Contorvrsies In IPL-2

Fake IPL Player:

The lordie and the Phoren Babas. The Coachie and Kan Moolo along with Little John and Badshah D*&#o, all of these characters became the part of a blog which exclusively focused on SRK’s Kolkata Knight Riders. Most of the players in the team were given pseudo-names. The blog aimed to provide the inside scoop on the KKR’s. And in the words of the anonymous blogger, it said,” I will be bringing to you the "aankhon dekha haal", right from inside the dressing room, meeting room and players' bedrooms ;-).”

The blogs had no qualms in calling SRK a megalomaniac and named him Badshah D*&#o. Ganguly had been aptly coined as Lordie, the guy who is in constant altercation with the Badshah and the Coachie ( John Buchanan). The Phoren Babas point to the foreign support staff that the KKR team has in their camp.

The posts on the site became yet another headache for King Khan and the managers of his team. The blog writer called himself ‘Fake IPL Player’ and his blog took pot-shots against the senior members, the coach and the support contingent. The blog came to be raging success within a few days of its appearance on the internet.

Multi Captaincy Theory:

The theory fell flat in the Knight Rider’s performance too followed the same trend. A brainwave of coach John Buchanan, it created tons of controversy right from the time it was announced.

A grim looking Ganguly got the thunder-bolt at the press conference itself. Sunil Gavaskar gave out his opinion on the Buchanan’s theory and was lashed in the media by the team owner. It is another matter that SRK was sensible enough to apologize to the little master.

The theory though was never set into practice on the field. The captaincy of the team was given to Brendon McCullum. Buchanan’s idea was to to distribute the leadership role in the team but it seemed that not many players liked the idea of four captains in the team. Chris Gayle was seen to be supporting the theory along with India’s Ishant Sharma. Later the lanky lad refused to stick along with Buchanan’s theory.

Everyone seemed confused and the theory did nothing more than generate bickering and disputes. The IPL 2009 will be remembered for the way the KKR played and of all the issues that the team created off the field the ‘multiple-captaincy’ dud will be in the memory for a long time.

Strategy Break:

This strategy had the name of Lalit ‘IPL’ Modi wriiten on it. When poked about the time-out break , Shane Warne said, "It doesn't matter who is batting, Sachin (Tendulkar) or anybody else; you just lose momentum. But if you are behind, you can actually regroup and refocus to work out what you should actually do on the field and then go out and do it. "

The ace spinner also added, "From a purely cricketing point of view, I don't think it works, but from a commercial point of view, I'm sure it works very well." Warne added. The seven-and-a-half minute strategy break allows for IPL organisers to sell advertising for a reported Rs.4,000 per 10 seconds.

The whole issue generated heated controversy with players and coaches saying it was a distraction and affects the flow of the match. Former player and ex-selector VB Chandrasekar, who heads Chennai Super Kings' cricket operations,was far from amused with the break. "The 7-1/2 minute break after 10 overs is quite a distraction and comes in the way of valuable momentum..." Chandrasekar said.

All through this the IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi kept on insisting that the break was introduced to allow teams to strategies, most believe the innovation was aimed at providing the broadcaster extra slots for commercials.

IPL SMS Game:

Concerned about the "commercial use of cricket for business gains", Sports Minister MS Gill criticised the BCCI for introducing an IPL SMS game which requires fans to make ball by ball predictions for cash prizes in the ongoing Indian Premier League.

"This is viewed as 'openly encouraging gambling and betting', which official bodies do not resort to, even in countries where betting is legal; all this 'to make money and enlarge their TV viewership base'," the minister added.

Former India skipper Dilip Vengsarkar joined Sports Minister M S Gill in slamming the IPL organisers for introducing an SMS game in the second edition of the event, saying it affected the sanctity of the game.

Saying that betting in cricket was a very old phenomenon, and need not be confused with match-fixing, the former chief selector said, "I support Mr Gill partially. We should not stoop so low which will affect the sanctity of cricket".

The controversial SMS game was later discontinued with the games' inventors taking note of the apprehensions expressed by Sports Minister M S Gill and many former cricketers. Although no pressure was put for the game to be withdrawn, the organisers decided to stop it with immediate effect.

More than 4 Foreigners:

Never short of ideas, Kolkata Knight Riders coach John Buchanan has now floated the idea of having more than four foreign players in the playing XI of the Indian Premier League sides.

Buchanan said he had raised the issue with the IPL authorities and was hopeful that if not this season, such a thing would be allowed in the third edition of the Twenty20 league.

Later on, Delhi Daredevils coach Greg Shipperd also pitched for an additional foreigner in some of the games to spice up the Indian Premier League in future.

The growing clamour for more than four foreign cricketers in the playing XI notwithstanding, Indian Premier League Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi has ruled out any such possibility.

"We have had quite few requests from the franchises on that. For the moment we will have only four overseas players in a playing XI," Modi said before the first semifinal game.


Source:http://sports.in.msn.com/