South Africa has been confirmed as venue for hosting BCCI big even IPL. One more changes will be the dates, earlier it was suppose that the tournament will start from 10th April now it has been forwarded to 18th April. There will be 59 total number of matches will be played in six different cities in South Africa. Durban, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Pretoria, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth will be the venues for the second season of the IPL in South Africa. All the matches will be played at Indian Standard time. The day matches will start at 4:00PM08:00PM. while the night game will start from According to sources the main reason behind postponing the tournament is because India team who is currently in New Zealand will finish the tour on 7th April and starting the tournament will does not give them enough time so BCCI decided to forward the tournament to 18th April. England had initially emerged as the preferred venue to host the tournament after a powerful lobby within the BCCI and the Indian team management felt that such a move would help in preparing for the World Twenty20 in June. But because of rainy season in England in April-May, BCCI decided to handover the tournament to South Africa. In press conference Lalit Modi also reveals that all eight teams name will same as it was in India, since it’s Indian Premier League irrespective of whether tournament is played in India or South Africa or else where. The final fixture of IPL 2009 is expected to be released by this weekend. So stay tuned. IPL News Bangalore Royal Challengers K.Pietersen named as new captain of Bangalore Royal Challengers. He will lead the team in the second season of IPL, Jaques Kallis the South African all-rounder will lead the team in the absence of K.Pietersen. Rahul Dravid who led the team during first season is expecting the birth of his second child and is likely to miss the tournament. Under his captaincy last year team only able to win only four out of the 14 matches they played in the tournament. Kolkata Knight Riders After Bangalore Royal Challengers now it’s Kolkata Knight Riders who is thinking of changing the captaincy. Sources say Sourav Ganguly is unwilling to carry on as captain of the team and could step down. KKR coach J.Buchanan is also not happy with S.Ganguly fitness so this may be the case behind Saurav unwillingness to lead the side. Coach J.Buchanan suggested B.McCullum name as new KKR captain. The final decision will be only taken by big-boss Shahrukh Khan whether to retain Ganguly as captain or relinquished him from the job. IPL franchises wants Pakistani player to play for them Pakistani cricketer may get chance to play in the season two of IPL, since now it’s official that the IPL twenty20 2009 will be played outside India. Few of the franchise are keen to get few of the players back in their team. Kolkata Knight Riders wants Umar Gul to back in the squad while IPL 2008 Champion Rajasthan Royals wants all-rounder S.Tanveer back in the team. Pakistani players were stopped from going to India to play in the IPL this year by the government after relations with India deteriorated following the Mumbai terror attack in November. However it is not decided yet whether Pakistani player will feature in the tournament or not. |
