Pune and Kochi are the two new IPL franchises

The financial might of the IPL was on display again on Sunday when Pune and Kochi became the league's two new franchises, being sold for a value in excess of the original eight franchises combined.

The Sahara group, the biggest patron of sports in the country, became owners of the Pune franchise after offering a staggering US$370m. The other new franchisee is a consortium of five companies called Rendezvous Sports World, which bid US$333.33m for Kochi. There were three other qualified bidders, including Adani Enterprises and VC digital solutions Pvt Ltd (Videocon), who were in the fray to become part of the IPL, which will be heartening for any existing franchise owners looking to offload their stake.

"It only shows there is no recession for the IPL and it is on the upswing," Lalit Modi, the league's commissioner, said after announcing the new franchises in Chennai.

Sahara, who have been sponsoring Indian cricket for the past 15 years, had bid for the same amount for three cities, but ultimately chose Pune over Ahmedabad and Nagpur. "When we considered the cities, in terms of infrastructure and logistics, Pune came first," Abhijit Sarkar, the head of Sahara's corporate communications, said. "Ït is also close to Mumbai - the commercial capital of India - and Aamby Valley (an upmarket township owned by the Sahara group)."

Ajay Shirke, president of the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) and a prominent businessmen from Pune, said he was obviously happy about Pune being rated as the most popular venue at the auction with three out of the five bidders preferring Pune as their home base over the rest of the 11 cities.

"MCA has always maintained that we will support all bids that are made for Pune," Shirke, who was present at the auction venue in Chennai, told Cricinfo. "That only increases Pune's association with cricket manifold.

"What they [the bidders] would have kept in mind was the market of Mumbai and Pune are nearby. Then there are private cities like Lavasa and Aamby Valley, which are about 20 kilometres from the ground."

According to Shirke, the Sahara franchise would have its home ground situated on the outskirts of Pune city, in Gahunje, which is on the Mumbai-Pune expressway. The ground construction is already underway with Shapoorji Pallonji being the main contractors.

He was confident that the ground would be ready in time for the IPL's fourth season when Sahara would unveil its team. "The construction work has already started and it should be ready by March 2011," Shirke said.

While Sahara have a long history of sports sponsorship and are a high-profile corporate group, little is known about the winners of the Kochi franchise. It is a consortium with five partners - the Rendezvous group, Parini developers, Anand Shah Estate, Anchor Earth Private Limited and Film Waves. Minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor was involved in bringing together the group, but has no stake in the franchise.

In fact, Tharoor clarified to Cricinfo that he had no stake in the Kochi franchise and that his role was limited to encouraging the consortium that bagged the team. "My role consisted only of encouraging and blessing the venture, and steering it to Kerala," he told Cricinfo.

"Tharoor was involved in facilitating and trying to get a team for the state," Modi confirmed. "He is an ardent fan of cricket and he has been trying to get people from Kochi to bid for it. I think his involvement ends there."

Modi said the tournament's organsiers would provide the Kochi franchise a home ground till the Kerala Cricket Association completes construction of its new stadium. "Kerala Cricket Association is in the process of building the infrastructure and as when the stadium is ready teams will play there," he said. "But till the structures are ready, the IPL will provide them with an alternate venue."

Speaking to reporters, Shailendra Gaikwad of Rendezvous World Sport said, "We have closely been following every development within the IPL, right from the inaugural year. Today, I am very happy for our consortium of Rendezvous World Sport and the people of Kochi as we finally have a team to call our own in this amazing city-based sports franchise"

While the huge money offered by the new franchisees shows the health of the IPL, Modi said there were no plans in the near future to further increase the number of teams involved. "We also have no plans to expand further immediately. In fact I don't foresee an expansion in many, many years to come but then you never know."

The IPL will now feature 10 teams and - if the current format is retained - a total of 94 games, from the existing 60. After the first season in 2008, the league has already expanded its reach to other centres such as Cuttack, Ahmedabad, Nagpur and Dharamsala.

The franchise auction process was to have been completed on March 7 but was postponed by two weeks after the bidders and the BCCI objected to stiff financial clauses.

Finally Deccan won a match at adopted home

Irfan Pathan's blitzkrieg went in vain as Andrew Symonds produced an all-round display to guide Deccan Chargers to a thrilling six run victory over Kings XI Punjab in an Indian Premier League match on Friday.

Symonds first scored a sparkling 38-ball 53 and then followed it up with the crucial wicket of Mahela Jayawardene (14 off 9) and two important catches off Ravi Bopara (38 off 32) and Irfan Pathan to restrict Kings XI's to 164/8.

For Kings XI, Pathan played a gem of an innings with a blistering 60 off just 26 balls to single-handedly bring the Punjab side inches closer towards the target from nowhere.

Apart from Pathan, Bopara and Jayawardene, only one Kings XI batsmen -- S Sreesanth (12 off 5) managed double figures.

Vaas (2/27) was the pick of the bowlers for Deccan, while Symonds (1/22), RP Singh, Pragyan Ojha and Sharma all accounted for a victim each.

Earlier sent into bat, Symonds notched up back-to-back half centuries in the event while skipper Adam Gilchrist made a quick-fire 12-ball 33 to help Deccan post 170 for seven on the board.

With this victory, Deccan has returned to the top half of the points table with two wins out of three matches, while Kings XI have slumped to their third consecutive defeat in the Twenty20 tournament.

It was a dismal start to Kings XI's run chase as they lost two wickets, including that of their skipper Sangakkara inside the third over.

Last match half-centurion Manvinder Bisla was run out for a duck as T Suman came up with a direct hit. Four balls later Vaas castled Sangakkara's timbers with a beautiful off-cutter.

As if that was not enough, Yuvraj Singh's (4) poor show with the bat continued as he ballooned a Vaas delivery to give a simple catch to Gibbs at cover point.

Symonds then sent packing a dangerous-looking Jayawardene and after Bopara's dismissal, victory was just a formality for the Hyderabad side.

But Pathan ensured that it was not an easy win for the Hyderabad side as he used his long handle to great effect and hit three fours and five sixes to take Kings XI very close to the elusive win.

However, it was not to be as needing 19 runs off the last over, Pathan fell to Jaskaran Singh, caught in the deep by Symonds.

Sreesanth came up with three boundaries in the last over but it was not enough to take Kings XI to their first victory in IPL 3.

Earlier apart from Gilchrist and Symonds, Herschelle Gibbs made a run-a-ball 23, while T Suman (26 off 22) and Chaminda Vaas (16 off 10) provided the necessary impetus towards the end to take Deccan to the competitive score.

Yuvraj Singh (2/21) was pick of the Kings XI bowlers while Irfan Pathan, Shalabh Srivastava and Bipul Sharma all picked up a wicket each.

Gilchrist was at his destructive best from the onset. He greeted Sreesanth with two fours and two sixes to pile up 24 runs of the second over.

The wicketkeeper-batsman treated young Srivastava with equal disdain, clobbering him for two boundaries before the left-arm seamer had the last laugh.

Gilchrist mistimed a pull to give a nice running catch to Mahela Jayawardene.

VVS Laxman (10 off 7), on the other hand, was playing cautiously but his stay at the crease was cut short by a wayward throw from Srivastava which hit the stylish right-hander's fore-arm, forcing him to retire.

Brought back into the attack in the 10th over, there was no reprieve for Sreesanth as Symonds welcomed him with a huge six and two fours to power Deccan to the 100-run mark.

However, with three quick wickets in a span of two overs Kings XI Punjab put a brake on the run flow as Deccan managed only 70 runs in the last 10 overs.

It was Yuvraj Singh's golden arm which gave Punjab the necessary breakthrough as the left-arm spinner went through Gibbs' defence and then two balls later a direct throw from Jayawardene caught Rohit Sharma short off the crease.

Anirudh Singh was the next to follow without opening his account, giving a faint edge to Sangakkara off Bipul Sharma.

But Symonds took the onus on his shoulders from there on and notched up his second consecutive fifty of the tournament to guide the Deccan innings.

It eventually took a stunner of a catch from Sharma off Yuvraj's bowling to drew curtains on Symonds' innings.

Kings XI Punjab Innings Batsman Kings XI Punjab(164/8 in 20 ovs) Runs Balls 4's 6's SR R Bopara c A Symonds & b R Sharma 38 32 5 0 118.75 M Bisla runout (T Suman) 0 7 0 0 0 K Sangakkara(c) b C Vaas 0 3 0 0 0 Y Singh c H Gibbs & b C Vaas 4 6 1 0 66.67 M Jayawardene b A Symonds 14 9 3 0 155.56 A Barath c R Sharma & b P Ojha 7 10 1 0 70 I Pathan c A Symonds & b J Singh 60 29 3 5 206.9 P Chawla c P Ojha & b R Singh 9 13 1 0 69.23 B Sharma Not out 8 6 1 0 133.33 Sreesanth Not out 12 5 3 0 240 S Srivastava dnb 0 0 0 0 0.00 Extras b - 0, lb - 10, w - 2, nb - 0, Total - 12 Total:(164 for 8 in 20 overs) 164 Run Rate: 8.2 Fall Of Wickets 1/10 (Manvinder Bisla, 2.2 ov.), 2/11 (Kumar Sangakkara, 2.6 ov.), 3/22 (Yuvraj Singh, 4.6 ov.), 4/46 (Mahela Jayawardene, 7.4 ov.), 5/57 (Adrian Barath, 10.1 ov.), 6/68 (Ravi Bopara, 11.6 ov.), 7/104 (Piyush Chawla, 16.1 ov.), 8/152 (Irfan Pathan, 19.1 ov.) Bowler 0 M R W Nb Wd ER Chaminda Vaas 4 0 27 2 0 1 6.75 RP Singh 4 0 43 1 0 1 10.75 Andrew Symonds 4 0 22 1 0 0 5.5 Pragyan Ojha 4 0 31 1 0 0 7.75 Rohit Sharma 3 0 19 1 0 0 6.33 Jaskaran Singh 1 0 12 1 0 0 12 Deccan Chargers Innings Go to Top Batsman Deccan Chargers(170/7 in 20 ovs) Runs Balls 4's 6's SR A Gilchrist(c) c M Jayawardene & b S Srivastava 33 12 4 2 275 VVS Laxman retired hurt 10 7 1 0 142.86 H Gibbs b Y Singh 23 23 2 0 100 A Symonds c B Sharma & b Y Singh 53 38 3 3 139.47 R Sharma runout (M Jayawardene) 1 2 0 0 50 A Singh c K Sangakkara & b B Sharma 0 1 0 0 0 T Suman runout (K Sangakkara) 26 22 2 1 118.18 C Vaas c B Sharma & b I Pathan 16 10 1 1 160 J Singh Not out 3 3 0 0 100 RP Singh Not out 4 2 0 0 200 P Ojha dnb 0 0 0 0 0.00 Extras b - 0, lb - 0, w - 1, nb - 0, Total - 1

Total:(170 for 7 in 20 overs) 170 Run Rate: 8.5

Fall Of Wickets 1/43 (Adam Gilchrist, 2.6 ov.), 2/100 (Herschelle Gibbs, 10.2 ov.), 3/102 (Rohit Sharma, 10.5 ov.), 4/112 (Anirudh Singh, 11.4 ov.), 5/142 (Andrew Symonds, 16.4 ov.), 6/161 (Chaminda Vaas, 18.5 ov.), 7/163 (Tirumalsetti Suman, 19.2 ov.)

Bowler 0 M R W Nb Wd ER Irfan Pathan 3 0 16 1 0 0 5.33 Sreesanth 4 0 51 0 0 1 12.75 Shalabh Srivastava 4 0 39 1 0 0 9.75 Piyush Chawla 3 0 24 0 0 0 8 Bipul Sharma 2 0 19 1 0 0 9.5 Yuvraj Singh 4 0 21 2 0 0 5.25

Umpires: Billy Bowden (NZ) & Marais Erasmus (SA)

Third Umpire: Amiesh Saheba (Ind)

Match Referee: Gundappa Viswanath (Ind)

Super Hayden takes CSK home against Delhi Daredevils

Matthew Hayden (93 off 43 balls) guided Chennai Super Kings to a comprehensive 5-wicket victory over Delhi Daredevils in their third Indian Premier League match at Ferozeshah Kotla on Friday.

Hayden put his evolutionary "Mongoose" bat to great use and blasted Daredevils bowlers, hitting them for 7 sixes and 9 fours in his 43 balls epic inning before falling to a superb catch by Tillakaratne Dilshan at long-on off Amit Mishra in the 14th over.

The former Australian opener was ably supported by Chennai's stand-in skipper Suresh Raina (49 not out) with whom he put on 78-run third wicket partnership.

Raina slammed three fours and four over the ropes in his 34 balls inning.

Super Kings lost Subramaniam Badrinath (14) and Parthiv Patel (6) early but the scoring rate never dip due to Hayden’s exploit.

Super Kings started their innings aggressively with Matthew Hayden hitting three fours in the second over off newcomer Umesh Yadav.

Earlier, Virender Sehwag hammered a blistering 38-ball 74 before Chennai Super Kings recovered some lost ground to restrict Delhi Daredevils to 185 for six in their Indian Premier League match at Ferozeshah Kotla ground on Friday.

Sehwag's blazing half-century was the cornerstone of Delhi's challenging total as the Nazafgarh marauder gave a scintillating start to the home side after winning the toss.

His 74-run knock was bejewelled with 10 fours and three sixes and dominated the partnerships he shared with his teammates.

Delhi middle-order, however, crumbled after a super start before Rajat Bhatia (21) and Mithun Manhas (32 not out) played good hands down the order.

For Chennai, Muttiah Muralitharan (2/25) and Lakshmipathy Balaji (2/21) were the most successful bowlers. Muralitharan's twin wickets in the 12th over, in fact, brought Chennai back into the match.

Earlier, Sehwag began with a bang, dispatching South African paceman Albie Morkel for two boundaries in the very first over.

Chennai's stand-in skipper Suresh Raina shuffled four different bowlers in the first four overs but there was no stopping Sehwag.

The local hero welcomed Joginder Sharma with two boundaries and then lofted Balaji for a long-on six in the very first ball of his spell.

In no time, Delhi raced to 35 inside four overs but Balaji cut short David Warner's (6) first outing in IPL 3 by having him caught at mid-wicket by Matthew Hayden.

The left-handed Australian came into the side in place of injured skipper Gautam Gambhir and his fall brought in Tillakaratne Dilshan on the crease.

With Sehwag, who raised his fifty by hitting Justin Kemp for a four and a six, in full flow, Chennai bowlers literally leaked runs as there was just one over till first strategic break in which the visitors did not concede a boundary.

Sehwag and Dilshan quickly raised a 67-run partnership, off which the Sri Lankan's contribution was 15 runs, before wily Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan got into act and dismissed both the batsmen in one over.

Runs were literally flowing from the bats of Delhi players but three wickets in eight balls brought the match on even terms.

Muralitharan first had Dilshan caught by Raina and two balls later Kemp took a stunner near the boundary to bring curtains on Sehwag's entertaining innings.

Daredevils had hardly settled after the twin blows that Ashwin sent packing AB de Villiers (2) in the next over.

Runs still came for Delhi but the jolts slowed down the pace of scoring. Manhas and skipper Dinesh Karthik carried on the good work but Delhi struggled to keep wickets intact.

Karthik was next man to go when he was trapped by Joginder Sharma but Rajat Bhatia did well to provide late firework.

Teams

Delhi Daredevils: David Warner, Virender Sehwag, Tillakaratne Dilshan, AB de Villiers, Amit Mishra, Dinesh Karthik (capt/wk), Dirk Nannes, Mithun Manhas, Pradeep Sangwan, Rajat Bhatia, Umesh Yadav

Chennai Super Kings: Albie Morkel, JM Kemp, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Matthew Hayden, Murali Vijay, Muttiah Muralitharan, Parthiv Patel, R Ashwin, Subramaniam Badrinath, Suresh Raina (capt), Joginder Sharma

Power packed Mumbai Indians thrash DD by 98 runs win

After setting up a mammoth target of 219 runs, Mumbai Indians bowlers displayed brilliant skills to beat Delhi Daredevils by a convincing 98 runs in the Indian Premier League encounter on Wednesday.

The hosts were cruising well when openers Sehwag and Dilshan were at the crease. But Lasith Malinga gave Mumbai the first breakthrough when he clean bowled Tillakaratne Dilshan (17 off 12).

The hosts were cruising well when openers Sehwag and Dilshan were at the crease. But Lasith Malinga gave Mumbai the first breakthrough when he clean bowled Tillakaratne Dilshan (17 off 12).

The visitors got a big relief when Bravo got his first wicket when swashbuckling Virender Sehwag (26 off 16) was caught by Ambati Rayudu off Bravo.

Soon after Bravo clean bowled AB de Villiers to scalp his second wicket of the match.

The Daredevils then lost all hope and continued to lose wickets at regular interval.

Earlier, Sachin Tendulkar (63) and Saurabh Tiwary (61) smashed blistering half-centuries to propel Mumbai Indians to a huge 218 for seven against the Daredevils.

Tendulkar drove, pulled and cut the Delhi Daredevils bowlers with ease after being invited to bat.

Tendulkar's knock, his fourth IPL fifty, came off in just 32 balls and was studded with 11 fours in front of a packed Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium crowd.

Young Tiwary took the cue from his captain and smashed an aggressive 37-ball 61, laced with four fours and three sixes to take Mumbai Indians to the highest total of IPL-3 so far.

They surpassed their own earlier highest of 212 for six which they made against Rajasthan Royals in their first match on March 13 in Ahmedabad.

Ambati Rayudu also contributed a 21-ball 34 with the help of a four and three sixes.

Tendulkar, who was dropped on 36 by Amit Mishra, shared three substantial partnerships in quick time.

First he raised a 38-run stand with his opening partner Sanath Jayasuriya and then shared a 36-run partnership from 17 balls with Aditya Tare.

Together with Tiwary he rattled up a quickfire 48 from 26 balls to lay the foundation for a huge score.

Batsman Delhi Daredevils(120/10 in 16.3 ovs) Runs Balls 4's 6's SR T Dilshan b L Malinga 17 12 3 0 141.67 V Sehwag c A Rayudu & b D Bravo 26 16 4 0 162.5 AB De Villiers b D Bravo 11 11 2 0 100 F Maharoof st A Tare & b S Jayasuriya 28 18 2 2 155.56 D Karthik(wk) st A Tare & b H Singh 16 6 3 0 266.67 M Manhas c R Sathish & b S Jayasuriya 1 3 0 0 33.33 A Mishra b K Pollard 3 5 0 0 60 P Sangwan runout (D Bravo) 4 9 0 0 44.44 S Ladda Not out 0 8 0 0 0 D Nannes b H Singh 3 11 0 0 27.27 G Gambhir(c) absent hurt 0 0 0 0 0.00 Extras b - 1, lb - 2, w - 8, nb - 0, Total - 11 Total:(120 for 10 in 16.3 overs)   120 Run Rate: 7.27 Fall Of Wickets 1/38 (Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3.4 ov.), 2/56 (Virender Sehwag, 6.1 ov.), 3/58 (AB de Villiers, 6.5 ov.), 4/79 (Dinesh Karthik, 8.4 ov.), 5/80 (Mithun Manhas, 9.1 ov.), 6/106 (Farveez Maharoof, 11.2 ov.), 7/115 (Amit Mishra, 12.6 ov.), 8/116 (Pradeep Sangwan, 13.3 ov.), 9/120 (Dirk Nannes, 16.3 ov.), 10/120 (Gautam Gambhir, 16.3 ov.) Bowler 0 M R W Nb Wd ER Zaheer Khan 2 0 20 0 0 0 10 Lasith Malinga 2 0 22 1 0 1 11 Dwayne Bravo 2 0 11 2 0 0 5.5 Kieron Pollard 4 0 24 1 0 1 6 Harbhajan Singh 2.3 0 23 2 0 1 9.2 Sanath Jayasuriya 4 0 17 2 0 1 4.25 Mumbai Indians Innings Go to Top Batsman Mumbai Indians(218/7 in 20 ovs) Runs Balls 4's 6's SR S Jayasuriya c (sub)Y Nagar & b F Maharoof 8 10 1 0 80 S Tendulkar(c) c (sub)Y Nagar & b A Mishra 62 32 11 0 193.75 A Tare(wk) b P Sangwan 17 10 0 2 170 S Tiwary runout (D Karthik) 61 37 4 3 164.86 A Rayudu c T Dilshan & b F Maharoof 34 21 1 3 161.9 K Pollard st D Karthik & b S Ladda 10 8 2 0 125 D Bravo c M Manhas & b S Ladda 9 4 0 1 225 R Sathish Not out 0 0 0 0 0.00 H Singh dnb 0 0 0 0 0.00 Z Khan dnb 0 0 0 0 0.00 L Malinga dnb 0 0 0 0 0.00 Extras b - 1, lb - 3, w - 11, nb - 2, Total - 17

Total:(218 for 7 in 20 overs)   218 Run Rate: 10.9

Fall Of Wickets 1/38 (Sanath Jayasuriya, 3.4 ov.), 2/74 (Aditya Tare, 6.3 ov.), 3/122 (Sachin Tendulkar, 10.5 ov.), 4/193 (Ambati Rayudu, 17.4 ov.), 5/205 (Saurabh Tiwary, 18.5 ov.), 6/214 (Dwayne Bravo, 19.3 ov.), 7/218 (Kieron Pollard, 19.6 ov.)

Bowler 0 M R W Nb Wd ER Dirk Nannes 4 0 35 0 1 1 8.75 Farveez Maharoof 4 0 52 2 1 1 13 Pradeep Sangwan 4 0 41 1 0 2 10.25 Sarabjit Ladda 4 0 44 2 0 0 11 Amit Mishra 4 0 44 1 0 1 11

Umpires: Billy Doctrove (WI) & S Ravi (Ind)

Third Umpire: S K Tarapore (Ind)

Match Referee: S Venkatraghavan (Ind)