Pepsi IPL Extraaa Innings T20

Mumbai : Pepsi IPL 2014 is here and Extraaa Innings T20, the flagship match analysis show returns with its two most popular maidens of cricket. Sony MAX, India’s premium Hindi movies & special events channel and SONY SIX, India’s premier sports & entertainment channel, the official broadcasters of the Pepsi IPL 2014 have once again roped in Archana Vijaya and Shibani Dandekar to host Extraaa Innings T20. The glitz and glamour added by the effervescent duo has been highly cherished by audiences in the past and the girls are all set to sizzle on this year’s Extraaa Innings T20.

Hosting cricket tournaments across the globe for over 7 years, the dazzling Archana Vijaya has a bag full of experience hosting LIVE cricket. Shibani Dandekar has abundant zeal and knowledge to keep the audience glued to their television sets. The duo along with the power packed, passionate and seasoned male hosts, Samir Kochhar and Gaurav Kapur will bring analysis, excitement and a whole lot of fun for the viewers across the country.

This time around a vibrant, vivacious and effervescent set is designed for Extraaa Innings T20. The set is a palate of myriad colours that signifies a cathedral of cricket for cricket fans. The arrangement is integrated with towering arches, heritage artwork and wall -paintings of the cricketers that resemble a larger-than-life set up for a program that showcases the biggest T20 festival in the world.

Commenting on EI T20, Neeraj Vyas, Executive Vice President and Business Head, MAX said, “Extraaa Innings T20 has always engaged and attracted audiences across ages groups and regions, be it true cricket enthusiasts or viewers who look forward for the entertainment quotient , EI T20 possesses a perfect blend of both. We are very happy that Archana Vijaya and Shibani Dandekar are back to add to the glam quotient along with the proficient anchors Samir Kochhar and Gaurav Kapur.”

Being a part of MAX Extraaa Innings T20 once again, an elated Archana Vijaya said “The Pepsi IPL is the home of cricket and entertainment and therefore when MAX approached me to host the tournament it was right up my alley. We as hosts help bring cricket and entertainment to the fans and I don’t think there is any better platform than the IPL.”

Shibani Dandekar thrilled with the opportunity, stated “” IPL is the biggest sporting & entertainment event of the year and it is great to be a part of it. Therefore, it was a no brainer when the chance came to host Extraaa Innings. Being out there in the stadium with the atmosphere, the ambience, the vibe and being so close to the action is something that anyone would love to do and we are very lucky to do that.” When questioned about her thoughts on the marketing campaign ‘Bulaava Aaya Hai’ and the rapidly getting popular collar-up mnemonic ‘Buckram’, she said , “I’m very excited about it and I'll encourage the winning team to give interviews with their collar up and will urge the fans of the IPL to watch the matches with their collar up too.”

Commenting on his association with Extraaa Innings T20 an excited Gaurav Kapur said, “I have been a huge fan of cricket since the age of 5 and on the other hand I also love watching live television. Hosting Extraaa Innings is like two of my favourite things coming together so I am always thrilled and excited to take on this role.”

Talking about his long standing relationship with IPL, Sameer Kochhar said, “I have been the part of IPL since its inception. After hosting the first season I fell in love with it and since then there has been no looking back. I am very fortunate to be a part of such a great property and look forward to another splendid season”. Talking about the ‘Bulaava Aaya Hai’ campaign he says, “Buckram is the new word of this season. I would want all the cricket fans to put up their collar and watch the IPL in style.”

That’s not all! MAX will also bring forth to the viewer’s an in-depth analysis in Hindi with comments from the expert panel which include cricket stalwarts like Navjot Singh Sidhu with his inimitable ‘Siddhuisms’ along with the inemitable Ajay Jadega. For the first time ever former Pakistan captain and coach Waqar Younis will be associated with Extraaa Innings along with show regulars like Ramiz Raja, Arun Lal and Isa Guha.

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IPL franchisees to pay Players in Rupees instead of Dollars

Indian Premier League’s (IPL) team players' three years'contracts will end in 2014 and a new auction will be held. As per the statement of one BCCI official, IPL team owners are sought to auction for players, whether Indian or foreign, in rupees instead of dollars. BCCI also seems to agree with the suggestion.

Due to the fluctuating prices of Dollar, it has been a headache for IPL team owners while paying to the players. When IPL started in 2008, players are auctioned with 40 rupees a dollar. As now the rupee has fallen unexpectedly down and also fluctuating very much, it has been reported that IPL owners will be auctioning with Rupees. Some of the foreign players don’t take wages in rupees and prefer dollars. So the auction in 2014 may go with rupees while the in next year’s IPL, players will be paid with dollars.

Apart from that there is also one suggestion from an IPL franchisee to fix a minimum sponsorship rate for each team, so that it can help them to retain the team’s financial health. As the above reports are not confirmed yet, we really doubt what will be the reaction of foreign players to the dollar-rupee shift.

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Pakistan wins first Twenty 20, India’s disappointing performance

Even after terrific performances from skipper Ajinkhya Rahane and pace bowler Bhuvaneswar Kumar, India had a disappointing defeat against guest Pakistan, who was barred to play in India after the 26/11 attacks. Pakistan skippers Shoaib Malik and Md. Hameez had great innings leading Pakistan to win in the last over. This was a first International T20 match in Banglore’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium where plenty number of crowd turned out to cheer both the teams.

After winning the toss, Pakistan chose to bowl first on the swinging track of Chinnaswamy Stadium. Indian skippers Goutam Gambhir and Ajinkhya Rahane came out to open the innings. Goutam Gambhir batted slow but picked up later and Rahane was a non-stopper and hit a smashing 42 from 31 balls with the help of 5 fours and a six. Goutam Gambhir made 43 runs from 41 deliveries which includes a six and 2 fours. And that’s all, as excluding Yuvraj Singh (10 from 9) and Suresh Raina (10 from 9), all the rest Indian batting line were happened to score only single figures. For the first 12 overs, Indian performance was good with scoring rate of 7. But after the dismissal of Yuvraj Singh, Indian batting line crackled. Umar Gul picked up 3 wickets in his 3rd over leaving to wonder the Indian team and India managed to score 133 in 20 overs. Off-break bowler Saeed Ajmal picked up two wickets as Indian captain MS Dhoni and skipper Suresh Raina. Debutant Md. Irfan and Shahid Afridi managed to pick one wicket each.

Even after India’s disappointing lose; we’ve witnessed a terrific performance from Bhuvaneswar Kumar, the debutant pace bowler in Indian team. B Kumar picked up 3 early wickets as Nasir Jamshed, Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal in first of his 3 overs. That’s all from the Indian bowling, as after these three wickets Pakistan skippers Md. Hafeez and Shoaib Malik made up a 100 runs partnership, leaving Indian bowlers helpless. Md. Hafeez made a high speed 61 from 44 balls with the help of 6 fours and 2 sixes. Shoaib Malik scored a not out 57 and lead Pakistan to win with a six to Dinda in the last over.

Star Players in India-Pakistan Match

India
Goutam Gambhir (43 from 41)
Ajinkya Rahane (42 from 31)
Bhuvaneswar Kumar – 3 wickets for 9 runs: The second Indian player after Pragyan Ojha, to take 3 wickets in his debut match. Sunil Gavaskar was cheered up while saying “A sensational debutant performance”.

Pakistan
Md. Hafeez (61 from 44)
Shoaib Malik (57 from 50)
Umar Gul – 3 wickets for 21 runs
Saeed Ajmal – 2 wickets for 25 runs

Other Attractions
The 7.1 feet debutant Pakistan player Md. Irfan is an attraction to today’s match and much of a similar bowler to Shoaib Akhtar, speeding upto 143 km/hr. He managed to pick one wicket and surprise the Indian batsmen with his bounce.

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Cricket: Only Sport in India

One Match on the television, the streets are empty, and there is only one question everywhere, what is the score? No office and no home is an exception for this. Good that we love our country so much, and cricket team more than that. No other sport in India has so much craze, but for cricket. Add makers are after cricketers, film makers are after cricketers and even bolly wood is after cricketers.

We find gully cricket in every galli, but rest of the sports no one even talks about them. No wonder we get few medals in Olympics or no medals at all. There are many people right from tribals to urbanites who are showing great talent in other sports. But no one even knows them or is bothered to encourage them. Under these circumstances how do we expect our country to win medals in Olympics?

There is a too much of obsession with the cricketing sport in India. No wonder no citizen even knows about any other sport or players names even. There is no encouragement from the people or from the organizations to sponsor. The Govt. always states that they are equally encouraging other sports and sports persons. But the results we see in front of our eyes. It is not the sole responsibility of the Govt. alone. We as parents should encourage our children to learn sports other than cricket also.

An interest should be cultivated in the minds of the people, so that they enjoy other sports as they enjoy cricket. Only then other sports and persons learning those sports will develope. Remove the aspect of money, from the cricket, and see how many people will encourage their children to be cricketers. Money is the key factor that is driving people to be after the game of cricket. Sport should be treated sportively, only them all sports will flourish, otherwise it will just be another form of business.

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Airtel kicks of exciting online contests for India – New Zealand T20 cricket series

Press Release

New Delhi, 29 August 2012: Bharti Airtel, a leading integrated telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, announced that it has kicked off two exciting customer engagement initiatives for cricket fans around the ongoing Airtel India - New Zealand Test & T20 cricket series. As part of this, followers of the game can log onto popular social networks Facebook and Twitter to participate in cricket contests and win exciting prizes.

To participate in the ‘World Biggest Cricket Fan’ contest on Facebook --- all cricket fans have to visit the application tab on the Airtel cricket page on Facebook and upload whacky photographs that proves their love for the game. They can then post this update on their Facebook wall and invite friends to vote for them. Basis the number of votes, participants will find their positions in the leaderboard and stand a chance of win prizes including team India jerseys, couple tickets for the Ind Vs NZ matches and even a smart phone. The contest closes on 10th October, 2012.

As part of the contest on Twitter, all cricket followers have to do is to tweet the name of their favorite player in the Airtel India - New Zealand Test & T20 Cricket Series with the hashtag #airtelcricketer. Two lucky winners who tweeted the name of the player that got the maximum tweets will win signed bats from India and New Zealand cricket teams. This contest closes on 11th September 2012. For more Twitter updates, follow URL https://twitter.com/airtelCricket.

About Bharti Airtel Limited
Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 5 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company's product offerings include 2G, 3Gand 4G services, fixed line, high speed broadband through DSL, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G mobile services. Bharti Airtel had over 262 million customers across its operations at the end of July 2012. To know more please visit, www.airtel.com

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