IPL Cricket Season Three Preview

The Kolkata Knight Riders began their pre-seasonthe tournament.
training under the watchful eyes of physio AndrewThis amazing tournament established by the forward
Leipus without icon player Sourav Ganguly.thinking Board of Control for Cricket in India will be
The eagarly anticipated third season of IPL is due toplayed out to a television audience expected to be in
start in India on 12 March 2010 the fixtures are dueexcess of 200 million people in India alone. No other
to be played over a 45 day period. The 60-gametournament in the world can boast figures like that.
tournament will feature a third-place playoff betweenHyderabad will stage the opening fixture between
the losing semi-finalists as a qualifier for thedefending champions Deccan Chargers and Kolkata
Champions League and could also see the inductionKnight Riders, while both semi-finals will be held in
of ICL players. The other main changes this year areBangalore. The venue of the final hasn't been fixed
the addition of Four new venues, these are:but the season will end five days before the World
Nagpur, The Vidharba Cricket Association Stadium isTwenty20 opens in West Indies.
a new Test cricket ground in the city of Nagpur,Some other IPL News that will interest fans of this
Maharashtra, India. Replacing the old Vidarbha Cricketleague are that it is reported that Salman Khan
Association Ground. Purpose built at the Jamtha areainterested in buying IPL team. Salman Khan is a huge
of Nagpur to top international standards and theBollywood star and he wants to own a cricket team.
opening game was an international match playedIt is reported that the actor has met IPL chairman
between India and Australia in November 2008. An allLalit Modi in Mumbai to better understand the bidding
seater stadium with luxury suites and designed onprocess. He is obviously looking to the future
the Australian Cricket ground system. This Stadiumbecause two new IPL teams are to be introduced in
will be one of those used during the 2011 cricketIPL 2011. Early reports say Khan is interested in
world cup.bidding for the Nagpur or Kochi team. Last year, the
Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Cricketaverage bid was 150 million dollars per team, so
Association-Vishakapatnam District CricketSalman will need a serious amount of cash.
Association), a fairly modern stadium which was builtDeccan Chargers' batsman Rohit Sharma has been
in 2003 and has a 46000 capacity it attained testnamed as the best Under-23 player of the last IPL
status in 2007 this is another ground that will hosttournament which was held in South Africa. Selected
games in the 2011 Cricket world cup.unanimously for the award, which carries a cash prize
Ahmedabad Sardar Patel Stadium (Gujarat) commonlyof Rs 10 lakh, by former India captains Sunil
known as Motera with a capacity of 48000 andGavaskar, Ravi Shastri and MAK Pataudi, the
equiped with flood lights this is a well known stadiumadjudicators of the award.
in India built in 1982 it has hosted test matches in theRohit Sharma who is a 22 year old right hander from
past.Mumbai won this award thanks to the 333 runs he
Dharamsala, HPCA Stadium located in the city ofscored in the league stages of the tournament at an
Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh. This is the homeaverage of 27.75 and a strike rate of 119. As well as
ground for Himachal Pradesh Cricket Team and hostbrilliance with a bat he can also bowl having taken 11
all their trophy matches as well as some limited overwickets at an average of 11.45 including a hat trick.
games. This ground will act as the home stadium forRohit stated that he was elated with the award. "To
Kings XI Punjab and will have floodlights installed inbe recognised for my achievements by three of the
preparation for the IPL games this ground is alsoliving legends of Indian cricket is a great thrill for me,"
scheduled to host some international cricket games inhe added.
the near future.It looks like Australian pacer Glenn McGrath may have
Some further changes are the increase in the numberplayed his last game for Delhi Daredevils according to
of matches which has been increased to 94. Perhapsreports attributed to the Australian player. There
one of the most important changes is the removal ofwere fears about his fitness so the player never
icon players and granting permission to players whoactually got a game last year, lets see how this
were involved in the Indian Cricket League to play intranspires.