albertus who usually is a force in T20 cricket.

 

[silentstriker]

Really, the vast majority of the revenue stream is from India. Increasing the internationals would increase expenses, and would result in diminishing returns of marketability as you'd would get less and less 'stars'.

I don't think it will be a 'global' event as they speak, but it can be massively profitable nonetheless, and maybe even more so, if it becomes a domestic league. I think they should cut down on the internationals to three per game and six in the squad. This allows the top stars to play and attract attention, but you don't have to pay $650,000 for good players but who won't bring any more people to the TV or the stadium.

Are the aims necessarily mutually exclusive? Maybe. But the issue is what percentage of their profits are coming from outside India? With optimistic projections, how much do they think they can possibly get? I don't think targetting a global audience is necessarily the best decision financially. Focus on making it a good domestic competition with all the major stars to attract people and attention, but not so many internationals that you have to bring in unheralded players.

In fact, even six per squad might be too many, as that is 8 teams x 6 players each = 48 internationals. There really aren't 48 'huge' stars in cricket that people would pay to see. Maybe even four per squad - 32 total. This means all the major stars would be in, but expenses would be minimized with almost no decrease in marketability. And if teams are to be expanded in the future, there'd still be a market of good foreign players available.

But four are too many, I don't understand the point. Quality of cricket competition is less important than producing good exciting games. Have every team have 2-3 foreign superstars, plus a couple Indian stars, and try to make the distribution of talent as equitable as possible to ensure close matches, and that would lead to the best product out there with maximum profitability for everyone. It doesn't make sense to have 70% of your payroll going to foreign players while having 10% of your revenue coming from overseas deals. I think they'll wise up to that fact soon. Stars are important, but the rest aren't.

 

[pasag]

Really, the vast majority of the revenue stream is from India. Increasing the internationals would increase expenses, and would result in diminishing returns of marketability as you'd would get less and less 'stars'.

I don't think it will be a 'global' event as they speak, but it can be massively profitable nonetheless, and maybe even more so, if it becomes a domestic league. I think they should cut down on the internationals to three per game and six in the squad. This allows the top stars to play and attract attention, but you don't have to pay $650,000 for good players but who won't bring any more people to the TV or the stadium.

Are the aims necessarily mutually exclusive? Maybe. But the issue is what percentage of their profits are coming from outside India? With optimistic projections, how much do they think they can possibly get? I don't think targeting a global audience is necessarily the best decision financially. Focus on making it a good domestic competition with all the major stars to attract people and attention, but not so many internationals that you have to bring in unheralded players.

In fact, even six per squad might be too many, as that is 8 teams x 6 players each = 48 internationals. There really aren't 48 'huge' stars in cricket that people would pay to see. Maybe even four per squad - 32 total. This means all the major stars would be in, but expenses would be minimized with almost no decrease in marketability. And if teams are to be expanded in the future, there'd still be a market of good foreign players available.

But four are too many, I don't understand the point. Quality of cricket competition is less important than producing good exciting games. Have every team have 2-3 foreign superstars, plus a couple Indian stars, and try to make the distribution of talent as equitable as possible to ensure close matches, and that would lead to the best product out there with maximum profitability for everyone. It doesn't make sense to have 70% of your payroll going to foreign players while having 10% of your revenue coming from overseas deals. I think they'll wise up to that fact soon. Stars are important, but the rest aren't.

I really don't see your point at all and don't think it has very much strategic value.

What you're proposing dilutes the standard of cricket played even more and ensures even more average no-name Indians are playing. I think Indians would rather see top foreign players that are far superior to some of the Indians players currently on display. Don't tell me they'd rather see Ashwin to Murali, who was sitting on the bench last night.

Little known Indian players have little marketing value in India or elsewhere (if they did wouldn't domestic cricket be better attended?) and they certainly don't have much on-field value apart from a surprise packet here or there.

The expenses are a non-issue as well with all the internationals sitting on the bench and getting paid anyways. If the IPL were concerned about this they could rework and properly enforce the salary cap.

Simply put more internationals = better standard of cricket and more bigger names playing translates to higher marketability in India and around the world. The fact that the superstar pool is diluted is of minimal concern when you look at the positive overall effect it has with the filtering of the Indian pool which is possibly its biggest weakness at the moment.

 

[silentstriker]

I really don't see your point at all and don't think it has very much strategic value.

What you're proposing dilutes the standard of cricket played even more and ensures even more average no-name Indians are playing. I think Indians would rather see top foreign players that are far superior to some of the Indians players currently on display. Don't tell me they'd rather see Ashwin to Murali, who was sitting on the bench last night.

No, they'd rather see Murali. But they wouldn't rather see Tyrone Henderson, even though Tyrone is probably superior to both in T20 cricket.

Little known Indian players have little marketing value in India or elsewhere (if they did wouldn't domestic cricket be better attended?) and they certainly don't have much on-field value apart from a surprise packet here or there.

Exactly, but they are really cheap. I don't think little known overseas players add any marketing value in India either. They do improve the standard of cricket, but I think that aspect is overrated. People will tune into close matches with exciting finishes - as long as there are a couple of superstars. That's more important than having the absolute cream of the crop playing.

 

[Bijuvnair]

Joined yesterday (team name - Uncle XI)
standing first ATM

For those of you interested in having a forum competition for the IPL:

Cricket Web's Fantasy Cricket

Register, Login, click "User Comp. - Join" and enter 1239941072 as the code.

 

[pasag]

No, they'd rather see Murali. But they wouldn't rather see Tyrone Henderson, even though Tyrone is probably superior to both in T20 cricket.

Exactly, but they are really cheap. I don't think little known overseas players add any marketing value in India either. They do improve the standard of cricket, but I think that aspect is overrated. People will tune into close matches with exciting finishes - as long as there are a couple of superstars. That's more important than having the absolute cream of the crop playing.

A few stars here and there and what you've got is a novelty tournament that wears off after you've seen a few matches. Fill sides with top players and you have a premier competition of the highest standard. Having 6-5 or 7-4 international is completley win-win. It allows you to have:

- superstars that bring people to the gate
- excellent domestic T20 players from around the world that ensure the highest standard
- but also still gives a couple young and talented Indian players a brilliant opportunity to play with the best and showcases themselves on a global stage

 

[ret]

As an Indian follower of IPL, I am also interested in seeing how the domestic players compete with Indian international as well as overseas players .... It interests me to see how a Nayar, Kohli, Jadeja or Gony will do against these international stars [both Indian and overseas] .... the charm of IPL comes from the fact that how domestic, Indian internationals and overseas players mingle with each other and help improve the domestic guys by playing with them

I don't want more international players in playing 11 or even in the squads. 'If' the number of overseas players playing in a 11 has to be increased then it should not be more than 5 and I wouldn't mind even if they decrease it to 3

 

[99*]

So pissed off with Ryder and Taylor. I stay up till 3 am to watch them and they're both gone after three balls. Waste my ******* sleeping time.

 

[Inny Binny]

So pissed off with Ryder and Taylor. I stay up till 3 am to watch them and they're both gone after three balls. Waste my ******* sleeping time.

Same here. At least Ryder partially revived himself with the ball, but really...

 

[Xuhaib]

So what the take on Kamran Khan to me seemed like a blatant chucker almost Shabbir Ahmed levels bad.

 

[aussie]

This is the problem. Is it a domestic comp or is it a global event? At the moment it is trying to be both and maybe isnt doing either very well.

The standard isnt great and it feels like a domestic comp but everyone is trying to sell it as more than that. Unfortunately the product isnt of a high enough quality to be the latter.

For it to be the event it is trying to make itself then the International rule must go.

Bullet to that, straight uppp...

As i've argued before & big silentstriker knows this very well. If the local player is good enough let him play & mix it up with big international players. Simple.

Because if the intl players don't come in the future lets say because of fatigue or nation commitments the IPL just becomes an overpriced Indian domestic tournament.

The IPL really can be the EPL of world cricket, that rule just messes it up...

 

[pasag]

Pos.	Team Name	Manager	Total Points
1.	Uncle XI	Tom Cat	96
2.	IPL Webmaster Team	James Nixon	91
3.	khudipinku11	debasis mohanty	63
4.	Roy's Rods	ben taylor	57
5.	Torpoint CC	Marcuss Deane	54
6.	Saggers Mob	Zac Gelman	50
7.	One Spotlight	Nath Patrick	37
8.	Punjab Royals	Manraj Bahra	33
9.	BI XI	sajith PR	20
9.	GGGA	Garry M	20
11.	Gun XI	Andrew Cameron	19
12.	Hunter\	Manjunath Reddlapalli	16
13.	grecoz	peter o'brien	9
14.	I Pee L	Nathan Dawson	8

Uncle XI takes the early lead. Two of my players not getting selected (Quiney and Carseldine) hurt a bit.

 

[Manee]

So what the take on Kamran Khan to me seemed like a blatant chucker almost Shabbir Ahmed levels bad.

It certainly does not look good, at all.

 

[Nate]

Looking for a big one from McGrath tonight.

 

[Xuhaib]

Looking for a big one from McGrath tonight.

Is McGrath playing this season?

 

[Manee]

Is McGrath playing this season?

Yep.

 

[Xuhaib]

It certainly does not look good, at all.

Even if he did not chuck I doubt he would have amounted much he is too short to be a fast bowling great sure Marshall was of similar height but then he was an exception rather then the norm.

 

[duffer]

Is Warner in South Africa or with the Aussie squad? Looking forward to seeing the Devils go this season. Unluckiest side of last year, had two or three games where they were cruising heavily altered by rain down the stretch. Will be a contender this season.