MUMBAI: West Indian opener Chris Gayle has joined IPL franchise Royal challengers Bangalore (RCB) for the 2011 IPL as a replacement for Dirk Nannes. He was the recipient of the Orange Cap for being the highest scorer in IPL 2011.

Gayle also played for RCB in the CLT20 2011. He was a part of the Kolkata Knight Riders in the first three editions of the IPL.

Royal Challengers Sports director Sidhartha Mallya said, "We are delighted to make Chris Gayle a permanent member of our IPL squad. He is one of the best batsmen in the world. His form helped us qualify for the final of the 2011 edition of the tournament. We are confident that with players like him in our side, we will take the extra step this season, and win our maiden IPL title".

MUMBAI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has called upon all international players attached to Kochi Tuskers to register a case against the defunct IPL team to recover their pending fees.

Since the players? contracts are between them and the franchisees, the BCCI has asked the cricketers to move against the team. As for Indian cricketers who played for Kochi, they have got 65 per cent of their salaries, it is learnt.

International cricketers who played for Kochi in the last season include Mahela Jayawardene, Muttiah Muralitharan, Brendon McCullum and Steven Smith. Earlier, these players were given verbal commitment from the IPL that the Board would protect the players? right, but things went topsy turvy.

It may be noted that the BCCI had terminated Kochi?s contract during its September AGM for breaching terms of agreement. The board also encashed the team?s bank guarantee of Rs 1.56 billion.

MUMBAI: The IPL is proving to be very lucrative for some players. Last night Kevin Pietersen joined Delhi Daredevils for a reported $2 million.

Pietersen made $1.5 million when he debited in the IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2009. But when the auction was done last year, he joined the Deccan Chargers for $650,000.

Pietersen said, ?I am looking forward to a wonderful time with the Delhi Daredevils. It will be a great experience to be playing in the same squad as Sehwag."

Pietersen will earn all the money if he plays in the full competition.

GMR Sports head cricket TA Sekar said: "Kevin?s addition would strengthen the Delhi Daredevils squad this season. We are pleased to add Kevin to our line-up. He brings rich experience and an explosive quality to our batting and can be a more than a handy off-spinner as well. We are sure that Kevin will help us to be very competitive this season and the Delhi Daredevils fans will enjoy this addition."

MUMBAI: The new Stadium in Pune, subject to final completion, will make its debut as an IPL venue, by staging all eight ?home? games of the Pune Warriors India.

Dharamsala, Cuttack and Izanagi will host two games each.

As had been reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, the league will start from 4 April 2012 with nine teams and 76 matches. The league will commence with Chennai Super Kings, the defending champions, taking on the Mumbai Indians, the Champions League T20 winners, at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

The league stage, which comprises 72 matches, with each team playing the other eight in a home-and-away format, will go on till 20 May 2012.

The venue of the two finalist teams from 2011 edition will host the Play offs. Bengaluru will host Qualifier 1 (1 vs 2) and the Eliminator (3 vs 4) on 22 and 23 May respectively. Qualifier 2 and the Final will be played in Chennai on 25 May and 27 May respectively.

MUMBAI: IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab has announced that wicket-keeper-cum-batsman Dinesh Karthik has been traded with Mumbai Indians for the coming IPL season in 2012. 

Kings XI Punjab COO Col. Arvinder Singh said, ?Dinesh was an integral part of KXIP last year and displayed an exemplary performance. However, we feel that his talent as a wicket-keeper cannot be harnessed here as we already have a specialist wicket-keeper in our able captain, Adam Gilchrist".

Kings XI Punjab had acquired Dinesh at $900,000 during the auction in 2011 and have traded him with Mumbai Indians for a sum of $2.35 million. "We are also pleased to welcome Rajgopal Satish in to our team and are sanguine that he shall beef up our middle order in the coming season," the IPL team said.
 

MUMBAI: Youth channel UTV Bindass is launching in February-end a cricket reality show, Cricket Champs.

The show, produced in association with Indraprastha All India Sports Foundation (IAISF), seeks to identify the budding cricket talent from across thecountry; it will provide an opportunity for potential young cricketers.

UTV Bindass business head Keith Alphonso said, ?We at Bindass are known to create path breaking programming and are happy to present to our viewers an exciting mix of sports and reality with Cricket Champs. The concept of the show has a purposive goal aimed at giving youth a platform to showcase their sporting talent. The show will bring alive the spirit of the youth and help promote the budding sports talent in India.?

Cricket Champ is being powered by Bhushan Pharmaceuticals. The sponsors include Akai Mobiles, nexGTv, Koovs.com, Puri Group and Livemedia. Reebok is the Fitness Partners while Aircel has come on board as the Telecom Partners. Pioneer Publicity India is the outdoor partner for the show.

IAISF chairperson Rohini Rajdev added, ?IAISF aims at bringing talent from hinterland to mainland. As an NGO, we wish to create opportunities for those, who have a dream to become not only the Indian cricketer but also the Indian captain, the cricket champ, however, they do not have any opportunity and resources to fulfill their dreams. This show will help them in coming up and showing their talent. The entire country would horn their skill and abilities and give them opportunity to play higher league form?.

Cricket Champs will hold auditions covering 300 schools, colleges and coaching centres across India with cricket representatives like Irfan and Yusuf Pathan, Keerti Aazad, Piyush Chawla. The cricketers will be chosen in two categories: Under 16 and under 22. The West and East zone includes Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Bihar, Jharkhand, Bhubaneswar; North zone covers Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur, UP; and south zone has Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai.

Once through with the auditions, the selected participants will be judged on their performances.

UTV Bindass viewers can also participate through voting and the contestant who receives the maximum votes umulatively will be declared as the ?Cricket Champ?.

The winner of the show will win a cash prize of Rs 1 million and the top 10 players will get an opportunity to be a part of the IPL coaching, where they will be coached by some of the renowned names in cricket.

TThe aspiring cricketers can apply through application forms available with the coaches in their respective cities across the country. The form can also be downloaded from the IAISF website www.indraprasthasportsfd.com.