By IANS,
New Delhi : West Indian captain Chris Gayle has been ruled out of the first edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after he failed to recover from a groin injury he sustained during the recent series against Sri Lanka.
Gayle, who was to play for Kolkata Knight Riders, was injured in the third ODI in St Lucia, limping off with a groin strain shortly after finishing his bowling stint. He missed Knight Riders first two games and he has now been ruled out of the entire Twenty20 tournament.
Gayle, along with three other West Indies players, were supposed to return to the Caribbean from India on May 18, in time for their series against Australia. Gayle will still be in Kolkata in the first week of May to spend some time with his team.
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Stanford willing to finance IPL English version
London: American billionaire Sir Allen Stanford is in talks with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for creating an English version of the Indian Premier League (IPL)
According to The Times the Texan banker has said that he has discussed developing an English counterpart to the glitzy tournament on the sub-continent and claims to have a group of private investors waiting in the wings.
Stanford, who Monday made a surprise £50,000 donation to the Lord’s Taverners charity, said: “It’s come up in discussions. The ECB are conservative. They are very, very carefully analysing it. I would look favourably on a proposal. I’m willing to be a big supporter.”
In a statement Monday night, the ECB said that discussions between Stanford, the West Indian Cricket Board and the ECB had been “very productive”, but refused to comment on the possibility of creating an EPL or even whether it had been discussed.
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ACA wants Twenty20 on soccer model
Sydney: The Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) which is considering a Twenty20 competition similar to the Indian Premier League has said that the expansion of the concept could follow soccer’s model.
“The Indian league will be the Premier League, and then you have the Australian league as the second league, or even the English league,” Paul Marsh, chief executive, ACA was quoted as saying in the Daily Telegraph.
“Over time players could go and play in one of these leagues and then you’ll have a situation where the ICC could license each league, get a return and distribute it to each of these boards,” he added
Marsh is also interested in the idea of an IPL team based in Australia. Michael Brown, Cricket Australia’s general manager of cricket operations, has already said the franchise idea would be considered.
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Zapak ties up with Kolkata Knigh Riders
Mumbai: Zapak Digital Entertainment Ltd, Wednesday announced their tie-up with Shahrukh Khan’s IPL Team Kolkota Knight Riders. Zapak.com is now the Official Internet Gaming Partner for the Knight Riders.
As a part of the partnership, Zapak will create a dedicated cricket zone on the official website of the Knight Riders.
As a part of the partnership, ten cricket games will be custom built specially around Knight Riders and Zapak will create a dedicated cricket zone on the official website of the Knight Rider.