Wednesday, March 25, 2009

IPL COMES TO SA

Johannesburg: South Africa will host the second edition of the DLF-Indian Premier League from April 18, IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi and Cricket South Africa Chief Executive Gerald Majola announced here on Tuesday.
The decision to accept South Africa’s offer to host the second edition of DLF-IPL has much to do with the fact that the promised 4-00 p.m. and 8-00 p.m. (IST) start of the games could be achieved more practically here than in England, which was the other venue nation being considered.
The notoriously fickle English weather in April and early part of May was another huge reason why the DLF-IPL tournament has headed to South Africa rather than England. It was estimated that rain could seriously affect as many as 70 per cent of the DLF-IPL T20 matches if they were scheduled for England.
The teams will start arriving in South Africa from April 1, 2009. The opening ceremony will be held in Cape Town, with the inaugural match being played on April 18. The final is likely to be held at the Wanderers in Johannesburg. As many as five other cities – Durban, Centurion, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town – have already been identified. East London and Bloemfontein are competing for a host city berth.
The schedule for the 59 matches and the host venues for the eight franchises will be released shortly. Royal Challengers are likely to be based in Johannesburg.

What a thing this is for SA Cricket and spectators. To see the best in the world on our doorstep

3 comments:

  1. Great news for SA. Well done CSA. I'm sure SA will be a great host and make it a success.
    This is a fantastic vote of confidence in our infrastructure and ability to host such an enormous tournament.
    The eight franchises have been constructed to play Twenty20 cricket in India. Millions of dollars have been spent acquiring players best suited to succeed in Indian conditions. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on individual players capable of smashing sixes off the front foot on flat wickets or bowling strangling spin with the help of turning wickets. Suddenly, now, the squads will be faced with conditions as divergent as they could possibly imagine. The brilliant, match-winning six hitters who plant their front foot down the pitch and swing through the line, will find the ball travelling past their nostrils rather than passing at shin height.
    This is going to be interesting. We going to have fun here in SA! HOPE TO SEE THE BOLLYWOOD BABES IN ACTION AS WELL!

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  2. We welcome the IPL to the Rainbow Nation - we will make this a success, it will at very least match the atmosphere of IPL1.
    We don't like cricket, WE LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!! awaiting April 18th, South African!

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  3. IPL on a safari vacation

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