Shoutbox

That IPL auction is going crazy, millions of dollars for Ravindra Jadeja and Vinay Kumar, no takers for players like Owais Shah, Darren Bravo, Tamim Iqbal, Vernon Philander... and many good players, may be Indian players is all what they want! of course they can play only 4 players overseas.

Agreed. Paying $1m for Vinay Kumar, who is neither talented nor popular is also a waste of money - especially because he'll most likely play all games and be remunerated that whole amount. Mahela as well, who is horribly out of form seriously can't be worth $1m, no matter what he did last year...

he had a decent enough T20 season with Kent last year

Yes sam, Mahmood now has British citizenship. He was a pundit for Sky during Pakistan WC 2011 matches and came on a bit as a pundit during IPL games. I think part of the reason he has been selected is because he has had a pretty decent time for Auckland in NZL domestic T20 competition - scored a 100 in a recent game I think.

R. Jadeja for 2 million is so frustrating to see, how can this guy get that level of money when his talent justifies a price tag closer to 500k, if even that. Vinay Kumar at a million is even more laughable, I know you want Indian players but at least buy them at sensible prices. At least Mahela is a proven class act over some time so you can see why they are paying that much for him (he is still ridiculously overpriced) but Jadeja and Vinay must be laughing their way to the bank. A real steal looks to be Gibbs at 50k and I think Narine at 700 was a sensible purchase by KKR. Might have to leave out Lee and play Narine on slower tracks with McCullum, Kallis and Morgan as the batsmen.

Sledge - why would anyone want Philander for a T20 domestic competition in India on flat tracks where only 4 foreign players are allowed? If anyone bought Philander, they would be idiots. If this was a Test tournament played on seaming wickets in ENG/SA then it would make sense but buying Philander for T20s would just be foolish.

Also, I would like to see this 4 foreign players rule increased to 5. There's too much non-Indian quality on the bench for these squads and there is always an Indian passenger or two. I know it's an Indian competition and its primary aim is to give Indian guys experience but seriously, 6 Indian players is a majority (out of 11) and is a more sensible number. In every team, there will be that Indian player who hardly bats, bowls or fields (or does one of them really poorly). How is he benefiting from that? Just give the viewer more entertainment (which I would argue should be IPL's main aim) and up it to 5 so I don't have to see the likes of Nannes on the bench just so Mithun can get whacked for 20 runs an over.

Finally, MI must be red hot favs to win this time. They have great foreign players and without a doubt the best Indian players.

My valentines was celebrated on the playing field in practice.  I sizzled a cover drive with my new blade, damn, it was the hardest cover drive me ever hit in me life!  Power of MB Malik bats!

Good news that Abu for all cricket fans in canada!

RIP Runako Morton... very much saddened at his death, condolences to his family.

Wasn't given the chance to live out a full life, that's the saddest part. Pray he rests in peace. †

RIP Morton. Had great spirit - warrior-like!! RIP

ICC WT20 2012 Qualifiers have started, shock defeat for Ireland against Namibia today, but all other favts win their games, NET beat CAN and SCO beat KEN. Scotland are looking like a very impressive side these days. Last year they had beaten both NET and IRE in ODI games.

Edited by sam_ahmed - 13 March 2012 at 5:44pm

Home page background ooks great in RED and IPL 2012 ad ... Watch our complete coverage on YouTube.

And 4000 posts to Sam. Kudos to you both for your informative and sometimes controversial posts.

Good job Sam, but you have twice the number of posts than mine ... .

Yes , but at my frequency I would have reached a max of 3000.

Great news would love to see a 1 test too but anyway happy atleast we will have cricket back in Pakistan.