Wow. YouTube is going to be live-streaming the 2010 IPL season. I do hope that it is available in the US.
Meanwhile the player auction took place today. It was no surprise, given his heroics in the Champions’ League, that Kieron Pollard attracted a huge fee. The Pakistani players are reported hugely upset that none of them got picked up, and let’s face it who wouldn’t want the likes of Shahid Afridi and Umar Gul, but with no guarantee that they’d be able to get visas it is not surprising that the team managers were not prepared to take a risk.
The Royals spent carefully, but probably wisely as Warnie will know his two new Australian players very well. I am looking forward to the season. I don’t know what the availability of Smithy and Shane Watson will be, but Ravindra Jadeja has come on spectacularly during his stint in the Indian one-day side so I’m hoping for some heroics from him.
Afridi will possibly be playing in the Champions League as he’s a visiting overseas player for South Australia, who have qualified due to finishing top of the Australian Domestic T20 competition. Victoria will be the other team as they beat Queensland last night in the preliminary final.
Should be interesting to see how relations between Pakistan and India are faring. This competition might give us a hint.
Ah, that should be an interesting final.
Of course we’ll see the whole Pakistani team in the Twenty20 World Cup in the Caribbean fairly soon. Here’s hoping they can hold it together.
Bit of an anti-climax of a final. Victoria won easily. Even Pollard’s attempted big hits weren’t enough to get South Australia over the line. Unfortunately for SA, Afridi had been called up for the Pakistan ODI team and so couldn’t play. They needed him with both bat and ball.
We had hoped for a stronger showing from Pakistan in the one-dayers, but…
Sorry the game was a bust, but the words “Victoria won easily” do fill me with a certain amount of joy.
The Pakistani cricket team is the only sports side I know of that is better at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory than the Welsh rugby team.