Open Letter to Lalit Modi

Dear Mr. Modi,

I hope you are well and enjoying the success of your creation, the Indian Premier League. I am writing to you in reference to the league and a recommendation made by a senior member of the world of media.

I am sure you have heard of Mr. Prem Panicker. Mr. Prem Panicker is the founder and editor of Rediff. He is also a former editor of India Abroad, the largest Indian American News Paper.

You probably knew this, but you may not know that Mr. Panicker runs a blog called "Smoke Signals" and does regular posts about cricket, bollywood, and US politics, among other things.

About a week back, Mr. Panicker recommended all of us faculty members of the "Allen Stanford University for Cricket Bloggers" to potential recruiters of online blogging talent. In fact he has suggested that the IPL put together a franchise of bloggers and recruit us for it.

I would like to openly thank Mr. Panicker for his kind reference and at the same time let you know sir that Uncle J, Ottayan, Soulberry, David Barry, Arjwiz, Ayalac, Nestaquin, Suave, King Cricket, Straight Point, Ashrey, Naked Cricket, Sfx, Golandaaz, Cricket Guru, Moses, Miss Field, Martyd, Sportsfreak, Homer, Tim, John, Obaid, and Nazhar along with yours truly are ready to make their millions.

Please note that since the launch of the Allen Stanford University for Cricket Bloggers, we have recruited D.S. Henry, Scorpicity, and Trideep into our faculty. They too are ready for their IPL millions sir.

You may recruit us directly by contacting us through the links provided on the faculty member page of the university. Or you could reply to this post with the date, time, and location for an auction for the faculty members and let the market forces decide how many millions we are worth.

We are eagerly waiting for your response.

Thank you and best regards,

Yours sincerely,

Q.

Founder, Allen Stanford University for Cricket Bloggers
Editor, Well Pitched

Selectorial Headache or a Mathematical Problem?

Come tomorrow and the 8 IPL franchisees will be getting together to bid for the cricketers they want in their teams.

Sounds fun doesn't it? - after all the only thing required is a suitcase full of dollars and knowledge about the players available. That can't be difficult can it? All 8 franchisees have truck loads of dollars and they know their cricketers.

But its not as simple as it sounds. There are certain restrictions in place which have given this IPL player auction the image of a mathematical problem rather than a selectorial headache.

You have to spend a minimum of $3.3 million but can't go above $5 million.

You have to choose 8 international players

You have to choose 4 under 22 players

You have to choose 4 players from the local catchment areas

You can choose as many Indian players as you like

You cannot have more than 2 Australian players in the same team

You cannot choose Sachin, Ganguly, Dravid, or Yuvraj unless you are Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, or Mohali respectively. The same is being requested for Laxman (Hyderabad) and Sehwag (Delhi).

The above mentioned Icon players will earn 15% more than your highest paid cricketer

Not to downgrade the mathematical abilities of the cricketers and bollywood celebrities involved but probably they would be better of hiring an investment banker or a Fantasy Cricket expert.

Those of you who play the several fantasy cricket games on the web would be familiar with such selectorial headaches - fixed budget to use, best players priced too highly to fit into one team, restrictions on number of bowlers, batsmen, and allrounders, restrictions from which country they are from, and so on. Its a dream come true for us fantasy cricket lovers to see the best being auctioned for real dollars unlike the imaginary numbers we play with on ESPN's Super Selector or Cricinfo Fantasy.

An Investment Banker will also be useful - he would develop a model showcasing the different combinations and permutations needed to get the best team fulfilling the whole criteria and one that will ensure returns on the money spent.

Note to SRK and Preity Zinta: I am an investment banker and quite good at fantasy cricket and for you I will work for FREE! (All I require is a visa to India and a flight there tonight, I will pull an allnighter to develop a team and a bid for the auction tomorrow)

So the question is who do you choose? How do you garantee you get the players you want? What is the combination that will get you the crowds and win matches at the same time? Given that its a 20-20 tournament, do you choose senior and exerienced cricketers or rising young ones? Your XI is only allowed to field 4 international cricketers but you can have 8 in your squad - how do you come up with a good mix? How big can you go on your bid for Shane Warne or Glen McGrath given that you have to pay 15% higher to your Icon? Will Hayden make a good opening partner with Saurav or Sachin? Do you want Gilchrist or Dhoni?

What is the Optimal Solution?

I told you, its more like mathematics!

Leading Industrialists and Bollywood Stars to own IPL Teams.

What do Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Mohali, and Delhi have in common apart from being cities of India?

These are the 8 cities that will be fielding a team in the Indian Premier League (IPL) set to get underway across India in April.

What do Mukesh Ambani, Vijay Mallya, Shahrukh Khan, Priety Zinta, and Ness Wadia have in common apart from being one of the rich and famous in India?

They are the proud owners of teams taking part in the IPL.

For the benefit of our Non-Indian and Non-Pakistani readers, Mukesh Ambani is the richest man in the world and owner of one of India's largest companies - Reliance Industries. Vijay Mallya is owner of Kingfisher, which manufactures beer and operates the Kingfisher airlines. Mallya is also one of India's richest people. Shahrukh Khan and Preity Zinta are film actors with Shahrukh Khan arguably the best actor India has today. Ness Wadia is Priety Zinta's boy friend and is the heir to the Wadia empire of Bombay Dyeing.

(Uncle J, do you think Priety is Hot?)

Earlier today, the BCCI opened the sealed bids for franchises of the teams to take part in the IPL. Mumbai was the highest selling franchise, which Mukesh Ambani won for a bid of $111.9 million! That was followed by the Bangalore franchise that was won by Vijay Mallya for $111.6 million. Shah Rukh Khan won the bid for Kolkata for $75.1 million, while Preity Zinta and Ness Wadia won the Mohali franchise for $76 million.

The full list of franchisees and the amounts paid for the teams can be viewed here.

The bidding that took place today made the BCCI richer by $723.6 million!

For the high profile bidders this is just the start as now they get involved in a bidding war for players, which include as many as 79 international stars including Shane Warne, Glen McGrath, Sachin Tendulkar, Shoaib Akhtar, Ricky Ponting, and a whole lot more.

The IPL gets underway in April and it already looks very exciting, especially with the high pofile franchisees. I wonder what the teams will be called? SRK's Kolkata Baazigars? Mallya's Bangalore Kings? What do you suggest these teams be called?