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Visakhapatnam is the only new venue for the second season of the IPL, according to a tentative schedule released by the league

Cricinfo staff24-Feb-2009
Jaipur will host the inaugural game of the IPL © AFP
Visakhapatnam is the only new venue for the second season of the IPL, according to a tentative schedule released by the league. Rajasthan Royals, the defending champions, were expected to play a few games in Ahmedabad, but all its matches have been slotted for Jaipur, which will also host the inaugural game of the season. The tournament, which runs from April 10 to May 24, will have total of 59 matches played over 45 days.Besides the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, Deccan Chargers will host two games at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam. The six other franchises will play all their matches in one city: Bangalore Royal Challengers in Bangalore, Delhi Daredevils in Delhi, Kings XI Punjab in Mohali, Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata, Mumbai Indians in Mumbai and Chennai Super Kings in Chennai.Delhi Daredevils, semi-finalists last year, will play the opening fixture against Rajasthan. “Jaipur has always been close to my heart and I promise the people of Jaipur an opening ceremony the likes of which has not been witnessed in India ever before with some truly world-class entertainment,” IPL chairman Lalit Modi said.The itinerary released, though, does not reveal the grounds at which the games will be held. Although the final is to be held in Mumbai, a decision made by defending champions Rajasthan, there is uncertainty over the ground where the game will be played. They had picked the Brabourne Stadium; however, the constitution of the Cricket Club of India (CCI), the ground’s owners, does not permit non-members’ seating in the pavilion, something the IPL wants desperately. Rajasthan could probably host the game at the DY Patil Stadium, which hosted the final last year. Chennai, last year’s finalists, will host the two semi-finals.While the day games will be held the 4 to 7pm, the night matches will be from 8 to 11pm.Click here for the IPL second season schedule.

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg could be the surprise solution to Nuno Santo’s creative problems at Tottenham Hotspur this season.

With the transfer window shut until January at the earliest, the Portuguese head coach will have to work with what is currently at his disposal.

The season could not have got off to a better start, with Spurs winning all three of their opening matches, including an impressive win over defending champions Manchester City – all without conceding a goal, too.

However, they are the lowest scorers in the Premier League’s top ten, which suggests that sooner or later things could start to change. As such, Nuno must find a way for his team to start scoring more goals, especially with Harry Kane back in the frame.

The England international is the only Spurs player to average two or more key passes per game, and he’s only played 108 minutes thus far. Steven Bergwijn is next up, averaging 1.3 key chances a match, but Spurs’ attacking midfielders are nowhere to be seen.

Dele Alli, who has started all three games in a more advanced midfield role, is yet to record a single key pass. Meanwhile, Tanguy Ndombele hasn’t featured yet this term amid the speculation over his future, while Giovani Lo Celso’s 36 minutes on the pitch have seen just the one chance created, per WhoScored.

In fact, it is the great Dane in the middle who has created the most of the available options (one per game).

On the Chalkboard

That may come as a bit of a shock to some around N17, but under Nuno, the tough-tackling Hojbjerg could actually be a very solid option further up the pitch.

His recent international displays would certainly suggest so.

At Euro 2020, the 26-year-old was among the top performers at the tournament as Denmark made the semi-finals. He recorded three assists, ten successful dribbles and 11 key passes across six appearances, via SofaScore.

For context, only one player recorded more assists than Hojbjerg, who even notched more than the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Gareth Bale, Jack Grealish and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Again this week, we saw a glimpse of what the £36m-rated beast can do when given more freedom to push forward.

Hojbjerg, who earns a reported £100k-per-week, picked up a further assist during Denmark’s World Cup qualifying clash with Scotland. Per SofaScore, he had a whopping 92 touches of the ball and made 95% of his 83 passing attempts, proving to be a major focal point for his side.

Under Jose Mourinho, who once lauded him as a “phenomenal player”, he was a ball-winning midfielder – having averaged 2.6 tackles per game in 2020/21.

However, on the above evidence, he could well emerge as an intriguing box-to-box option for Nuno.

It’s clear that Spurs’ current creative options are the one negative in this side right now and it’s only a matter of time before that alarming weakness gets exposed. After the international break, the Portuguese boss must consider a change in plan for his star midfielder.

AND in other news, Paratici can seal Nuno’s dream signing in Spurs swoop for “special” £31.5m-rated machine…

Fans will not forget about Danny Ings, former Southampton midfielder Carlton Palmer has told Football FanCast.

The 29-year-old joined Aston Villa in a shock move last month, bringing his three-year spell at St Mary’s to an end.

Ings did a great job leading the line for the Saints following his arrival from Liverpool. In total, he scored 46 goals in 100 games for the club – 22 of those coming in the 2019/20 Premier League season.

Southampton moved to replace him by bringing in Adam Armstrong, who has impressed so far, grabbing a goal on his debut against Everton. Even so, Palmer does not believe the St Mary’s faithful will forget about Ings just like that.

“I don’t think you forget about Ings because he was a good servant and he’s a good player,” the ex-England international said. “But things move on, don’t they? It’s done, it’s finished, it’s moved on. Armstrong can score goals.”

Like Armstrong, Ings has also made a good start to life in his new surroundings. The Villa man has already scored twice in the Premier League this season, the latest a spectacular strike against Newcastle United at Villa Park.

In an ideal world for Ralph Hasenhuttl, the Southampton manager would have both English strikers at his disposal.

The groundsman at McLean Park, Phil Stoyanoff, has promised a typical Napier pitch, one on which lots of runs are scored

Cricinfo staff25-Mar-2009New Zealand are 0-1 down in the series and their coach Andy Moles hoped the Napier pitch would nip around for a couple of days so that it would bring their seamers into the game. However the groundsman at McLean Park, Phil Stoyanoff, has promised a typical Napier pitch, one on which lots of runs are scored.”There is always a little bit in it in the first session, and then it pans out to be an absolute belter, and has good consistent bounce,” Stoyanoff said. “Lot of runs get scored here.”There were also reports of a fungal infection on the pitch, which had forced the curators to move two to three feet sideways, so that the new track included half the original pitch and half of the adjacent one, a mix of the pitches used for the Test against West Indies in December and the recent ODI against India. Stoyanoff, however, denied the reports.”Any of this mythical talk about slime outbreak on the wicket, or algae or the fungal attack, is a lot of rubbish,” Stoyanoff said. “I actually started preparing this wicket, and that was the old West Indies track, I top-dressed this a month prior to this. And I just didn’t get quite the good grass that I wanted. So I moved over to the track on the right.”Daniel Vettori, the New Zealand captain, who has also been asking for pitches that will assist his pace bowlers, said that the surface was likely to behave like a normal Napier track. “Aesthetically it’s not quite as pretty as it normally is, and doesn’t have that consistency of grass cover,” Vettori said. “But talking to Phil, he is pretty comfortable and thinks it will be pretty traditional Napier track.”New Zealand are likely to play two spinners in the second Test, which starts on Thursday, as they did against West Indies. But they would have wanted a different kind of pitch. “I think we know what to expect when we come to Napier,” Vettori said. “We have probably got to move away from what we want, and actually just perform on whatever we get. We know we can perform a little better on a wicket that has got a little bit in it, but we have got to make sure we do well on this particular wicket.”

The Indian board’s commitment to fight corruption in cricket has come under the scanner after it has emerged that it stayed silent for months on an ICC offer to provide full anti-corruption cover for the IPL this year, mainly because of the fee involved

Ajay S Shankar30-Apr-2009The Indian board’s commitment to fight corruption in cricket has come under the scanner after it has emerged that it stayed silent for months on an ICC offer to provide full anti-corruption cover for the IPL this year, mainly because of the fee involved. The issue was raised at the BCCI’s working committee on Wednesday, when members were informed that the fee quoted then by the ICC – US$1.2 million – was too high.The BCCI, which runs the IPL, finally agreed to the offer this month when reminded about it during the ICC’s executive board meeting in Dubai. That was on April 17, the day before the IPL began, and it was too late for the ICC’s Anti Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) – which starts work on an event at least two months in advance – to provide a credible level of preventive cover.The BCCI’s position has raised a few eyebrows within the Indian board and officials who attended Wednesday’s high-level meeting told Cricinfo of their concern at a price being put to the fight against corruption – which, they feel, is an ever-present danger in cricket. To place the ACSU’s fee in perspective, the BCCI had declared an overall income of approximately US$ 200m for 2007-08, and a profit of US$ 10m from the first IPL alone.Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, is a senior member of the ICC board, which has consistently maintained that corruption in cricket is a menace that demands the most stringent preventive measures possible. In fact, after the last ICC board meeting, Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, admitted there is a higher concern about Twenty20 cricket with all the excitement and money.”The board has consistently said it cannot afford to be complacent (about the risk of corruption in Twenty20 cricket),” Lorgat told Cricinfo last week. “We are mindful that with Twenty20 cricket there is great excitement and money. Put those ingredients into a pot and there is a higher concern.”Last July, after the first IPL, the ACSU chairman Sir Paul Condon told the ICC’s annual conference in Dubai that Twenty20 tournaments like the IPL bring with it the “biggest threat in terms of corruption in the game since the days of cricket in Sharjah.””But the BCCI’s position when it comes to the IPL is quite puzzling,” a state association official, who attended BCCI working committee meeting, told Cricinfo. It’s learnt that some officials pointed to the presence of individuals other than the players and support staff in the team dugouts last year and stressed the importance of utilising the ICC’s services to lend credibility to the tournament’s anti-corruption measures.N Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary, and Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, were not available for comment.Officially, the BCCI is well within its rights to organise its own anti-corruption measures for the IPL, which is deemed a domestic event. “But it’s obvious, isn’t it, that the IPL is much more than just another domestic event?” another state association official, who attended the BCCI meeting, said. “There are nearly 80 foreign players involved from across the world along with Bollywood stars, their staff and supporters. No one is saying that there is corruption in the IPL; we are confident that there isn’t. But are they doing enough to keep it that way?”The IPL’s anti-corruption protocol last year was handled by a team of around 10 officials, including retired police and military officials, recruited independently by the league. The team was guided by ACSU officials, who played a supporting role. This time, the IPL’s team is being assisted by Nicholls & Steyn, the private security agency based in South Africa that has also been entrusted with the task of managing the event’s security. Bob Nicholls, one of the partners of the security firm, had told Cricinfo that they were “not involved so much” with the anti-corruption aspect. In contrast, the ICC’s ACSU is not a profit-based body and any income over expenses is pumped back into the game.The ICC had first offered full ACSU coverage for the second IPL edition a few months after the hugely successful inaugural event got over last May, based on independent observations and inputs collated during the tournament. The IPL agreed and were then sent a quote on the fee this would involve. The IPL, however, indicated that the fee was too high and said they would revert on the offer, which they didn’t till the ICC board meeting 12 days ago.The ACSU’s pre-event spadework involves staging reconnaissances in the host cities and gathering intelligence from local sources to identify potential corruptors. Against this background, the effectiveness of the IPL’s anti-corruption procedures this year is open to question after the tournament – involving 59 matches over 37 days, at eight venues – was shifted to South Africa just three weeks before its scheduled start in India.The ICC’s ACSU came into being after the match-fixing scandal of 2000 involving Hansie Cronje, which also led to bans on Mohammed Azharuddin, the former India captain, and Salim Malik, the Pakistan batsman.

Manchester United have reportedly entered the race to sign RB Leipzig forward Dani Olmo as manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looks to add further additions to his first-team squad.

What’s the story?

The technically gifted 23-year-old was the subject of intense interest from Barcelona late on in the summer transfer window, the club he left as a teenager back in 2014, but Leipzig couldn’t find a replacement in time, meaning they rejected the Blaugrana’s bid.

And now, according to Spanish outlet Marca, the Camp Nou outfit remain keen to secure their former academy graduates services over the next few months, but face competition from several of European football’s heavyweights.

Marca’s report states that: “Barcelona continues to want to incorporate the forward, either in the winter market or next summer. However, it is very difficult to know what is going to happen at this point. First of all, because other clubs such as Manchester United, Juventus or Bayern also have their sights set on the footballer.”

Murtough must sanction Manchester United swoop

Olmo made the brave decision to depart his boyhood club as a youngster in search of first-team opportunities and was soon rewarded for his decision, becoming the youngest foreign player to play for Croatian outfit Dinamo Zagreb having made his debut at 16 years and nine months old.

The Spain international’s bold choice has certainly benefitted his career, with the versatile attacker already clocking up 46 goals and 41 assists in 186 appearances at club level, as well as three goals and four assists in 16 outings for his senior national side.

A recent scouting report perfectly summed up Olmo’s ability and key attributes, saying: “Olmo is seen as one of the most talented players in Spain’s latest generation of midfield maestros. The Catalan’s specialities which make him stand out are his technical skills with the ball at his feet.

“His close control is mesmerising to watch, and almost impossible to play against as an opposition defender. Olmo couples that ability with his will to drive the ball at goal, be that in his own possession or with threaded through-balls,” showcasing why so many big teams are believed to be interested in securing his signature.

Former La Masia coach Denis Silva Puig is someone who knows the skills and potential of his ex-pupil better than most, and previously gave an insight into his natural qualities (as relayed by Bundesliga.com).

“He was a typical forward, a very good finisher. He scored goals in every age category. He understood space well, so he could find room to score. He’s a natural-born goalscorer.”

Combine him with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and Mason Greenwood and you could have an effervescent mouth-watering combination.

As the Red Devils gun for the Premier League title, this possible signing is certainly something to get excited about. It could just be the missing piece of the jigsaw.

Therefore, United’s football director must sanction a move for the £45m-rated gem, providing Solskjaer with one of the most promising young forwards around.

And, in other news…Fabrizio Romano drops exciting Man United update, fans will be absolutely delighted 

India will host the final and one semi-final of the 2011 World Cup while Sri Lanka will stage the other semi-final, the tournament’s organising committee decided in Mumbai on Tuesday

Cricinfo staff28-Apr-2009India will host the final and one semi-final of the 2011 World Cup while Sri Lanka will stage the other semi-final, the tournament’s organising committee decided in Mumbai on Tuesday. India will host 29 of the 49 matches across eight venues, Sri Lanka will host 12 in three venues while Bangladesh will stage eight at two grounds as well as the opening ceremony on February 18, 2011.The 14 matches originally scheduled to take place in Pakistan have been redistributed with eight going to India, four to Sri Lanka and two to Bangladesh. The quarter-finals will be shared among the three neighbours, with Bangladesh hosting two.The committee also decided to shift the tournament secretariat from Lahore to Mumbai. BCCI’s chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty was appointed the event’s managing director in place of Pakistani banker Salman Butt. The organising committee, headed by ICC vice-president Sharad Pawar, will include an operations and planning group comprising the Bangladesh Cricket Board senior vice-president Mahbubul Anam, Indian board secretary N Srinivasan, Sri Lanka’s Duleep Mendis and Shetty. Haroon Lorgat, the ICC’s chief executive, said IS Bindra, the special adviser to the ICC, would be a key person in the management of the World Cup.He swept aside questions on whether Pakistan would boycott the World Cup in protest at being denied hosting rights, saying “we will cross the bridge when we come to it.” The ICC had to decide on the redistribution of Pakistan’s 14 matches after it removed the country from the list of hosts because the “uncertain political situation” would have made it difficult to “deliver a safe, secure and successful event” in Pakistan.Lorgat said the security concerns of the various ICC members and the players would be addressed with the formation of a special committee headed by Shashank Manohar, the BCCI chief, to oversee security details. “The security arrangements are very important and a special committee… would put together security plans for the successful conduct of the World Cup in 2011,” he said.”We are confident of organising a very successful World Cup,” Lorgat said.The subcontinent last hosted a World Cup in 1996, when India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka shared the games. The final was in Lahore, where Sri Lanka beat favourites Australia in a famous win.

Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard has proven to be an inspired managerial appointment at Rangers since his arrival at Ibrox in 2018.

The former England midfielder has successfully managed to wrestle back supremacy for the Gers in Scottish football, winning the Premiership title in the 2020/21 campaign and now trying to defend Rangers’ crown this term.

Along the way, he has made some shrewd decisions in the transfer market, both in selling players and in signing them. One player on whom he made an astute call was left-back Declan John.

Gerrard arrived in 2018 and the sale of John was one of the first decisions he had to make in terms of recruitment, with the defender ultimately being sold to Swansea for a reported fee of £801,000. This was after he played 31 times the previous season, scoring three goals and providing four assists from left-back.

In the subsequent three years since leaving Ibrox, John has gone on loan to Sunderland and Bolton and then left Swansea permanently for the Trotters and is currently playing in English League One, having been promoted out of the fourth tier last season.

Transfermarkt currently has him valued at just £270,000. This is a 66% decrease from the fee Rangers received from Swansea for his services in 2018, despite him now being in what should be the prime years of his playing career at the age of 26.

His value plummeting since leaving Rangers suggests that it was a masterstroke from Gerrard to sell him at the time, as his decrease in value could have happened with the Ibrox club had they opted not to cash in on him. Therefore, it may have been perfect timing from Gerrard and the Light Blues in making the most of the situation by getting rid of someone who, quite frankly, had been a bit of a flop in Glasgow.

What makes the deal even better from a Rangers perspective is that the man they brought in to replace John was Borna Barisic. The Croatian left-back has gone on to play 119 times for the club, scoring seven goals and providing 33 assists and is now valued at a cool £5.4m, 20 times greater than John’s current valuation.

Therefore, it was an all-around masterclass from Gerrard. The 41-year-old was able to sell a player in John before his career took a turn for the worst and duly replaced him with an upgrade in his position who is now worth far more than his predecessor.

AND in other news, Gerrard provides fresh injury update that’ll leave Rangers fans delighted…

According to Calciomercato.it, Tottenham Hotspur managing director Fabio Paratici ‘could come back to knock on Serie A’s door’ as he eyes a swoop for AS Roma defender Roger Ibanez.

The Lowdown: Levy fails in 2020 bid…

As per Italian newspaper Il Messaggero, this certainly isn’t the first time Tottenham have been linked to the Brazilian powerhouse with chairman Daniel Levy apparently faltering in a bid to sign him last year.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/spurs-developments/” title=”Spurs developments!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

Indeed, the outlet claimed that Spurs had a £22.75 million bid rejected for Ibanez who, at that point, joined Roma on an 18-month loan with an obligation to buy.

Now, an update has emerged and it appears Paratici could now also turn to the centre-back.

The Latest: Paratici could now swoop for Ibanez…

Over a year after Levy’s first attempt, Spurs’ new transfer chief apparently has his eyes on the 22-year-old and it is claimed he ‘could come back to knock on Serie A’s door’ for another target.

Calciomercato.it say Paratici personally likes the player and wants to sign another top defender from Italy’s top flight, after securing 2020/2021 MVP award winner Cristian Romero for £46.7 million (The Guardian).

Whether we could see a move in January or next summer isn’t stated, with the Italian outlet simply stating it could happen ‘in the next transfer market sessions’.

The Verdict: Get it done?

Lauded as ‘superb’ by Islington Gazette journalist Josh Bunting last season (Twitter), the South American ace has can also be deployed at right-back and as a defensive midfielder according to Transfermarkt.

This could solve many issues for manager Nuno Espirito Santo and Ibanez’ age means he comes with plenty of sell-on value too.

A fixture in Roma’s back four last season, making 30 Serie A appearances alone, the starlet already as a wealth of experience at the very top level, and we feel this mixture of immediate impact, growth potential and versatility would make him an excellent signing.

In other news: ‘Wow’, ‘Levy is a criminal’, ‘This can’t be real’…Many Tottenham fans flock to ’embarrassing’ claim, find out more here.

Daniel Manohar, the Hyderabad batsman, has retired from first-class cricket bringing to an end a career spanning 11 seasons

Cricinfo staff17-May-2009Daniel Manohar, the Hyderabad batsman, has retired from first-class cricket bringing to an end a career spanning 11 seasons. He made 4009 runs at 33.68 in 73 first-class games, including eight centuries, and finished with an impressive average of 37.85 in domestic one-dayers.He started his career with a 144 against a strong Karnataka bowling line-up in 1997, an innings he considers the highlight of his career. “The bowling attack consisted of Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, and Sunil Joshi [all of whom were part of the national team at that stage],” he told Cricinfo. “The first runs I got gave me a lot of confidence in that game that I was eligible to play higher cricket also. That was the best moment of my career.”Manohar made the India A in his debut season itself but the closest he came to India selection was during the 2002 Champions Trophy. He had been named among the probables of a second-string team after several top Indian players had refused to confirm their participation after a sponsorship row. “Any cricketer would like to play for India, and even I wanted to do so very badly at one stage, but that didn’t happen, ” he said.Manohar was very satisfied with his domestic performances over the years. “To be honest before playing Ranji Trophy I never thought I’d play Ranji for 11 seasons. Becoming only the third Hyderabad opener to score 4000 runs is itself an achievement for me.”He counts VVS Laxman, Hyderabad fast bowler Narender Singh and long-time opening partner Nand Kishore among the players who stood by him through the good and bad patches in his career. “VVS was always guiding me, though he was a friend, he was also an idol to me, and I was very impressed with the way he carried himself on the field and off the field, his attitudes towards cricket.”Narender and I both started our careers together, at the Under-19 level, and he used to guide me in many ways. Also Nand Kishore, we used to open for Hyderabad some six or seven years, I think there was no run-out between us that was the understanding we had.”Manohar, 35, is keen to remain involved with cricket after his playing days, but hasn’t yet decided in what capacity.