In an apparent bid to cut cost, the Knight Riders team management today "politely" asked five of its players to leave the team hotel. The players are Ranadeb Bose, Cheteshwar Pujara, Sourasish Lahiri, Yashpal Singh and Hokkaido. One of the players said they were "politely given the option of either staying at the team hotel or going home". "It was clear what the  team management wants. Apparently coach John feels that he has found his set combination and had no need for the fringe players," one of the players said.

Languishing at the bottom of the table, Deccan Chargers were dealt another jolt when VVS Laxman, their captain, ruled himself out of the rest of the Indian Premier League after failing to recover from a hairline fracture just below his right wrist.

After introducing the 'Orange Cap' for the highest run-getter, IPL on Monday announced a 'Purple Cap' for the highest wicket-taking bowler as well. The 'Purple Cap' will be awarded to the bowler with the most cumulative wickets to his name on each day of the season, and will be worn by that bowler in the field. At the end of the season, the holder of the 'Purple Cap' will win the honour of being called the Winner of the Purple Cap 2008 and will receive recognition on the final day.

The franchises have obviously spent huge chunks of money to become owners. While they might be in it purely for commercial reasons, they don't like to see themselves at the bottom of any table. You don't become so rich or successful by being also-rans

What was expected to be the team's strength has turned out to be an area of concern. Kolkata had a few potentially deadly opening options but a combination of injuries and international commitments of their foreign recruits have left them in a seemingly endless search for the right men. Since a foreigner has to be left out to accommodate Shoaib Akhtar, Butt seems to be the likely casualty. After some struggle, Ganguly's bowling stocks look settled and the inclusion of Akhtar is expected to make it more potent.

Venugopal Rao's unbeaten 42-ball 71 went in vain as Deccan Chargers slumped to their seventh successive defeat, going down to Kolkata Knight Riders by 23 runs. Opting to bat first, the Knight Riders rode on captain Sourav Ganguly's stroke-filled 91 and David Hussey's late assault to amass 204 for the loss of four wickets in their quota of 20 overs. In reply, the Chargers led by Rao's blitzkrieg -- studded with four boundaries and a half a dozen sixes -- could manage 181 for seven.

Half way through the tournament and we are witnessing the tussle fight for the top 4 places in the points table. In the third week of the tournament, we have seen some turnarounds. Read this fine post on The IPL Blog. OR just copy paste this link – http://iplrocks.blogspot.com/2008/05/ipl-week-of-turnarounds.html

Heavy rains played spoilsport as there were Tagore’s songs and dance before the start of the IPL match on Thursday night at the Eden Gardens between KKR & RC, which coincided with Gurudev’s 148th birth anniversary. The 10-minute programme had Indrani Sen singing Vandemataram, written by Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay and music composed by the bard, while danseuse Mamata Shankar and her troupe members gave a dance performance.

The Jaipur story is the most interesting. They refrained from spending huge amounts on any individual, so much so that at one stage they were facing the prospect of incurring a penalty for not spending the required $5 million on buying players. They spent the maximum on Mohammed Kaif ($675000) and snared up a champion like Shane Warne for just $450,000. In what would arguably be the best buy of the league, they bought Shane Watson for mere $125,000 and Pakistan left-arm seamer Sohail Tanvir for just $100,000.

Bollywood actor Riya Sen has been appointed as the brand ambassador for Indian Premier League’s official website, www.iplt20.com. Riya’s role will require her to attend the IPL matches, interact with cricketers and post her interactions and views on the website. “We saw Riya attending a couple of the IPL matches. Riya became first choice and we went ahead with her.”

Kolkata Knight Riders defeated struggling Bangalore Royal Challengers by five runs in their rain curtailed 16-over IPL match at the Eden Gardens. Earlier, Kolkata Knight Riders scored a respectable 129 for seven against Bangalore Royal Challengers in a rain-curtailed match of the Indian Premier League at the Eden Gardens on Thursday.

West Bengal Sports Minister Subhas Chakraborty had objected to his pre-match performance as the day is observed as Rabindra Jayanti. “There will be a 10-minute show before the match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Bangalore Royal Challengers starts Thursday. But keeping in mind the occasion of Rabindra Jayanti and sentiments of Kolkatans attached to this day, SRK has decided not to perform on Bollywood numbers. Instead we have approached popular Kolkata artists to put up a show to pay tribute to Tagore through his songs and dances.” Said Mohammad Morani, event manager.

West Bengal Sports Minister Subhas Chakraborty Monday said his department was not satisfied with the ticket distribution. As a mark of protest, the sports ministry has returned all tickets for the Twenty20 match to be held at Eden Gardens Thursday to the IPL franchise Red Chillies Entertainment of film star Shah Rukh Khan

A whopping Rs. 150-300 crores is in the betting ring everyday for IPL matches. Live Mint reports “About Rs10,000-12,000 crore will be bet during the entire tournament,” said another Ahmedabad-based bookie with active links in Mumbai. “The major centres are Mumbai, Gujarat, Jaipur, Kolkata, Delhi and Chennai.” Another small-time operator from the eastern part of Ahmedabad said, “We bet on everything—toss, team formation, opening bowler, if runs will be scored on the first ball. Anything you can think of.”

Rawalpindi Express cleared to play in the IPL with his ban suspended for a month by a Pakistani tribunal, is likely to fly in to the city today to join the beleaguered Kolkata Knight Riders. Akhtar, whose availability has given a boost to the Knight Riders after the team's string of four successive losses, would be assessed for fitness on Tuesday ahead of KKR's game against Royal Challengers on May 8.

Kolkata Knight Riders spearhead Ishant Sharma was today fined 10 per cent of his match fees for kicking down the stumps in yesterday’s Indian Premier League match against Punjab King’s XI at Mohali. IPL match referee Clive Lloyd found the speedster guilty.

Knight Riders lost their fourth straight but their skipper Ganguly feels the side is still not out of the semi-final reckoning. "Still, we are a good side. We are not out of the competition. You never know in cricket. We still have five more games and most of them are on home turf," the Knight Riders' skipper said.

Umar Gul, who recently joined Kolkata, felt Ganguly’s captaincy in Twenty20 cricket had a way to go. “This format is new for Ganguly. He is finding it difficult,” Gul told PTI. “He has to learn a few more tricks. We also have to find the right combination and rhythm.” Trying times ahead for Ganguly in the upcoming matches after loosing three matches in a row.

The world around us can be interpreted as a series of controversies. Look at the newspaper headlines. Everyday the paper is trying to beat up something as today’s “big story”. The IPL, of course, has had its own share of controversies, but our blogger feels that there is something very interesting about the IPL controversies. Read this interesting post on The IPL Blog (link in the left menu)

Warne had earlier said that he would lodge a complaint against Ganguly for resorting to time-wasting tactics during their IPL match and refusing to accept the fielder's word on a "clean catch". "I was disappointed at the start. While batting we waited for five minutes under the hot sun and they (Knight Riders) were not anywhere to be seen. When fielding, we just waited for Sourav to come out. When we were out on the field, we all stood there waiting. I don't know what he was doing. He wanted extra time," a visibly annoyed Warne said. Ganguly, however, begged to disagree and said, "I did not know that in cricket, taking a one-drop catch was in the spirit of the game. "I didn't ask the on-field umpire to refer it. I just told him that I think it was not a clean catch. It was completely the on-field umpire's decision to see third umpire's help," Ganguly added.

"I am disappointed. But I am confident that my team will bounce back," Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh said a day after the Knight Riders stumbled to a seven-wicket defeat against Mumbai Indians at the Eden Gardens. "The seniors like Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Ponting know that to achieve success you have to understand and accept failure. But the youngsters in the team were feeling a bit low. So I decided to stay back with them here a little longer. We even arranged for a private get-together and danced till 4 am," said Shah Rukh. Shah Rukh took the double defeat in his stride. "It happens in the game. Harke jitne wale ko bazigar kehta hai (Those who can pull off wins after losing can turn things around from nowhere). In fact, I said this in the dressing room yesterday, and Chris Gayle was repeating this line today."

After their skimpy outfits created a furor among the country’s politicians, the Indian Premier League (IPL) cheerleaders have now “covered up” to ensure that there are no more controversies. The cheerleaders were clad in their new attire for the IPl matches today starting with the game between Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab in Mohali, and it certainly left less room for complaints. The cheerleaders, dubbed by the politicians as too "wild" for the families who come to watch the IPL matches, have decided to change their clothes for the jigs that mark sixes and boundaries during the matches. "We don't want to offend anybody. I think it's a small minority view (about them being too wild). But we will take it on board and address what we are wearing. So we have got a new costume to show off," said the head of Deccan Chargers' cheerleading squad. "The fans seem to really enjoy our act but I am fine with the changes in our clothes. We will wear what our management tells us to wear. If they want us to be covered up, we are more than happy to do that," said another.

The New York Times has a very interesting editorial up today about the new fad that is sweeping India - The IPL. The author calls the IPL “dangerously close to a circus” and talks about how extravagant and big-money this whole league is becoming. But he discusses the “outsourcing” that India is doing to the US - Importing Cheerleading talent. All the IPL teams have a cheerleading squad, most of the imported. This cheerleading frenzy is led by the Bangalore Royal Challengers who’ve hired the Washington RedSkins cheerleading squad. And these lovely ladies are apparently going to hold a national audition to train local cheerleaders. Since the concept is so new, the author is even wondering what the “cheerleaders” should be called in Hindi - maybe “utsaah-pradarshak naari” — “a woman who displays enthusiasm”. Funny stuff. You can read the whole article on our blog