Cricket fever bowls out Bollywood blockbusters:

      With cricket mania threatening to grip the country in the following months, Bollywood has decided to hold off the release of big-budget films until the end of the World Cup and the Indian Premier League (IPL) tournaments.

      “All big ticket films have been pushed forward to avert a scheduling clash with the forthcoming cricket season,” says Bollywood trade consultant, Amod Mehra.

     The World Cup matches begin on February 19 and conclude in the first week of April. The season 4 of the IPL begins soon afterwards on April 9.

    “Cricket is the most popular game in our country and is being watched for free on television. So there is always low turnout at cinema halls whenever a major tournament is on,” Mehra points out.

      A spokersperson for UTV Motion Pictures, which has postponed the release of the Akshay Kumar-Sonam Kapoor starrer ‘Thank You’ till the World Cup gets over, admits that the decision was taken to avoid the clash with the cricket season.

Auction-eve spotlight on underdogs

  

Bangalore, Jan. 7: On the eve of the Indian Premier League player auction, the underdog is having his day.

The teams are fighting over uncapped domestic Indian cricketers while raising doubts over the worth of some of the elite in the top price brackets, especially ageing warhorses like Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid.

       Today, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the franchisees bickered over a new rule relating to buying or retaining the domestic cricketers who are yet to don the India colours.

The new rule, announced by the BCCI in December, says the uncapped players would not be part of the IPL 4 player auction, scheduled tomorrow. Instead, it allows teams to sign uncapped players of their choice through a three-way agreement involving the cricketer, franchise and the IPL.

     “This will help the cash-rich and influential teams whose under-the-table deals will rob the other teams of a level playing field,” a Kolkata Knight Riders official said.

      The debate arose after the BCCI changed an earlier policy announced in September 2010. It had then said that uncapped domestic players who had played 75 per cent of their teams’ matches in IPL 3 would be part of the auction along with Team India and overseas players.

     The Knight Riders, Kings XI Punjab and three other franchises have alleged that the rule was changed after the Mumbai Indians suggested in November that uncapped players not be put up for auction.

     The BCCI denies any foul play and says that the shortage of good domestic players is the reason franchises are keen on chasing and bagging some of them before the auction. The most sought after include Manish Pandey, Ambati Rayudu, Siddharth Trivedi, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala and R. Satish.

     These uncapped players have been divided into three categories depending on how much first-class cricket they have played. Those in the lowest tier can sign for Rs 10 lakh ($21,500) a year, those in the middle tier for Rs 20 lakh ($43,000) and players in the top tier — those who have played the Ranji Trophy for at least five seasons — for Rs 30 lakh ($64,500).

    “But the wealthier teams are ready to offer them much more in one-to-one negotiations that may include high-salary jobs, properties and other emoluments. That makes these players open to bargaining with the other franchises who have less cash,” an IPL source said.

     Most franchises also feel that some of the ageing stars among the marquee players — such as Sourav and Dravid who have a base price of $400,000 each — may struggle to find buyers.

     “(Anil) Kumble did the smart thing by opting out. It’s unlikely that he would have found a buyer at this fag end of his career. Who would be willing to pay $400,000 for an ageing Kumble over a Gautam Gambhir or Robin Uthappa or even an uncapped star like Rayudu?” a Knight Riders source said.

    “Ditto for Sourav and Dravid. They are great ambassadors for the game; as brands they may still add value to a team. But the best role for them is not that of a player but that of a mentor.”

The source said the Knight Riders would go all out for Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh. “And if Sourav goes unsold, we may buy him at the base price because of his brand value in Calcutta,” he said.

A Kochi team source said the franchise would be keen on Dravid for the same reason.

   “This is the reason the franchises are keen to finish their shopping for uncapped players before the auction,” a Deccan Chargers source said.

    “This way they can plan their teams better and will not end up spending more to pick up a top-league player to fill a slot that can be taken care of by an uncapped player.”