Top commentators for ICL 20-20 Cricket

CHANDIGARH:The Indian Cricket League, an Essel Group venture, announced an impressive line up of commentators and experts for the ICL Twenty-20 Tournament starting at Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula from November 30. The commentators names announced include Tony Greig, Dean Jones, Pat Symcox, Jeffery Thomson, Mike Whitney and Ayaz Memon. Additionally Kapil Dev will be seen dawning a new role and be the co-commentator to provide expert insights and opinions on the matches.

Commenting on the line-up ICL Chairman-Executive Board Kapil Dev Nikhanj League said “to deliver the live experience to the audience, commentator’s role is of absolute importance and can’t be ignored. We have signed on some of the world’s best commentators and their vast cricketing experience will add a lot of value in providing a perspective to our cricket fans.”

Commenting on his association with ICL, Tony Greig, said, “I am excited to team up with Zee Sports for the upcoming ICL 20-20 Tournament and look forward to joining Kapil Dev with whom I have had lot of exciting, on-field rivalry. I am personally very happy to be a part of this initiative and I hope to add value through my understanding of the game. “

Renowned opening batsmen of Australia and cricket commentator Dean Jones said, “I am delighted to join ICL panel and team up with my old pals to share exciting, live update with the fan following across the world.”

TONY GREIG: England’s cricket captain from 1975 until 1977, Tony Greig led his country 14 times. He retired young, and immigrated to Australia, where he has had a successful career as an executive in the Packer organization and as a television commentator. Today one of the most recognizable and respected voices on Cricket broadcasts, Tony has the brilliant knack of bringing alive the furious excitement of live cricketing action.

JEFF THOMPSON: Initially a soccer player, ‘Thommo’ took a liking to cricket and went on to become a legend with his furiously fast bowling. He collided with team mate Alan Turner on the field when both went for the same catch and he was seriously injured, and plates and bolts were fitted into his shoulder, but despite the injury he fought his way back into the Australian team and along with Lillie hunted as one of the most lethal pair of fast bowlers of all time!

DEAN JONES: Jones one of Australia’s most successful batsmen of winning team, and was noted for his electric running between the wickets, outstanding out-fielding and aggressive batting especially against. With his positive, aggressive and flamboyant style of play he became a crowd favourite. He played a significant part in the ‘87 World Cup and ‘89 Ashes wins for the team. Turbulent stints as captain of Victoria and Derbyshire followed and he remained devoted to the game and since retirement has been a Commentator.

PAT SYMCOX: Symcox played first class cricket for South Africa for 21 years, having played in a staggering 20 Tests and 80 one-day internationals. He retired from cricket in 1999. Former South African cricketing great is a well-known critic of the ‘quota system’ that was introduced into South African cricket to benefit previously disadvantaged players.

MIKE WHITNEY: He is former Australian from 1981 to 1993.He was a commentator for The Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000, and the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

KAPIL DEV: Arguably India’s greatest all-rounder and recently recognised as India’s greatest Cricketer with the Wisden Indian Cricketer of The Century award, Kapil Dev has charted the course of many famous Indian victories. Captaining India to win the Prudential Cup in 1983 was the highlight of his career. He also led India to a 2-0 series win to beat England in 1986. And, of course, at the top of his most spectacular unbeaten innings ranks his knock of 175 against Zimbabwe when India was on the route to the World Cup win in 1983.

Schedule Nov 30: Chandigarh Lions v Delhi Jets Dec 1: Chennai Superstars v Kolkata Tigers; Mumbai Champs v Hyderabad Heroes Dec 2: Delhi Jets v Hyderabad Heroes; Chandigarh Lions v Kolkata Tigers Dec 3: Mumbai Champs v Chennai Superstars Dec 5: Hyderbad Heroes v Chandigarh Lions Dec 7: Mumbai Champs v Delhi Jets Dec 8: Chennai Superstars v Chandigarh Lions; Delhi Jets v Kolkata Tigers Dec 9: Hyderabad Heroes v Chennai Superstars; Mumbai Champs v Chandigarh Lions Dec 10: Mumbai Champs v Kolkata Tigers Dec 12: Chennai Superstars v Delhi Jets; Hyderbad Heroes v Kolkata Tigers Dec 14: Semi-final I Dec 15: 5/6 classification; Semi-final II Dec 16: 3/4 classification; Final.

India won its first 20/20

India won its first 20/20 (Twenty20) match against South Africa

Finally India played its first ever 20/20 match and won the same in Johannesburg.

India beat South Africa by six wickets with a ball to spare in a thrilling finish to the day/night Twenty20 match. I was lucky enough to watch the match.

Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in the United Kingdom for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board in 2003. India was away from Twenty20 for a long time but finally on 1-Dec-2006 India played its first Twenty20 game.

South Africa won the toss and decided to bat. India beat South Africa by 6 wickets. Karthik’s last-over six all but assured victory. Final score:
=> India (127-4) bt South Africa (126-9) by six wickets

So India made its first debut in Twenty20. So what makes it different than regular ODI?

(a) Apart from dancing girls and boys (or cheer leaders), each team bats for a maximum of only 20 overs
(b) The Laws of cricket apply to Twenty20 but there are some exceptions such as:

• Should a bowler deliver a no ball by overstepping the popping crease, it costs 2 runs and his next delivery is designated a free-hit, from which the batsman can only be dismissed through a run out, as is the case for the original “no ball”.
• Bowlers may bowl a maximum of only 4 overs per innings
• Umpires may award 5-run penalty runs at their discretion if they believe either team is wasting time.

(c) The following fielding restrictions apply:

1. No more than 5 fielders can be on the leg side at any time.
2. After the first 6 overs, a maximum of 5 fielders can be outside the fielding circle.
3. During the first 6 overs, a maximum of 2 fielders can be outside the fielding circle.

(d) If the match ends with the scores tied and there must be a winner, the tie is broken with a bowl-out (similar to a penalty shootout in football), with 5 bowlers from each side delivering 2 balls each at an unguarded wicket. If the number of wickets is equal after the first 10 balls per side, the bowling continues and is decided by sudden death.

Australian 20/20 cricket league

Tribal cricket

Cricket is quite an odd sport in that it has massive global appeal, but relatively little economic power. The principle reason for the unusual mix is that there are few successful domestic leagues around the world and without domestic leagues, each country only has one team (the national team) to extract money. This is particularly the case in Australia. Arguably, cricket is Australia's most popular sport, but it is also one of Australia's most economically vulnerable and one with little market power compared to football, rugby league and even soccer.

20/20 cricket is likely to change the situation. If the new version develops as many commentators expect, there will be a proliferation of domestic leagues around the world, and cricket may end up being the most powerful sport in the world. 20/20 cricket is the first version of cricket that is suitable to a home and away format run along the lines of a football competition. A typical game starts at 5.30pm and is over by 8pm. Fans could watch the game after work, or as part of their weekly routine.

Like baseball in America, 20/20 is also a version of sport that can be played more than once a week. Potentially, a team in a domestic 20/20 cricket league could play 3 to 4 times a week, and pull annual crowds three times more than that of the football codes.

At present, Australia has been relatively inactive on the 20/20 front. It is in India and the West Indies where most of the revolutions are going on. In the West Indies, an American, Alan Stanford, has seen the potential 20/20 to form a bridge between South and North America. With more than 20 countries involved, Stanford's 20/20 tournament is numerically the largest tournament in the Americas. Admittedly, the largest countries of the region, such as Brazil and the United States, are not represented. However, teams could be contrived relatively simply and if so, both would be fertile markets for television. If so, a small sport could grow in a very rapid pace.

In India, two rival leagues have long-term plans to create a league format similar to America's NBA or major league baseball. The Indian Premier League (IPL) is sanctioned by boards around the world. The ICL is a "rebel" league that is not sanctioned by cricket boards. Both leagues are bidding for players from around the world.

The Indian leagues are going to set cricket in Australia on a path of turmoil. In the short term, Cricket Australia will find that it won't be able to sell India television rights to its state cricket competition that is traditionally used to train Australian players for test cricket. Furthermore, more Australian players will play in India and forget about state cricket. Inevitably, state cricket, as it is played today, will no longer be economically viable.

Even if state and test cricket were able to survive in Australia, the Indian developments are going to weaken Australia's competition to such an extent that Australia just won't have teams to play against. International cricket against New Zealand will be one of the first casualties. New Zealand's cricket team was never strong to begin with, and now it has lost half of its players to India. It is unlikely the New Zealand public will tolerate Australia regularly thrashing it even more than it does already, and test cricket in New Zealand will further decline in popularity.

How Cricket Australia reacts to this period of turmoil will ultimately determine whether cricket grows in popularity or falls into insignificance. If Cricket Australia does nothing, there is a small chance that soccer could exploit the chaos in its ranks to become a dominant force in the Australian summer. The only real option available to cricket is to create a national domestic 20/20 league run along the lines of a football competition. Such a competition would not leave much room for training players for test cricket or even one-day cricket. Furthermore, it probably would not have much scope for paying tribute to cricket Australia's traditions and heritage.

Understandably, not everyone in Australia is enthused by 20/20 cricket. That said, these critics are not bothered by the completely empty stadiums that Australia's state cricketers play in front of. Ultimately, the voices of 40,000 spectators paying to watch a game, whatever its format, mean more than a bitter old fogey complaining about traditions being disrespected.

If Cricket Australia maintains its traditionalist position, it may end up suffering the same fate as traditionalists in other industries that put them offside from market pressures. Cricket could die, or their control of cricket could be taken away from them.

In regards to Cricket Australia losing control, it is quite possible that a "rebel" Australian league could be established by the players who want to expose themselves for greater riches in India or the Americas. At present, only a very limited number of players get Cricket Australia contracts, and most are underpaid for what they do. Furthermore, many players have been unfairly overlooked for selection, or dropped from the team. Such players would welcome a new cricketing format that would not only provide them with more remuneration, but also give them some bargaining power. They would also welcome the opportunity to show themselves in the format where the big money is.

If a domestic league is established, soccer's niche in summer time will close. Furthermore, oval stadiums that can also be used by football will become more viable.

Potential cities for a cricket league

1. Brisbane
2. Cairns
3. Gold Coast
4. Sydney
5. Newcastle
6. Melbourne
7. Geelong
8. Hobart
9. Adelaide
10. Auckland
11. Wellington
12. Canberra

IPL T20 2008 Batting Performance

The Teams predicted to be the best largely kept their ranking given by this site. Only 3 team deviated by more than 2 spots. They were Delhi who surprised largely due to the sudden form of Virender Sehwag. 2 Teams who failed their rankings were Hyderabad who failed despite having Symonds and Gilchrist followed by Rohit Sharma. Though Mumbai explicably without Sachin did not retain their batting ranking, and Jayasuriya’s continued loss of form after the Australian tour didn’t help their cause.
Current Batting Rank Original Batting Rankings
Chennai Hyderabad
Mohali Mohali
Delhi Chennai
Jaipur Mumbai
Hyderabad Kolkata
Kolkata Jaipur
Mumbai Delhi
Bangalore Bangalore

Improvement of Cricket

(A) Popularise cricket!

1. Restructure Current test teams.

For Cricket to improve first the quality of the current test teams should be improved. Teams like England and West Indies need to be more competitive. Here are some suggestions:

• Introduce cricket in schools and colleges.
• More cricket competitions should be held.
• Cricket telecasts should be shown on free to air channels.
• Short forms of the sportlike twenty20 should be played to capture public imagination.
• Improvement of cricket stadiums and fields.
• Increase the competiveness of domestic competition.
• Selection based only on merit NOT on quotas.
• Encouraging native peoples such as coloureds, Aborigines & Maoris to represent the national squad.

2. Restructuring Current ODI Teams.

It is disheartening for the current ODI status teams to play only during world cups. Such an unfair policy would never see new teams improve. Teams such as Canada, UAE, Scotland, Namibia & Holland should be given permanent ODI status and official tournaments should be played amongst themselves and the 3 bottom ranked test teams. An age limit of 35 yrs should be imposed to encourage youngsters.

Kenya should be given Test Status.

3. League Format

All teams Test and ODI should be ranked in groups of 5. The top 5 will be grp A. Next 5 B and so on. Teams in a particular group are allowed to play with teams in their own group as well as adjacent groups only. eg. Group A cannot play group C teams. [Except Tests & World Cups] Every year, the groups are restructured.

4. Improve quality of Upcoming teams

To ensure that debutants in ODI competitions have an international exposure to cricket before their debut, international tournaments should be held. Here's what should be done.

• Two international annual tournaments should be held. Two teams should be selected from each country. 1. Team that has won the domestic competition and 2. A mixed bag composed of the best players of the other teams. This would give budding players the required international exposure. Venues rotated annually.
• An auxillary domestic competition should be held. At least 5 local teams and 3 international teams (best players) compete in ODI and test matches. Any ODI status country can participate.
• Teams wishing to improve their game can learn from the following countries on tour:
  • Batting: India, Australia
  • Spin Bowling: India, Sri Lanka
  • Fast Bowling Australia, South Africa
  • Seam Bowling: England, New Zealand.
• The ICC must have a clear process for teams obtaining ODI and test status. This is what it should do.

  To get associate status, local boards should ensure:

  • A cricket education program is introduced in schools
  • Cricket equipment is readily available
  • Adequate playing grounds are available
  • International matches are telecast on free to air TV channels and radio.
  • A well maintained website of the national cricket authority.

  To get permanent ODI status teams should:

  • Be placed 1,2 or 3 in the ICC Associate World Cup.
  • Have at least one accredited (C grade --see gradings below) stadium.
  • see pt 4 above.

  To get Test Status teams should:

  • Have a waiting period of 5 years after ODI status
  • Have at least a B grade stadium
  • Toured all test playing nations & played first class matches there.
  • Won at least 10 ODI matches against Test nations.

5. Introduction of cutting-edge technology

I feel that technology should be introduced to cricket. This is what cricket needs.

1. Helmet cams.
2. Use of tracking technology for LBW decisions.
3. Use of high frame rate cameras to ascertain run-outs and stumpings.
4. Use of lasers to compliment run out decisions.
5. Use of sensors in bails and in the boundary rope to determine if the batsman is out OR hit a 4.
6. Use of stump microphone to determine close catching decisions.
7. Use of yellow & red cards to suspend players from the game of repeatly flouting rules.
8. Use of 'Eye-Vision' technology to enhance TV viewing.
9. Use of 'True Track' technology to give the distance the ball carried (6's)
10. Use of biodegradable paint to colour the infield and outfield.

6. The ICC.

Here are some reccomendations to the ICC

1. Change its name to something more representative like Global Cricket Federation (GCF).
2. No veto rights to member nations.
3. Be a part of the International Olympic Commitee.
4. Strive to make Cricket an Olympic sport.
5. Increase penalties for drug offences & racial abuse.
6. Play the National Anthem before the start of each match in the World Cup.
7. Playoff for 3rd place in the WC
8. Gold, Silver or Bronze Medals given to each player in WC. (like in football)
9. Have at least 24 teams play in the WC.
10. For the World Cup international icons should be made chief guests. eg UN Sec. General, Monarch of England, sportstars, premiers etc.

ICC Online

1. Obtain the domain names like cricket.com, .org, etc.
2. In the site have detailed info like player and team stats, current news, player profiles, how the sport is played, links to national boards, online telecast of matches, history, facts and stats, rankings etc.
3. Provide software to calculate the Duckworth Lewis results.
4. Use latest programming languages like XML, SQL, ASP etc. for website.
5. Setting up of blogs and bulletin boards.

7. Taking on the Globe.

To encourage more countries to take up cricket, cricket must be marketed well. Teams like Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore have a good program and must be encouraged to obtain ODI status.

For cricket to succeed regional sporting giants should be given top priority. These countries are regional giants and act like a catalyst to spread the sport to neighbouring countries. The countries are: China, USA, Russia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Nigeria Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morrocco, Sweden, Fiji, Argentina and Brazil.

Have a brand ambassador for cricket. People who know about the sport and are internationally famous should be selected. Names such as Russel Crowe, Shaggy, Christian Vieri (footballer ITALY) make good ambassadors.

Cricket should be introduced equally to all races and women should also be encouraged to take up the sport.

Marketing Blitz

If I were the president of the ICC, this is what I would do to promote the sport in a country.

• See that major sport shops stock up cricket gear.
• Pitches are readily available.
• Cricket is shown on free to air channels.
• A cricket program is introduced in schools and universities.
• Well known directors should be requested to make cricket themed movies starring well known actors.
• Introducing the sport to famous sportmen, politicians, actors, directors, media personalities, businessmen and making them enjoy the sport.
• The next step would have a advertising blitz in famous newspapers, magazines, top internet sites, TV, radio. The ads should be run for a month or so. Promos showing the country's top personalities supporting cricket should be aired. _ Nothing like having the country's premier in the promo.
• The marketing blitz should cummulated with top international teams playing along with the host nation in a tournament.

(B) Rules that have to be changed:

1) Elimination of the Leg-bye rule.

The Lb rule is pretty unfair to the bowler. By elimination such a rule would allow the batsman to play at the ball, instead of getting runs of the deflection of his clothing.

2) Direct Hit on the stump renders the ball dead.

At present if a fielder hits the stumps directly when the batsman is taking a run & he is safe, if it deflects of it, the batsman can run overthrows (extra runs). By enabling the ball 'dead' it would encourage the fielders to hit the stumps more often. If the batsman ran after this, the extra runs would be overruled.

3) Leg-side LBW decision

At present, if the ball is pitched outside the leg-stump, but is a clear LBW decision, the batsman is not out. Due to advances in technology today, we can predict an LBW. Hence LBW decisions should be simplified by this method, if the trajectory appears to hit the stump the Batsman is OUT.

4) Correct Nomenclature

Terms such as leg-spin and off-spin are outdated. Better terms would be wrist spin and finger spin.

(C) Accredation to stadiums

The ICC must start rating stadiums. The better the rating of the stadium more matches it is allowed to hold. Here are my parameters. Points are shown alongside in y/n format.

Lights 40/5

Capacity (in 1000's)

Pitch invasion history? 0/20

Smooth Entry/Exit 30/5

Crowd Management history good/bad 30/5

Match history 1st & 2nd inn win ratio (40-60 range) 50/10

Grassy field 10/5

Facilities (practice, media, parking, toilets, food) 35/10

Replay screen 20/0

Electronic Scoreboard 15/5

Sightscreen moving needed? 0/10

PITCH:

Bounce (good/low) 30/10

Support for bowlers 20/5

Ave. Runs in the range (240-280) 50

200,>280 20

<200>

Pitch plays true till the end? 60/20

Divide the stadium pts by 4 to get the percentage.

90+=A, 80-90=B and so on. Pitch points should be above 70 for AA accred.

IPL Adam Gilchrist

Adam Gilchrist ignited the DY Patil Stadium with the fastest century of the tournament as the Deccan Chargers raced to their first win. The battle between the two bottom-ranked teams was a no-contest once Gilchrist teed off, and Deccan charged to an emphatic ten-wicket victory in the first major game at the stadium.

Andrew Symonds had got a century off 47 deliveries the previous game but Gilchrist needed only 42 as he decimated the weak Mumbai Indians' attack on a small ground. The intent was aggressive right from the word go, and Gilchrist made use of short deliveries in the first over from Ashish Nehra, dispatching one over square leg and the other through cover point.

Pulls and cuts were played with ease as Mumbai's quicker bowlers erred in their length, and after six fours, Gilchrist hit his first six, lofting Sanath Jayasuriya over deep midwicket. Siddharth Chitnis, the off-break bowler making his Twenty20 debut, was spared by going only for 12 in the last Powerplay over, but Shaun Pollock, leading Mumbai in Harbhajan Singh's absence, was taken apart once the field restrictions were off.

Gilchrist savagely pulled Pollock over the deep backward square-leg boundary for consecutive sixes, the first bringing up his first Twenty20 fifty. The shot that followed pierced the off-side boundary, and Gilchrist then nonchalantly moved across the stumps to launch one over long leg, making it 23 for the over.

Abhishek Nayar's arrival was greeted with three sixes, the third over midwicket brought up the hundred, and more astonishing was the fact that he had reached the mark as early as on the stroke of the tenth over. From then on, victory was just a formality, and Deccan reached their target with 44 balls to spare, both indication of the fury that had been unleashed. At the other end, VVS Laxman scored just 36 in a stand of 155, easily the highest of the tournament. Mumbai might have been at the receiving end, but the home crowd too cheered what had been an enthralling innings. Ninety-six of Gilchrist's 109 came through boundaries, making it a busy day for the Deccan cheerleaders, who were sporting a new outfit.

A new home ground and a new captain surely didn't bring about a turn of fortunes for Mumbai, and Deccan justified Laxman's decision to field first by restricting them to 154. Laxman's captaincy had come under the hammer after three consecutive losses, but on Sunday he was right on the ball. He was quick to shuffle around his bowlers, who to their credit, backed up their captain's decision with some good bowling.

It was only the string of 30s from the middle order that helped Mumbai reach 154. Pollock made a run-a-ball 31 to revive the innings, but it was the quickfire 34s from Abhishek Nayar and Dwayne Bravo that ensured the Mumbai bowlers had a decent total to defend.

Sanath Jayasuriya and Luke Ronchi had failed to make an impression in earlier games, and they were kept quiet once again, despite the short boundaries, by RP Singh and Nuwan Zoysa. Ronchi hit three fours, but fell attempting to slash a wide delivery angled across from RP, edging straight to Laxman at slip.

Sanjay Bangar was brought on in the fourth over, perhaps to help Zoysa change ends, and Ajinkya Rahane, another Twenty20 debutant, pulled straight into the hands of Pragyan Ojha at deep square leg. The next move from Laxman though was a masterstroke. Shahid Afridi was brought on in the final over of the Powerplay, and he had Robin Uthappa caught behind. At the end of six overs, Mumbai were tottering at 27 for 3.

Jayasuriya had made only 4 of his first ten deliveries, and one pitched short from Zoysa fetched him his first boundary, which came off his 14th. But, once again Afridi did the damage, Jayasuriya got a top edge as he tried to power a googly through the leg side. The onus was then on Pollock to hold the innings together, but he too couldn't stay till the end.

Nayar smashed three sixes in his 19-ball innings, as 45 runs came in the overs 14 to 16. But he top-edged to Gilchrist while trying to hook Zoysa. Bravo too managed to find the gaps, and was out for 34 off the last ball of the innings as Mumbai finished on 154. However, with the form Gilchrist was in, even 254 would have been tough to defend for Mumbai, who now have four losses after four games, and sorely need Sachin Tendulkar to return.

IPL Changing Cricket

When Lalit Modi introduced the IPL to cricket, the world knew that the bat-and-ball game would never be the same again. Gone were the slow and steady Test days, the fast and furious T20 dhamaal was taking over. New rules, new teams, new entrants, new controversies. And new problems. Like loyalty towards the domestic team versus loyalty to the national team.
Take the recent Sreesanth-Bhajji spat. While Team India stuck to one another like glue through the racial slurs and cheating during their last tour Down Under, with the entire team siding with the much-troubled Harbhajan Singh, what happened between two of Team India's best bowlers in Mohali on Friday was an eye-opener. Will the 'altercation' between Bhajji and Sreesanth cost them their friendship? Will the slap Bhajji supposedly gave Sreesanth be a slap on Team India's spirit of togetherness?
Scenario number two. Remember the aggression Team Punjab's Sreesanth displayed when he took Team Rajasthan's Mohammad Kaif 's wicket in the sixth match of the series? Yes, a bowler feels good when he claims a wicket, but wasn't his PDA (Public Display of Aggression) a little too much for Kaif ? Hello, this wasn't Symonds, it was poor, semi-retired, fellow Indian Mohammad Kaif ! Consider this. When former captain Sourav Ganguly clashes with current captain MS Dhoni who in turn will clash with would-be captain Yuvraj Singh, will equations change? Will juniors prefer one's captaincy over the other's? Will that reflect in the game when Team India plays an international series again? Only time will tell...
But it's not all war, there's also place for friendship... sometimes, even with the enemy! Yes, the same Ishant Sharma who hated Australian skipper Ricky Ponting's guts in Australia, was seen taking advice from Ponting during a match. That's team spirit, no doubt. That's also a sign of things to come in the following one month of the IPL season — soured relationships will get a fresh start, old enemies will turn new friends, Australia and India will, perhaps, not be as aggressive towards one another as before. Then again, the teams are sharing locker rooms... wonder if locker room secrets will also be shared? A classic case of unity in diversity.
Move over from the cricketers to the spectators. Will their favourites suddenly become unfavouritised? Will fans acquire new favourites? Going by the way the Hyderabad crowd refused to cheer Virender Sehwag on his 50 just because he wasn't part of the home team, Team Deccan, shows that loyalties everywhere are going for a toss. As Sunil Gavaskar had commentated at that instant: Sehwag may be a Delhi Daredevil now, but he's still an Indian. And his innings deserved an applause from all the Indians in the stands! Likewise, in Jaipur, the crowd was rooting for Shane Warne and Shane Watson, over their Indian teammates. So, is the IPL changing more than just the rules of cricket? Will it change player's attitudes and loyalties too? Will Team India be divided like the country's many states, or will national pride overrule the IPL?