Continuing the series, sixandout dwells a little bit into the owners of the IPL Franchises.
Everytime I talk about the success of the Rajasthan Royals, people ask me : “Who owns them?” This post is for the most subdued owner in the Indian Premier League.
Emerging Media is the owner of the Rajasthan Royals. Apart from owning the IPL Team, these guys are mainly into media-property development business with a focus on developing programs for the Indian sub-continent.
In India, they are more known (if at all) for their reality cricket show : Cricket Star, whose runner …read more

Move over 11 a side sport, iSixes is here. With teams of six players each, and a lot more action with just 5 overs. Seems like the Hong Kong sixes? Well, all sixes are the same. This one though, has just the Test Playing teams participating along with an All Stars and the home team of course. Sounds like nice entertainment.
Meanwhile, Anil Kumble, India’s Test Captain, as well as Shane Warne, Captain of the Rajasthan Royals, have already accepted the invitation. They would play in the all stars team.
Sixandout’s View: This is just the beginning. When people start realising …read more

Just watched the Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals match on telly. A few things prior to the match came to my attention. Since the owner of the Kolkata team has gifted each player a new laptop, the Knight Riders have never won. Some coincidence. I hope Vijay Mallaya (liquor baron, owner of the Bangalore Royal Challengers) doesn’t serve chilled Kingfisher Beer to his team.
During the game, there was a moment when Saurav Ganguly (48* then) lofted a ball straight to Greame Smith at deep mid wicket who took a lowly catch. As the Royals celebrated, Ganguly stood his ground …read more

Watching the IPL fixture between the Deccan Chargers and the Rajasthan Royals tonight, a few things caught my eye. Lets go through them:

Afridi had a go at Warnie, Warnie said something like : “Grow up, mate”
Tendulkar’s Birthday had the crowd more excited than their home team Deccan Chargers
Deccan Chargers continued their bad form. Having arguably the best team on paper, they have lost 3 out of three now.
Warnie won the game for the ROYALS, with the bat!
Warnie hit about 15 off the last over, bowled by Roy Symonds

That’s about it. This post was a tribute to one of the most …read more

eat Cricket, drink Cricket, sleep Cricket
The idea of off-season may be completely off to some. A previous post on it got, like, no response (We are thick-skinned. Heh), but however ill-fated it may be, we are determined to shop it around. For us, it’s the Great Romantic Novel (think Gone With the Wind). Someday someone will bite.

OK, the point now:
Why we think cricket should have an off-season every year?

 
Eat Cricket, Drink Cricket, Sleep Cricket
It’s official. Michael Clarke has become an issue of national importance for the Australian media. The players just don’t want to stop debating over him.

The best way to do this would be to elevate him to the vice-captaincy in all forms of the game.
–Shane Warne
I don’t necessarily agree with [Warne],” Ponting said in Adelaide. “I don’t think that needs to be the case right now. Gilly’s not going to play forever, we’re all not going to play forever, but Michael’s opportunity is going to come.”
It might not be right now, it might not be six …read more

*The Poms. Er. Englishchers. I mean the English. Beating the Sri Lankan tigers on their own home turf is no ring-a-ring-a-roses.
Scorecard
Glad Anderson came into his own. With Stu (ahem, get used to Stuart Broad being called by that nickname, here) continuing to impress (ladies) by constantly taking wickets and handling pressure well (good comeback, btw, after the T20 thrashing at the hands of Yuvraj Singh), and Cook regaining his focus, things are looking up for England. They have won the series 3-1 with one more match to go.
*Ian Botham received knighthood. Good for him. I have just got my …read more

Well actually, not so much. But the rumours that were rife that Australian legend and current Hampshire Captain Shane Warne was about to relinquish his Australian citizenship in favour of bratwurst and lederhosen have been scotched. The intended trick was to get around next season’s “only 1 International player per side”* regulations, since as a German national he would have qualified as a local and Hampshire could legitimately employ a(nother) bona fide overseas player.
But no, Warney is fair dinkum Aussie through-and-through and will take a plate of shrimps and a couple of cold ones before any phallic-shaped pork substances.
And why …read more

Shane Warne has received a “personal” 6 points for disorderly conduct during Hampshire’s game with Kent at the weekend, so reports Cricinfo. The ECB upheld a complaint of Warne showing dissent following his dismissal for LBW, which included an “audible obscenity” not to mention the odd glare or two. The points stay on his record for two years and should he get a further three, it will be an automatic suspension.

You decide. I’ve put a poll up to the right of this post. Who will it be? I added some English players to the list, more as a joke than anything else, but I have to say I was struggling to even think of names who might have been considered for it.
Inevitably it will be an Australian player, and the BBC has it tipped to be Stuart Clark. My gut feeling is that it will be Shane Warne, but only because as the retiring golden boy, the powers that be will feel obliged to choose him, irrespective of the snub …read more