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)

Here are two videos of the new White Mischief Gals

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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

So, whom do you like more of the two

It is a great decision as it will help IPL fans worldwide to get to follow the game without much problem.

There were doubts about the success of IPL T20 season 2 after its shift to South Africa due to clash with the general elections in India. But Lalit Modi and BCCI has been trying their best to make this edition of the IPL T20 a huge success too. They are supposed to have introduced two five-minutes strategy break in the matches to increase the advertising revenue. Bollywood and Hollywood stars will also attend the IPL opener if reports are to be believed. And the results have been quite successful with the tickets for the IPL opener being sold out in two hours.

Now, IPL management and Lalit Modi has decided to introduce a carnival before the start of the Indian Premier League. This will be perhaps the first carnival in cricket and it would take place at 12 noon on April 16. All the players participating in the IPL and various Bollywood celebrities will take part in the carnival. It will be a grand parade on the streets of Cape Town with all the IPL teams with their own floats and there would be music, Bollywood celebrities and cricketers in this great extravaganza. Lalit Modi said that this will be a unique experience where all the 200 top cricketers from the world would be present in the parade at the same time.

It seems that IPL T20 season 2 has been marketed very well in South Africa and hope that it turns out to a huge success again as the last year. Cricket and Entertainment seems to be mixed very well in this year’s IPL extravaganza too. The ticket sales have also been quite good till now and it seems that Lalit Modi will again have the last laugh.

All the tickets for the IPL T20 season 2 opener in Newlands, Cape Town has supposedly been sold out within two hours today. Most people were quite critical of how the South African people would react to the Indian Premier League after the venue had to be shifted to South Africa due to clash with general elections in India. But if the occupancy of the IPL opener is any hint for the rest of the tournament then it might turn out to be a huge success in SA too. The IPL opener on April 18 would include a grand opening ceremony and two matches back to back. In addition to that there will be the mix of Bollywood and Hollywood in the IPL season 2 opener. IPL has been aggressively promoted amongst the masses and most of the matches has also been organized on cities with huge Indian population. The ticket prices has also been kept quite affordable so that all the South African people can enjoy this extravaganza of cricket and entertainment without burning a hole in their pocket. And this hard work by BCCI and South African Cricket seems to have already shown the results. It was expected that ticket sales in SA might take a few weeks to catch up but the sell out of the tickets in the IPL opener has ended all the negative presumptions. And there has been booking of tickets not only from South Africa but from other countries like England, Middle East and South Africa. IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said that IPL T20 season 2 might help them in gaining a global fan base.

Although the full occupancy in the IPL opener cannot guarantee full occupancy for the rest of the matches but it is surely a definite trend that cannot be denied. Let us wish that the occupancy is full in most of the match and IPL T20 season 2 turns out to be a grand success. And whatever we say it seems Lalit Modi always has the laugh laugh.

IPL T20 seems to be developing into the single biggest event in cricket with big bucks following into the game. IPL was a huge success in its first season and it was expected to become even bigger this year in terms of monetary gains. However, IPL T20 season 2 had to change the venue from India to South Africa as it clashed with the Indian General Elections. And IPL has been trying different methods to increase the cash flow so that the tournament remains a huge success like last year or even more.

This has led to a five-minute ‘strategy break’ twice in every match to boost TV advertising revenues. If sources are to be believed, there might be a five minute ‘strategy break’ in the middle of every innings after 10 overs are bowled. This five-minute break might help increasing the IPL television advertising revenues in each game by 30 percent according to estimates. It is notable that Sony Entertainment Television (nowadays renamed to Multi Screen Media) had clinched the domestic telecast rights of IPL T20 season 2 for a staggering Rs. 8200 crore for the next nine years. It is supposed that this five-minute strategy break might have been one of the points in negotiating the deal.

Hope that this new formula works out. Though it is not sure as of now if the five-minute strategy break will really come into effect but only time will tell how efficient will it be if it is introduced when IPL 2 starts later this month.

IPL season 2 was going through a tough phase since the last few weeks. The Indian government and the BCCI had various talks regarding security etc. as the IPL schedule clashed with the elections. But the IPL commissioner Lalit Modi was sure that the IPL season 2 would surely take place and that too during the same period. And after realizing that the talks with the govt. were going nowhere, he finally announced that the Indian Premier League would be moved abroad this year. England and South Africa were the two prime options for staging the IPL but SA got the edge as the weather and other factors were more suitable for the league. The dates were also changed a bit and IPL 2 would start from April 18 instead of April 10 as planned previously. The number of matches would remain the same at 59 but it would be played in a constricted period of 36 days as opposed to the 45 days initially planned.

Lets wait and see if it is a success after its shift to South Africa. I think it will marginally recover its staging costs and nothing else.

What do think will be outcome of IPL season 2 in terms of revenue.