Symonds and Yuvraj join the MILLIONAIRES Club...

Andrew Symonds and Yuvraj Singh joined Dhoni and Sachin in the millionnaires club as Symonds was picked up by Hyderabad for $1.35 million. Big bucks being thrown around here. Looks like Symmos spat with Bhajji and the whole racism row didn't have much of an impact on his value. Symonds joins team mate Adam Gilchrist in the Hyderabad Team. Deccan Chronicle have now spent over $2 million on the two Australians.

Brett Lee also went for almost a million as he was auctioned to Mohali for $900,000. By way of that bid, Yuvraj the Mohali Icon, moved into the millionaires category. Lee now joins the Lankans Jayawardene and Sangakkara in a strong Mohali outfit led by Yuvraj and coached by Tom Moody. Go Priety Zinta!!

Shahrukh Khan, aided by Saurav Ganguly bagged another 2 players - Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting for $400,000 and Kiwi keeper Brendon McCullum for $700,000. McCullum valued more than Ponting? Now thats a surprise. Kolkata's team is also shaping up well with Ganguly, Ponting, and Shoaib Akhtar. Bollywood seems to be on a roll.

Delhi bought their first player in the form of Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori for $625,000, while Chennai picked up another two - Matthew Hayden for $375,000 and Jacob Oram for $675,000. Both of them join Dhoni and Murali.

Surprising point to note: New Zealanders are valuable cricketers, even more than the Aussies. Vettori, Oram, McCullum have gone for more than Ponting, Hayden, and Warne. And McCullum equalled Gilchrist's bid.

Uncle J, any comments?

Stay tuned for more.

11 Reasons why the CB Series will be a Cracker!

1. It pits the reigning ODI world champions against the world cup runners up and the 20-20 world champions. The best 3 ODI teams in the world? I see the Proteas objecting.


2. In Sachin, Hayden, and Jayasuriya, each team possesses one of the best openers the ODI game has seen. The best ODI openers ever? I hear Greame Smith protesting.


3. The best wicketkeeper batsmen in the world are on display - Gilchrist, Sangakkara, and Dhoni. Now Smith is joined by Boucher in the protest.


4. Each team has atleast one left arm quick worth watching - while Vaas is in the twilight of his career, Pathan is back to his best and Johnson rapdily building a reputation for himself. South Africa don't have a left arm pacer do they?


5. Two of the fastest bowlers in the world, Lee and Malinga, will be consistently clocking 145ks throughout the series. Maybe Sreesanth will do the same each time he sees Symonds at the batting crease. Proteas can't protest about this, Donald's retired.
   

6. All the batsmen likely to score centuries during the series - Sachin, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Hayden, Gilchrist, Ponting, Jayasuriya, Jayawardene, Sangakkara - you can bet that each one will do it at a strike rate of 1oo+. I hear Smith saying that even he has himself, Gibbs, and DeVilliers.


7. With Yuvraj, Gilchrist, and Jayasuriya playing you can expect a record number of sixes in one competition. Gibbs is thinking why his 6 sixes in an over against the dutch is never recognised as a big feat while Yuvraj gets ferraris for his in a 20-20 game.


8. Trevor Bayliss and Tim Nielsen, a New South Welshman and a South Australian are coaching 2 of the teams vying for supremacy, while the 3rd team's South African coach is waiting for his contract period to get underway.


9. All 3 teams are carrying forward rivalries, whose seeds were planted by future hall of famers Steve Waugh, Arjuna Ranatunga, and Saurav Ganguly. No Smith you are not a future hall of famer and Pollock is no where close.


10. If Warne and Kumble were still playing ODI cricket it would have been a "who is the best spinner" battle with Murali in the mix, and the Proteas would have nothing to complain about.


11. And the final reason for why I think the CB series will be a cracker is because of the possibility of an All Asian Final in Australia with the Aussies fuming over their losses and the South Africans wondering why they can't ever do it.

Enjoy the series people. I hope the rest of the games don't get spoilt by the rain like the first one. I'm looking forward to some nerve wrecking ODI games after a long time. I hope I'm not disappointed.

Stranger Days...

The rains in Dubai finally stopped yesterday after 5 continuous days of downpour. I thought those were the strangest days ever as it hardly rains in this part of the world. But then Matthew Hayden missed a test match after 7 years. That was stranger. He played 80 odd test matches on the trot - Gilly I think has played close to a 100 on the trot. What do these Aussies smoke?

Rahul Dravid moved back to his favorite position and got out in the 90s playing an unlike-wall type of stroke. Strange? Not more than Matty Hayden missing a test. What was though was the Aussies going into the test with 4 fast bowlers after 16 years. What is this? A week for records?

Hogg and Harbhajan, the 2 spinners who were trying to be thrown out of the 3rd test due to appeals for bans by the opposing teams were dropped from the line up. What was all the fuss about during last week. I doubt anything was stranger than that.

An 18 year old Pakistani opener hit 182 against the Zimbos in a practice match. Thats not strange, Rameez Raja's great granny could have done that.

Shoaib Malik said he may sit out a few ODIs due to the ankle injury. Media reported Younis Khan will captain. Nasim Ashraf said its all speculation till we announce the team. Meda said Younis Khan will not captain. Afridi said he would not say no if he was asked to captain. Media reported Afridi as likely candidate and Misah as dark horse for ODI captaincy. Nasim Ashraf requested for the speculation to stop. Shoaib Malik said he's fit and ready to captain. Strange? Nah just Pakistan cricket!

Shane Warne announced that he is becoming a poker professional! He wil be touring the US and many other places to take part in professional poker tournaments. And what more he says that cricket and poker are very similar. Always knew he linked betting to cricket! And I thought he just gave a weather forecast to the bookie man. Strange? Definitely. After phone sex, drugs, affairs, and match fixing charges; add gambling to the list as well.

Nasser Hussain asked the English cricketers to toughen up as they had gone soft. Not strange, typical English.

Ian Chappel claimed he's not exactly best friends with Geoff Boycott. Aussies not liking the English is not strange at all.

An unnamed PCB official leaked to the media that Shoaib Akhtar's days as a Pakistani cricketer are over. Again hardly strange - these things have been said before.

So what do you think was the strangest cricketing story of the past few days? For me it was this morning. The Indians got to 330 on a 1st day Perth wicket and the Aussies were 4 down for 40 odd. It will be stranger if the Indians stop the Aussie's 16-match winning streak for the second time!