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IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi had promised that the third edition of the Indian Premier League would be bigger and better than the previous seasons and he seems to have left no stone unturned to fulfill his promises. The opening ceremony of IPL 3 will be a huge event and there would be a bunch of international celebrities and Bollywood stars performing in the gala event. Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone will dazzle the spectators at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai with her scintillating performance. Amongst the performers in the IPL opening ceremony are Deepika, Internation R&B singer Akon, Ali Campbell of the British reggae band UB40, Björn Again and Lionel Ritchie. The performances in the opening ceremony is expected to start with Ali Campbell of the British reggae band UB40 singing the evergreen hit song “Can’t Help Falling In Love” which will be followed by Bjorn Again entertaining the audience Abba’s super hit Dancing Queen. This performance is promised to be spectacular with visual effects too. Then there will be a choreographed light show announcing Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone’s entry. Deepika and the forty dancers on stage with perform a medley of songs including I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas, Uff Teri Ada from Karthik Calling Karthik and Twist from Love Aaj Kal. This will be followed by performances from Lionel Ritchie and then Akon. The IPL opening ceremony would be grand and Bollywood stars, celebrities, cricketers, corporate biggies, politicians and several other eminent personalities are invited to the opening ceremony. After the opening ceremony, there would also be a post-match party cum fashion show at a posh hotel in Mumbai.

The opening ceremony would be telecast live on Set Max from 6 PM Indian Standard Time.

DLF Indian Premier League season 3 will be broadcast live on the world most’s popular video streaming website Youtube after IPL and Google who own Youtube signed up a deal. Under the agreemement, all the matches of IPL wil be broadcast live on all countries except United States which will have re-broacast options. One of the most significant benefits of this deal for the viewers is that the viewers can choose between different camera angles. The viewers will also be able to pause and rewind the live feed. The viewers will also be able to watch live replays at any time during the day. The deal is for 2 years as of now and will give Google exclusive online rights for IPL content for two years, with both parties sharing revenues from sponsorships and advertising. The IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said that he is hopeful to take IPL to international markets beyond the cricketing nations with this new move.

The official IPL channel on Youtube is also mentioning the same and it might be possible that the official channel itself shows the live feed. The link to the official IPL channel on youtube is:

http://www.youtube.com/ipl

The IPL 3 Auction took place on January 19, 2010 and it was a comparatively low profile auction compared to the two previous years. It was also due to the fact that the IPL franchisees had just 750,000 dollars each as the maximum limit to spend on the auction. However, there was a also a new rule this year where the franchisees could make secret ’silent tiebreaker bids’ in case there was a tie. But the excess money from the secret bid went to IPL instead of the players who could receive only the maximum bid at 750,000 dollars. There were secret bids for two players who were Keiron Pollard and Shane Bond. They were officially sold at 750,000 dollars each but as per sources, Mumbai Indians had supposedly made secret bid of more than 2 million dollars to bag Keiron Pollard while Kolkata Knight Riders had supposedly made secret bid of more than a millon dollars for Shane Bond. The other two high priced puchases and hot bids in IPL season 3 auctions were Kemar Roach and Wayne Parnell who were bagged by Delhi Daredevils for 720,000 dollars and 610,000 dollars respectively. Others won in the auction included Mohammad Kaif (Punjab, 250,000), Eoin Morgan (Bangalore, 220,000), Damien Martyn (Rajasthan, 100,000), Justin Kemp (Chennai, 100,000), Thissara Perera (Chennai, 50,000), Adam Voges (Rajasthan, 50,000) and Yusuf Abdulla (Punjab, 50,000).

There were 66 overseas players in the final IPL 3 auction list and only 10 overseas player and one Indian player were sold. The players who were sold are as follows:

Kieron Pollard (Mumbai Indians, $750,000)
Shane Bond (Kolkata Knight Riders, $750,000)
Kemar Roach (Deccan Chargers, $720,000)
Wayne Parnell (Delhi Dardevils, $610,000)
Mohammad Kaif (Kings XI Punjab, $250,000)
Eoin Morgan (Royal Challengers Bangalore, $220,000)
Damien Martyn (Rajasthan Royals, $100,000)
Justin Kemp (Chennai Super Kings, $100,000)
Thissara Perera (Chennai Super Kings, $50,000)
Adam Voges (Rajasthan Royals, $50,000)
Yusuf Abdulla (Kings XI Punjab, $50,000)

Bangalore Royal Challengers always makes sure that they have some of the best cheerleaders to cheer the team. Last year Bangalore Royal Challengers owner and business tycoon Vijay Mallya had got the Washington Red Skins cheerleaders to cheer for the team. There were some conservative groups last year who protested the girls wearing skimpy outfits while cheering for the team. But the flamboyant Mallya did not succumb to anybody and had the hot cheerleaders throughout the tournament though a few other franchisees changed the dress of the cheerleaders. Vijay Mallya has dropped the Red Skin cheerleaders this year and hired 24 members of the US-based Varsity cheerleader group and renamed them “White Mischief Gals”. The girls have been named after his brand of vodka named “White Mischief”. According to the Mallya Company’s release the girls are “specially trained in flirty acrobatic skills for a scintillating on-field performance”. According to the release the White Mischief girls are “a little bit naughty, a little more hottie and a lot more mischievous”. Hope that the girls can motivate Kevin Pietersen and his team. Meanwhile Vijay Mallya will not be able to cheer his team from the start and he will come a week later as he wants to watch his Formula One team, Force India, compete in the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.

Here are two videos of the new White Mischief Gals

And here is a picture of the last year’s Red Skin cheerleaders

So, whom do you like more of the two