IPL Cricket Season Three Preview

The Kolkata Knight Riders began their pre-season training under the watchful eyes of physio Andrew Leipus without icon player Sourav Ganguly. The eagarly anticipated third season of IPL is due to start in India on 12 March 2010 the fixtures are due to be played over a 45 day period. The 60-game tournament will feature a third-place playoff between the losing semi-finalists as a qualifier for the Champions League and could also see the induction of ICL players. The other main changes this year are the addition of Four new venues, these are: Nagpur, The Vidharba Cricket Association Stadium is a new Test cricket ground in the city of Nagpur, Maharashtra, India. Replacing the old Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground. Purpose built at the Jamtha area of Nagpur to top international standards and the opening game was an international match played between India and Australia in November 2008. An all seater stadium with luxury suites and designed on the Australian Cricket ground system. This Stadium will be one of those used during the 2011 cricket world cup. Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Cricket Association-Vishakapatnam District Cricket Association), a fairly modern stadium which was built in 2003 and has a 46000 capacity it attained test status in 2007 this is another ground that will host games in the 2011 Cricket world cup. Ahmedabad Sardar Patel Stadium (Gujarat) commonly known as Motera with a capacity of 48000 and equiped with flood lights this is a well known stadium in India built in 1982 it has hosted test matches in the past. Dharamsala, HPCA Stadium located in the city of Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh. This is the home ground for Himachal Pradesh Cricket Team and host all their trophy matches as well as some limited over games. This ground will act as the home stadium for Kings XI Punjab and will have floodlights installed in preparation for the IPL games this ground is also scheduled to host some international cricket games in the near future. Some further changes are the increase in the number of matches which has been increased to 94. Perhaps one of the most important changes is the removal of icon players and granting permission to players who were involved in the Indian Cricket League to play in the tournament. This amazing tournament established by the forward thinking Board of Control for Cricket in India will be played out to a television audience expected to be in excess of 200 million people in India alone. No other tournament in the world can boast figures like that. Hyderabad will stage the opening fixture between defending champions Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders, while both semi-finals will be held in Bangalore. The venue of the final hasn't been fixed but the season will end five days before the World Twenty20 opens in West Indies. Some other IPL News that will interest fans of this league are that it is reported that Salman Khan interested in buying IPL team. Salman Khan is a huge Bollywood star and he wants to own a cricket team. It is reported that the actor has met IPL chairman Lalit Modi in Mumbai to better understand the bidding process. He is obviously looking to the future because two new IPL teams are to be introduced in IPL 2011. Early reports say Khan is interested in bidding for the Nagpur or Kochi team. Last year, the average bid was 150 million dollars per team, so Salman will need a serious amount of cash. Deccan Chargers' batsman Rohit Sharma has been named as the best Under-23 player of the last IPL tournament which was held in South Africa. Selected unanimously for the award, which carries a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh, by former India captains Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and MAK Pataudi, the adjudicators of the award. Rohit Sharma who is a 22 year old right hander from Mumbai won this award thanks to the 333 runs he scored in the league stages of the tournament at an average of 27.75 and a strike rate of 119. As well as brilliance with a bat he can also bowl having taken 11 wickets at an average of 11.45 including a hat trick. Rohit stated that he was elated with the award. "To be recognised for my achievements by three of the living legends of Indian cricket is a great thrill for me," he added. It looks like Australian pacer Glenn McGrath may have played his last game for Delhi Daredevils according to reports attributed to the Australian player. There were fears about his fitness so the player never actually got a game last year, lets see how this transpires. Indian Premier League Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi has ruled out the expansion of foreign players for the time being. Kolkata Knight Riders coach John Buchanan and Delhi Daredevils coach Greg Shipperd have been openly demanding that more than four foreigners be allowed in the playing XI.