Yes. They still can!!

The reports are out. After L-Mod announced that he had twisted the IPL rule to allow Pak players to be contracted as substitutes for non available players, Abdul Razzaq has been roped in by DC. If this turns out true, I can expect to see the likes of Afridi toning down their voices against the money might. Now that there is a Pakistani player in the IPL, what will Pakistani cable operators do? Still block IPL.
Blocked or not, L-Mod has found another way for the IPL to reach homes in Pakistan and elsewhere around the world. In a new first - the IPL will go live on (yes you read it right) You tube!! Just when the Pak govt thought it had paid the IPL back in the same coin, L-Mod has pulled another rabbit from his hat!

This one is getting serious ha ha ha

I thought that the IPL auction drama involving Pakistan players (and a few Aussie players as well) was just a cautious reaction by the franchises to fear of non-availability of players. But the issue seems to have snow balled into a catastrophe. While Pakistan's Interior Minister (unbelievable that its the Interior Minister who has so much time in hand to worry about Pakistan players being snubbed by the IPL) is making loud noises, the opposition has even demanded to withdraw sporting relations with India. Another funny backlash is that a team of parliamentarians who were supposed to tour India (obviously for non-sports purposes) have canceled the tour in protest. And finally here is a spectacular reaction - former cricketer Zaheer Abbas has asked for withdrawal of the Pakistan hockey team from the Hockey World Cup to be held in India. Agreed that the whole of Pakistan is outraged at the snub. But, what did the International Hockey Federation do to deserve such a snub from Pakistan?????
Staying with hockey, the eternally generous Lalit Modi as agreed to change timings of certain IPL matches to ensure that the Hockey World Cup coverage is not affected. I would have appreciated Modi had he moved matches to a different day, wouldn't you?

After the drama come the aftermath

Enraged at the eternal snub by the IPL Pakistani players and board biggies are venting their anger at Lalit Modi, BCCI, Indian politics and finally India in that order. While chairman Ejaz Butt thinks its a Modi & BCCI conspiracy, player Afridi thinks that the Indians have conspired to insult Pakistan while politics has also been blamed. But when you are unsure about whether the player would be granted a visa to come to India to play in the IPL, would you still want to play an amount between $50,000 and $750,000 (+ the very secret fee that stays between Modi and the franchise) for the player? I wouldn't do so. I'd rather keep the money. Come on Pakistan! Be practical!!

And the money flows

Kieran Pollard started the IPL3.0 bidding war the same way he starts his innings. 7 minutes into the bidding, 4 franchises reached the cap of $750,000. What a start it was - All the way to a silent tie-breaker where MI snatched him from the others.
Here's how the rest that were sold followed
Wayne Parnell - DD - $ 610,000
Shane Bond - KKR - $750,000 (silent tie breaker)
Kemar Roach - DC - $720,000
Eoin Morgan - RCB - $220,000
Damien Martyn - RR - $100,000
Thissara Perera - CSK - $50,000
Justin Kemp - CSK - $50,000
Yusuf Abdullah - KXIP -$50,000
Adam Voges - RR - $50,000
Mohammad Kaif - KXIP - $250,000
Surprisingly, players like Afridi, Haddin, Sohail Tanvir and many others who were supposed to stir up the bidding war did not even evoke a twitch - this may not be bad for the IPL but it will definitely do good for the players as they can now concentrate on playing fit and fresh in the T20 World Cup that will follow IPL3.0
Als, considering what we saw, the decisions by James Anderson and Stuart Broad to skip the money minter and "be prepared for the Ashes" seem very wise now. Had they entered the fray they would have found no takers and suffered the embarrassment - something the Pakistani players are now facing.

IPL - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly updates

The Good - It's official. The IPL is set to clash with the lucrative NBA, NHL and NFL. Lalit Modi has announced that the IPL will go all the way west in the next few years.
The next set of 66 foreign players will go under the hammer tomorrow as IPL 3.0 gets set to roll off. The original list was pruned down to 97 from 66 after the iron hand of Lalit Modi hammered out a few names from the list. For the list go here.
The Bad - There is yet another twist to the IPL influenced by India politics. Mumbai and Punjab fans might not get to see Aussie players playing on their home grounds owing to threats from respective local political parties. It's getting inevitable - the IPL and India politics are getting too intertwined. Soon it will reach a point of no return! Now that has put a lot of Aussie players and their teams unsteady on their feet. Imagine DC without Gilly and Symonds or CSK without Hayden and Hussey or KXIP without Bret or for that matter KKR without Ponting and Hodge! Come on people - go dive into that new list of 67 and find someone!!
There is more bad news for CSK - Freddy is off IPL 3.0 - hasn't recovered yet.
The Ugly - When Lalit Modi scrapped Chris Cairns off the IPL auction list he was bold enough to say that Cairns was involved in match fixing and was therefore off the list. But let me get something clear here. Cairns was accused by the ICL of match fixing. Modi and the BCCI do not recognize ICL. Now how is it that Modi recognizes only ICL's accusations? Not that I am in favor of match fixers, but just being curious.

Auction begins again

The auction of players for IPL 3.0 will begin this month. A provisional list of 97 players who intend to play in the IPL has already been made. Unfortunately, it looks like not all 97 would get the nod. Pathetic!