Watson leads Rajasthan Royals to first win in IPL

A determined batting performance from Shane Watson led the Rajasthan Royals to a six-wicket win over the Kings XI Punjab - their first in the Indian Premier League.

The Royals were hammered by the Delhi Daredevils in their opening fixture, but three wickets from coach and captain Shane Warne set the tone on Monday as the Kings XI posted 166 for eight.

Fellow Australian Watson then took control in the Royals' reply, striking an unbeaten 76 to lead his side to 168 for four.

Karan Goel (26 from 21 balls) proved the main aggressor early for the Kings XI, striking Munaf Patel for six twice before the India bowler gained revenge with a yorker which removed his off stump.

That brought Kumar Sangakkara (20 from eight) to the crease and he immediately let rip, plundering three fours and a six from his first four deliveries faced, but he fell when Warne accepted a simple return catch.

Mahela Jayawardene fell quickly and James Hopes (16 from 16) became Warne's second victim.

Punjab were 73 for four at that point, but some clean hitting from captain Yuvraj Singh (57 from 34) put them back on track.

Warne (three for 19) accounted for Yuvraj and Siddharth Trivedi picked up a couple of late wickets, but Piyush Chawla's unbeaten cameo of 24 from 11 balls took the Kings XI to 166 for eight.

The Royals' reply did not get off to the best of starts as they slipped to 48 for three.

But Australian pair Watson and Darren Lehmann steadied the ship.

Lehmann (17 from 16) was trapped lbw by Irfan Pathan, but man-of-the-match Watson continued with support from 19-year-old Ravindra Jadeja.

The Australia all-rounder struck five maximums in his 49-ball innings, backed by Jadeja (36 from 25) in an unbroken partnership of 69 which saw them home with 11 balls to spare.

The result leaves Punjab at the bottom of the embryonic IPL table, having lost their

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Darren Lehmann to substitute for Greame Smith

Former Australian middle order batsman Darren Lehmann, at the behest of fellow Australian and Rajasthan Royals skipper Shane Warne will fill in for Graeme Smith for a brief spell.

The batsman, who retired from first-class cricket last November, was reportedly surprised when he got a call from Warne asking him to fill in till Smith is available to play in IPL after finishing his domestic commitments.

"It's all happened so quickly," he said. "They needed someone as cover for Graeme Smith so I didn't hesitate to put my hand up. It will be good playing in the same side as Warnie."

18 International players finalised for second IPL Bidding

Pakistan's Mohammed Yousuf and South Africa's Ashwell Prince, who were dumped by franchise owners at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction last month, along with Misbah-ul-Haq will be among the 18 players to be auctioned on Tuesday.

IANS accessed the highly confidential players' list that will be distributed to the eight franchise owners not before Tuesday morning.

The list includes seven New Zealanders, four Australians, three Pakistanis, two from Bangladesh, and one each from Sri Lanka and South Africa.

The list includes the cricketers who are already contracted by IPL, an extension of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and would be playing in the maiden edition of the lucrative Twenty20 tournament starting April 18.

"There are 13 other foreign players who have shown keen interest to play in the first season," a top BCCI official told IANS on condition of anonymity.

As per the IPL rules, the high profile team owners are free to buy more foreign players from outside the list of 18. But the teams will have to inform the IPL about the players they are targeting and the organisers will then negotiate their base price and try to secure the no-objection certificates (NOCs) from their home boards.

Pakistani batting's mainstay Yousuf and Prince were up for sale in the first auction, but there were no takers for the two players. They were once again ignored even when they were presented at the end of the eight-round auction, where 75 players went down the hammer. The duo would now be hoping to be picked Tuesday.

Misbah, on the other hand, was not in the fray in the first auction.

The team owners, who were asked to spend between $3.3 million and $5 million at the first auction in Mumbai Feb 20, have varying amounts left in their kitty, which necessitated a second auction.

The amounts left are: $374,000 with Bangalore, $23,750 with Chennai, $71,250 with Delhi, $262,500 with Hyderabad, $1,700,000 with Jaipur, $107,500 with Kolkata, $292,250 with Mohali and $53,750 with Mumbai.

"However, if a team overspends $5 million on players who were initially not available but become available later, the excess expenditure will be ignored. Also, player fees for Indian players who were not in the auction do not count against the $5m purse," said the official.

"There will be no more auctions this season," the official added.

Each team can have a minimum of 16 players, including a maximum of eight currently available foreigners but not more than four in the playing XI. Those foreign players who are not available will not count towards the total.

The minimum of four under-22 players to be selected for the squad will be taken from catchments areas and include U-19, Ranji Trophy and national players. They should be under 22 years of age as on April 1 of the applicable season.

The minimum fee for Ranji Trophy and non-auction players has been fixed at $50,000 per season while under-22 players will receive $20,000 for the same period.

All players must submit the NOCs at least 30 days before the start of every season, with the exception for the Australian players.

Cricket Australia (CA) has said that it would give NOCs to its players, if the franchise keen to contract a player has already met two conditions: (a) it has already signed two CA's centrally contracted players, or (b) it has already signed two players registered to the same Australian state association. This clause was added at the last minute before the first auction and will again apply.

But players who have retired from international and Australian domestic cricket and are not contracted with either CA or their state association - like Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath - do not have to meet this condition.

All team owners have to finalise their squads by 30 days before the start of the 2008 season, which is March 19.

Players for second auction: (includes Availability for the tournament)

1 Mohammad Yousuf (Pakistan/batsman/season availability 80 percent)
2 Ashwell Prince (South Africa/batsman, 100 percent)
3 Kyle Mills (New Zealand/bowler/ 40 percent)
4 Mohammad Hafeez (Pakistan/all-rounder, 80 percent)
5 Ross Taylor (New Zealand/batsman/40 percent)
6 Peter Fulton (New Zealand/batsman/40 percent)
7 Jamie How (New Zealand/batsman/40 percent)
8 Jeetan Patel (New Zealand/bowler/40 percent)
9 Chris Martin (New Zealand/bowler/40 percent)
10 James Franklin (New Zealand/bowler/40 percent)
11 Brad Hodge (Australia/batsman/100 percent)
12 Shane Watson (Australia/all-rounder/100 percent)
13 James Hopes (Australia/all-rounder/80 percent)
14 Luke Pomersbach (Australia/batsman/100 percent)
15 Prasanna Jayawardene (Sri Lanka/wicket-keeper-batsman/100 percent)
16 Mohammad Ashraful (Bangladesh/all-rounder/100 percent)
17 Mashrafe Mortaza (Bangladesh/batsman/100 percent)
18 Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan/batsman/80 percent)

Players who have expressed their interest:

1 Goolam Bodi (South Africa)
2 Shaun Marsh (Australia)
3 Brad Hogg (Australia)
4 Shaun Tait (Australia)
5 Adam Voges (Australia)
6 Mick Lewis (Australia)
7 Darren Lehman (Australia)
8 Allen Wise (Australia)
9 Aiden Blizzard (Australia)
10 Adam Crosthwaite (Australia)
11 Yasir Hameed (Pakistan)
12 Kieran Powell (West Indies)
13 Dwayne Smith (West Indies)

Tom Moody to coach in Indian Premier League

Australian All-rounder Tom Moody has signed up to coach one of the franchises of the money-spinning Indian Premier League (IPL), a senior Indian cricket official said on Friday.

"He had already signed with one team. I know he has signed, but cannot confirm if all the final, definite agreements have been done," the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Moody, 42, a member of two World Cup-winning Australian teams, coached Sri Lanka for two years before leaving in May last year to take up the reins for Western Australia.

"All the top coaches will be here," the official said.

The inaugural edition of the International Cricket Council-sanctioned Twenty20 league gets underway on April 18.

More than 80 international cricketers are expected to feature in a players' 'auction' in Mumbai on February 20 with each franchise allowed a cap of $5 million.

Organisers said in a statement that Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has confirmed his availability for the bidding process.

Indian media on Friday said former India coach Greg Chappell, former Australia coach John Buchanan and Victoria's Greg Shipperd were the other coaches being targeted by IPL teams.

I could not refuse the tempting offer from ICL: Rusell Arnold

Former Sri Lankan batsmen Russell Arnold said that the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) made him an offer so tempting that he couldn't refuse and he should not be seen as a traitor for signing.

Arnold, who retired after the World Cup in the West Indies, said that he did not hang up his boots for the ICL and added that the new 20-20 format would give him a lifestyle he wanted at this stage of his career, the Sydney Morning Herald quoted him as saying.

He was apparently paid a fee to the tune of $150,000 by the ICL, which is now seen as a competitor of the Indian board backed Indian Premier League (IPL).

Asked whether the aforesaid figure was true, Arnold said: "It's much more than that. You need to look after yourself and if you can do that without harming anybody, then why not?"

Arnold is based in Sydney at the moment and plays for the Sydney Cricket Club.

"The ICL offered me a contract that was fantastic in all senses. I get to play cricket and earn good money. I can play in the ICL, I can play in Sydney and enjoy that and then play also in England. It's what I wanted and suits where I'm at," he was quoted as saying.

On the IPL, which is scheduled to start in April, Arnold said: "They might try to make us look like rebels but the IPL is the same thing. The IPL is really sanctioning the ICL. Whatever goes on at ICC level or whatever is out of my realm."

There has been a concerted effort to discredit the ICL based primarily on the lower quality of its players compared to the IPL and the standard of facilities available to it.

Arnold said the ICL will allow him to play and earn money without the strain of a heavy cricket schedule.

"ICL takes me away for 30 days and there is the chance for my family to be with me," he said.

16 Umpires from India to officiate in IPL

16 Indian umpires along with members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Elite Panel will officiate in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) beginning in April, a top board official said on Monday.

"In all, 16 Indian umpires will be deployed for the IPL. In addition, we are trying to get all the members of the ICC Elite Panel," Niranjan Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), told IANS.

"Since we need many umpires - like the TV officials and the fourth/reserve umpires - we will require the services of a lot of Indian umpires as well," he said.

The names of the 16 Indian umpires are yet to be finalised, according to Niranjan.

An ICC source said the world governing body would not have objection to the IPL using those Elite Panel umpires who are free from any Tests and One Day Internationals (ODIs) duties during that 44-day period beginning April 18.

The eight-team tournament will have 59 20-20 matches. The winning team will receive $3 million.

The eight franchises spent more than $718 million to buy the team at the auction. The franchise and the owners are: Mumbai team (Mukesh Ambani), Bangalore (Vijay Mallya), Kolkata (Shah Rukh Khan), Chandigarh (Preity Zinta), Jaipur (Emerging Media), Hyderabad (Deccan Chronicle), Chennai (India Cements) and Delhi (GMR Group).

While India has no umpires in the elite panel, there are three - A.M. Saheba, S.L. Shastri and G.A. Pratapkumar - in the International Panel.

The BCCI, which has its own Elite Panel, has a number of umpires on its list for 2007-08 and it is from here that the IPL umpires will be chosen.

The umpires are: SK Tarapore, K Hariharan, AV Jayprakash, SN Bandekar, SD Ranade, AY Gokhale, CR Mohite, R Radhakrishanan, Sudhir Asnani, MSS Ranawat, Ravi Subramaniam, I Sivaram, VN Kulkarni, Sanjeev Rao, HS Sekhon, KG Laxminarayanan, Suhas Pahdkar, SK Sharma, P Bhanuprakash, PS Godbole, MS Mahal, K Murali, RY Deshmukh, S Dendapani, A Bhattacharjee, S Laxmanan, Balwant Sharma, Sanjeev Dua, SM Raju, MG Mandale, Rajiv Risodkar, Anil Chaudhary, VD Nerurkar, Nandan, NRS Prabhu, RM Deshpande and MS Pathak.

Sir Viv Richards backs IPL Progress

The great West Indian legend Sir Viv Richards has revealed his support for the Indian Premier League and claimed the 20-20 competition allows players to really exploit their market value.

India one-day skipper M.S Dhoni and Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds attracted bids of more than US 1million in the player auction for the IPL in Mumbai on Wednesday and Sir Richards thinks more players will be tempted to play in lucrative competitions in future.

"We have long complained about the finances in cricket," he told the Sydney Morning Herald. "I think it's great for those guys, now that they know financially they can secure their future.

"The sort of money that was attached to cricket did run a lot of people away to try other careers, but now that we have the perks there will be a lot more cricketers trying to hit that jackpot."

And Richards, who is the ambassador for the Caribbean`s Stanford 20-20, believes the IPL could point the way for further Twenty-20 franchised leagues around the world.

"So long as the Indians are going to be on board with the mass audience and power they have in world cricket, it is a great endorsement for the Twenty20 form to go further," he added.

"If it can be arranged I don't think anything would be wrong with that. Others, establishment-wise, see these things sometimes as threatening but I think it must be discussed."