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The home ground of Deccan Chargers since IPL season 1 has been the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Hyderabad. They have even been the IPL champions during its second edition at South Africa. However, they had never won a single match in their Hyderabad home ground in all these years till this match. But they finally rose to the occasion and broke the jinx with their first win of IPL season 4 with a 33 run win against Royal Challengers Bangalore. RCB captain Vettori won the toss and put DC to bat. Deccan Chargers went off to a flyer and reached 175/5 in their 20 overs with rapid knocks by Bharat Chipli (61 runs off 35 balls), Sunny Sohal (38 runs off 37 balls) and their captain Kumar Sangakkara (36 runs off 25 balls). Zaheer Khan was the lone ranger in the Bangalore bowling as he took 3 wickets for 32 runs. In reply, Bangalore could never give a befitting reply and kept on losing wickets regularly against the fiery spells of the three DC seamers Dale Steyn (3 wickets for 24 runs), Ishant Sharma (1 wicket for 21 runs) and Manpreet Gony (3 wickets for 31 runs). Virat Kohli was the lone ranger in the Bangalore batting and scored 71 runs off 51 balls but they could only 142/9 in their 20 overs. Steyn was awarded the Man of the Match for his bowling.

Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated debutant IPL team Kochi Tuskers Kerala on their home ground by 6 wickets with 8 balls to spare in a high scoring game. Kochi Tuskers Kerala skipper Mahela Jayawardena won the toss and decided to bat. Royal Challengers Bangalore were headed by their new captain Daniel Vettori at the toss. Brendon McCullum (45 runs off 32 balls) and VVS Laxman (36 runs off 29 balls) provided a blazing start as they scored 80 runs in merely 9 overs for the opening stand before VVS departed. They then lost the momentum and Jayawardena (18 runs off 18 balls), Brad Hodge (27 runs off 21 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja (23 not out off 16 balls) contributed as they scored 161/5 in 20 overs. In reply, Royal Challengers Bangalore managed to keep the required run rate under control though they lost wickets at regular intervals. India’s recent U-19 sensation Mayank Agarwal scored a brisk 33 runs off 24 balls including a first ball 6 off Muralitharan while Virat Kohli and Saurabh Tiwary scored 23 runs off 18 balls and 26 runs off 24 balls respectively. But it was AB de Villiers who steadied the innings and scored a match winning 54 runs off 40 balls though debutant Asad Pathan also came to the party too as he scored 3 fours in his short innings of 4 balls as he hit the winning runs. AB De Villiers was adjudged the Man of the Match for his brilliant.

The schedule for IPL 4 has been revised taking into account the upcoming assembly elections in the five Indian states of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry. Three out of the five states have an IPL team associated to one of their cities. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) has its base in the capital of West Bengal, Kolkata. Chennai Super King is based in the captal of Tamil Nadu, Chennai while Kochi Tuskers Kerala is based in Kochi in Kerala. The complete revised schedule of IPL 2011 season 4 is as follows:

April 8: 8pm – Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Chennai.

April 9: 4pm – Deccan Chargers vs Rajasthan Royals in Hyderabad. 8pm – Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Kochi.

April 10: 4pm – Delhi Daredevils vs Mumbai Indians in Delhi. 8pm – Pune Warriors vs Kings XI Punjab in Navi Mumbai.

April 11: 8pm – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Deccan Chargers in Kolkata.

April 12: 4pm – Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Daredevils in Jaipur. 8pm – Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai Indians in Bangalore.

April 13: 4pm – Kings XI Punjab vs Chennai Super Kings in Mohali. 8pm – Pune Warriors vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Navi Mumbai.

April 14: 8pm – Deccan Chargers vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Hyderabad.

April 15: 4pm – Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Jaipur. 8pm – Mumbai Indians vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Mumbai.

April 16: 4pm – Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chennai. 8pm – Deccan Chargers vs Kings XI Punjab in Hyderabad.

April 17: 4pm – Pune Warriors vs Delhi Daredevils in Navi Mumbai. 8pm – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals in Kolkata.

April 18: 8pm – Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Chennai Super Kings in Kochi.

April 19: 4pm – Delhi Daredevils vs Deccan Chargers in Delhi. 8pm – Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rajasthan Royals in Bangalore.

April 20: 4pm – Mumbai Indians vs Pune Warriors in Mumbai. 8pm – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Kolkata.

April 21: 8pm – Kings XI Punjab vs Rajasthan Royals in Mohali.

April 22: 4pm – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Kolkata. 8pm – Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings in Mumbai.

April 23: 8pm – Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab in Delhi.

April 24: 4pm – Deccan Chargers vs Mumbai Indians in Hyderabad. 8pm – Rajasthan Royals vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Jaipur.

April 25: 8pm – Chennai Super Kings vs Pune Warriors in Chennai.

April 26: 8pm – Delhi Daredevils vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Delhi.

April 27: 4pm – Pune Warriors vs Chennai Super Kings in Navi Mumbai. 8pm – Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Deccan Chargers in Kochi.

April 28: 8pm – Delhi Daredevils vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Delhi.

April 29: 4pm – Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians in Jaipur. 8pm – Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Pune Warriors in Bangalore.

April 30: 4pm – Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Delhi Daredevils in Kochi. 8pm – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab in Kolkata.

May 1: 4pm – Rajasthan Royals vs Pune Warriors in Jaipur. 8pm – Chennai Super Kings vs Deccan Chargers in Chennai.

May 2: 4pm – Mumbai Indians vs Kings XI Punjab in Mumbai. 8pm – Delhi Daredevils vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Delhi.

May 3: 8pm – Deccan Chargers vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Hyderabad.

May 4: 4pm – Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals in Chennai. 8pm – Pune Warriors vs Mumbai Indians in Navi Mumbai.

May 5: 4pm – Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Kochi. 8pm – Deccan Chargers vs Delhi Daredevils in Hyderabad.

May 6: 8pm – Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kings XI Punjab in Bangalore.

May 7: 4pm – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings in Kolkata. 8pm – Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Daredevils in Mumbai.

May 8: 4pm – Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Bangalore. 8pm – Kings XI Punjab vs Pune Warriors in Mohali.

May 9: 8pm – Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings in Jaipur.

May 10: 4pm – Deccan Chargers vs Pune Warriors in Hyderabad. 8pm – Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians in Mohali.

May 11: 8pm – Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Jaipur.

May 12: 8pm – Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Daredevils in Chennai.

May 13: 8pm – Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Kings XI Punjab in Indore.

May 14: 4pm – Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Bangalore. 8pm – Mumbai Indians vs Deccan Chargers in Mumbai.

May 15: 4pm – Kings XI Punjab vs Delhi Daredevils in Dharamsala. 8pm – Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Rajasthan Royals in Indore.

May 16: 8pm – Pune Warriors vs Deccan Chargers in Navi Mumbai.

May 17: 8pm – Kings XI Punjab vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Dharamsala.

May 18: 8pm – Chennai Super Kings vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Chennai.

May 19: 8pm – Pune Warriors vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Navi Mumbai.

May 20: 8pm – Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai.

May 21: 4pm – Kings XI Punjab vs Deccan Chargers in Dharamsala. 8pm – Delhi Daredevils vs Pune Warriors in Delhi.

May 22: 4pm – Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Chennai Super Kings in Bangalore. 8pm – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians in Kolkata.

May 24: 8pm – Qualifier 1: First Placed Team vs Second Placed Team in Mumbai.

May 25: 8pm – Eliminator: Third Placed Team vs Fourth Placed Team in Mumbai.

May 27: 8pm – Qualifier 2: Winner of Eliminator vs Loser of Qualifier 1 in Chennai.

May 28: 8pm – Final: Winner of Qualifier 1 vs Winner of Qualifier 2 in Chennai.

The Indian Premier League will expand the number of franchisees to 10 franchisees with the addition of two new franchisees for the IPL 2011 season onwards. The IPL Management has already put application forms for the two new teams on sale. There are twelve cities in contention for the two new teams which include Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Kanpur, Dharamsala, Indore, Cuttack, Gwalior, Visakapatnam, Rajkot, Pune, Vadodara and Kochi. The first eight cities already have cricket stadiums while stadiums are in construction in the last four cities. The base price for the bidding for the two new franchisees are $225 million which is more than four times the base price of $50 million when the original eight franchisees were auctioned in 2008. The number of games in IPL would also increase to 94 games from the year 2011 instead of the present set of 59 games.

As per reports, the IPL Management has also set tougher conditions for applying for the two new teams. One of the major conditions is that the bidder has to have at least $1 billion (Rs.4,580 crores) and if a group makes a bid, it must contain an individual or a single party with that amount of money. As per the IPL’s tender condition, the bidders should submit a Rs 460-crore bank guarantee to participate in the bidding process. The IPL has set a base price of US $ 225 million per franchise. Many are also speculating that Ahmedabad might be one of the strongest contenders for an IPL team. The Ahmedabad based billionaire Gautam Adani-owned Adani Group has also submitted its bid for a new franchisee.

Videocon Industries-led team called P Sports Vision is supposed to have placed bid for Pune franchisee. There are also reports that the guardians of the laws of cricket, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is also supposed to be running for the Pune franchisee. The other prominent bidders might include Sahara Group, Jaypee Group and ICICI Ventures. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel is also speculated to have placed bid for either Pune or Nagpur franchisee. Bollywood stars like Salman Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Ajay Devgn had also showed interest though there is no confirmation if any film stars have bid for any team this time round. There have been 11 bids supposed to have been submitted till now for the two new teams.

The winning bids for the two new franchisees would be revealed on Sunday, March 7 at 1200 IST. Many are speculating that Pune and Ahmedabad might have good chances of hosting the two new teams though everything would be revealed only this Sunday.