Remember the questions?
Here are the answers.

What does DLF stand for?
Delhi Leasing and Finance. Now how many of you knew that?

Why are there so many bollywood personalities involved with the IPL?
Cricket and Bollywood is the lifeline of the Indian population. Plus would you care if Vishal Bhatia, Vikram Chopra, Amit Pandey, and Nishant Gandhi owned the teams? Yeah I guessed not.

Why does Vijay Mallya own one team and sponsor others that he doesn't own?
Mallya believes in having his eggs in more than one basket. Did you know he was the biggest sponsor of the team that won the IPL last year?

Why is Yuvraj Singh so grumpy all the time?
He isn't getting laid in South Africa.

Why are the commentators drunk all the time?
There's free booze being served in the commentary box and the commentators are not letting go of an opportunity of a lifetime in times of recession.

What sort of a cricket tournament gets Shane Harwood and Lee Carseldine a spot in the XI but benches Glen McGrath?
One where Shane Warne believes in the abilities of experienced oldies and young amateurs and Sehwag doesn't.

Where is Mayanti Langer?
Still in Dubai, shopping, beaching, and chilling. If only Lalit Modi could lure her away from the ICL honchos.

What makes Shane Warne so hyper?
Pills his mama gave him.

What is a DLF Maximum?
The Maximum loan amount one can get from DLF. In these times, its only Rs.6!

Why don't Cricinfo have the accurate squads of the IPL teams?
Cos they suck!

How could Parthiv Patel keep opening when Murali Vijay is sitting on the bench?
Dhoni's paying Patel back for taking his spot in the Indian team.

Why does Priety Zinta hug all her players but Shilpa Shetty doesn't?
Raj Kundra is not as open minded as Ness Wadia.

Who is the Fake IPL Player?
An anonymous coward.

Where are the Pakistanis, the Bangladeshis, and the Zimbabweans?
Pakistanis up in the mountains, Bangladeshis on the bench, and Zimbabweans in Mugabe-land.

Why is Niel McKenzie a commentator - has he retired?
Its one of those unannounced retirements, and he's commentating cause of the free booze. Word has it that he tapes down the toilet seats while he's on the mike.

Where is Shahrukh Khan?
Dancing at weddings in India.

How did Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher end up in the same team?
They came in a buy-one-get-one-free deal.

Why do the commentators at the dug outs make it look like they are doing something suspicious?
Cos according to ICC laws, they are not supposed to be there. Has someone told them they're on LIVE TV?

Why do so many wicket keepers play for Kolkata Knight Riders?
Cos John Buchanan sent the batsmen and allrounders back to India.

Do the cheerleaders know when a boundary has been hit and a wicket been taken or do they get their prompt from the DJ?
Prompted by the DJ. They do know which song is their team's song.

Who is the master - Warne or Murali?
Whoever wins the IPL.

Why is there so much royalty in the IPL?
The Indians are stuck in times of the queen.

What is a Citi Moment of Success?
Its what Citibank went through between 2002 and 2007. Sadly the moment of success ended after that period, but the IPL defies logic and recession.

Has someone kidnapped Lalit Modi?
No he's back on TV and sms-ing as intensely as ever. Looks like the Dons told him to stay in touch more often.

Why doesn't VVS Laxman talk to anyone?
He's tired of listening to, "you're not a 20-20 player".

What prompted Vijay Mallya to give the captaincy to Anil Kumble?
Mallya did not want to apply Buchanan's multiple captaincy theory by giving it to Kallis.

Why are so many retired Australians still playing cricket?
Cos they're damn good!

What happened to the bowl out?
It lives on, in Lalit Modi' head.

What is a Citi Moment of Judgement?
A commentator blunder.

Is Rohit Sharma a bowler?
In the IPL, even Raina is a bowler.

Which team do you support?
Depends on the day and mood.

Lalit Modi has called for an investigation into the match played between the Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Someone has brought to Modi's attention that the match might have been fixed, while the BCC! has brought to my attention that the match might have been fixed.

The amusing thing is that the reason explained in this article, for the match being potentially fixed, is that Brad Hodge was not playing and was sitting in one of the hospitality boxes.

What connection exactly does sitting in a hospitality box and match fixing have?

And while they're at it, i.e. investigating match fixing in the IPL, maybe they should pay some attention to last night's match as well - the one that Deccan Chargers lost to the Delhi Daredevils.

Well if scoring 52 runs of the final 4 overs to win a match cannot be achieved without some match fixing, then how can 7 wickets for 12 runs be?

And why stop there?

Investigate today's match as well.

Because it looked like some players of the Royal Challengers Bangalore had fixed the match and wanted to lose it.

While some of them pulled a Rashid Latif and snatched a victory from the Chennai Super Kings.

Go on, give the ACU, or whoever the anti-corruption lot are at the IPL, something to do.

First it was Arthur Turner talking about how the Australians are unhealthy for the IPL.

Now its an iafrica columnist, Dan Nicholl, taking the piss out of Lalit Modi.

That is the best Lalit interview, I have ever read or heard.

Here's a sneak peak of what its all about:

Dan: Slight misunderstanding there… What else can we expect?

Lalit: Well, we’ve extended our DLF deal. No more singles; instead, they’ll be DLF minimums, which gives a nice symmetry to things, and gives the commentators something extra to talk about.

Dan: That’ll be great — we really haven’t heard enough commercial allusion from your commentators. Are you happy with the team?

Thats quite funny from Dan Nicholls, but something tells me the South Africans aren't really enjoying the IPL.

Thanks Amy for pointing me to Lalit's best interview.

What does DLF stand for?

Why are there so many bollywood personalities involved with the IPL?

Why does Vijay Mallya own one team and sponsor others that he doesn't own?

Why is Yuvraj Singh so grumpy all the time?

Why are the commentators drunk all the time?

What sort of a cricket tournament gets Shane Harwood and Lee Carseldine a spot in the XI but benches Glen McGrath?

Where is Mayanti Langer?

What makes Shane Warne so hyper?

What is a DLF Maximum?

Why don't Cricinfo have the accurate squads of the IPL teams?

How could Parthiv Patel keep opening when Murali Vijay is sitting on the bench?

Why does Priety Zinta hug all her players but Shilpa Shetty doesn't?

Who is the Fake IPL Player?

Where are the Pakistanis, the Bangladeshis, and the Zimbabweans?

Why is Niel McKenzie a commentator - has he retired?

Where is Shahrukh Khan?

How did Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher end up in the same team?

Why do the commentators at the dug outs make it look like they are doing something suspicious?

Why do so many wicket keepers play for Kolkata Knight Riders?

Do the cheerleaders know when a boundary has been hit and a wicket been taken or do they get their prompt from the DJ?

Who is the master - Warne or Murali?

Why is there so much royalty in the IPL?

What is a Citi Moment of Success?

Has someone kidnapped Lalit Modi?

Why doesn't VVS Laxman talk to anyone?

What prompted Vijay Mallya to give the captaincy to Anil Kumble?

Why are so many retired Australians still playing cricket?

What happened to the bowl out?

What is a Citi Moment of Judgement?

Is Rohit Sharma a bowler?

Which team do you support?

Definitely not Rajasthan Royals.

We all said that last season as well, but surely a fairytale cannot repeat itself.

I'm not one to discount Shane Warne, but to repeat what he did last year is going to be one hell of a task.

They'll have a good season but the IPL will have new Champions this year.

It won't be Delhi Daredevils either.

They're the favorites just like the Deccan Chargers were last year.

Favorites hardly ever win a cricket tournament like this, unless they're Australia.

We all know that by now.

Chennai Superkings will not win it.

Last year's finalists may just be that this year as well.

The "best captain in the world" and a "fitter than ever" Hayden will not be enough to take them all the way.

Not unless they change their team's second name.

Mumbai Indians will be neither here nor there.

They'll be more here though with Sachin doing bulk of the scoring.

I think this team will be a lot like India of the 1990s - Sachin scores, we score. Sachin falls, we fall.

Sachin may take them far, but not all the way. Some things never change.

Bangalore Royal Challengers, are you kidding me?

They're not the same Bangalore that we saw last year.

The test cricketers are gone, the hard hitters are in.

There's a new captain as well, but that won't be enough to change their fortunes.

Which captain will lift the trophy if Kolkata Knight Riders win it?

They won't though!

Not with an Icon player, a captain, a coach, and an owner, all on different pages.

Their season may even be worse than last years. They will be the Deccan Chargers of IPL 2009.

Speaking of the Deccan Chargers, no I don't think they will win at all.

Their season won't be any better than last year.

Maybe better than the Knight Riders, but not more.

That just leaves the Kings XI Punjab then.

But guess what, I don't think they'll win the IPL either.

As long as the beautious Priety Zinta is around to distract Yuvraj, this team ain't going to be championship material.

And anyway any team that has Sreesanth as a mascot cannot win a tournament.

That doesn't leave anyone then, but does it really matter who wins the IPL?

I reckon, Lalit Modi has already won it!

He's raked in so much moolah that even he's getting extortion calls.

And he's raking in even more by allowing teams 7.5 minutes to discuss strategy mid innings.

Whether its Rajasthan or Bangalore, or whether its Chennai or Delhi, it doesn't make a difference at all, for Lalit Modi is the true IPL Champion!

What can you do with $3.1 million?

One can buy a beautiful 5 bedroom villa on the Palm Island in Dubai.

I can spend a lifetime without working with that amount in my bank account.

KP and Freddie, on the other hand, can sit and laugh about how they played Modi and the IPL.

Played not meaning playing cricket, but playing. You know what I mean.

The English players didn't appear in IPL's 1st edition for a number of reasons. The ECB did not want their county season disrupted. It would have clashed with some of England's international games. And so on.

Reportedly there were a number of dicussions between the board and the players on finding a way to appear in the IPL.

BCCI were also keen on getting the English on board and after many months of persuading and convincing, the English were there for the taking.

There is no denying the talent of KP and Freddie, but are they really worth the $1.55 million dished out for each of them by their respective franchises?

I didn't think so either.

England as a team has done nothing of note in either versions of the shortened game. Within a weak team, KP and Freddie stand out as lone shining stars.

A glance at their T20 stats reveal more than decent good records.

A batting average nearing 30 and a strike rate of almost 150, and a bowling average of only 17 and an economy rate of below 6.5 highlight a very good T20 record in my opinion.

But then KP and Freddie are not the only ones with records like that.

Then why was so much money shelled out for them?

To put it into perspective their collective pay check is more than the combined pay check of Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden, Glen McGrath, Brett Lee and Shane Warne!

That is half the the team that dominated all sorts of cricket for over a decade.

Sure T20 is different and the IPL even more different where the brand value and marketing abilities of cricketers also play a part in determining their price, but shouldn't talent be the first and foremost driving factor?

Rajasthan Royals have already shown that it should be.

Bangalore was in a dire need to not only change the image of its team but also to add a dynamic batsman among the ranks of test players.

In other words, they were desperate for someone like KP.

Chennai though were not really as desperate for a Freddie. They are last year's runners up, something they managed without many big names. But Dhoni really wanted Freddie for reasons best known to him.

Maybe it was also to not allow Freddie to get into the hands of Warne or anyone else.

Think about this for a while - had the English been available for the IPL last year, would then KP and Freddie secured bids for $1.55 million each?

We all know the answer.

So, albeit unknowingly, the ECB and hence the English players have truly played the man who has been playing the entire cricket world - Lalit Modi.

We all know the advantages of playing hard to get.

Here's living proof for you.

"I don't think anybody is ready to pay that kind of price. The reality is in front of him. He didn't want to be unsold in the auction and so decided to pull out. We asked him to reduce the price but he was unwilling."

WHAT !! ?

That is what Lalit Modi said about Micheal Clarke pulling out of the IPL auction, to be held tomorrow.

Read the last sentence again.

Modi says that they asked Clarke to reduce his price but he was unwilling.

The IPL asked Clarke to reduce his price?

Does that even make sense?

I mean, its the players who decide their price?

Are you kidding Mr. Modi?

So it was Clarke who decided that his base price was going to be US$ 1 million?

And it was KP who decided that his base price was going to be US$ 1.35 million?

So then why did Ponting only decide to base himself on US$ 300,000?

Didn't Ponting think he was worth more than that?

And did Clarke really think he was worth a million dollars?

And then when he didn't think anyone would pay that sum he pulled out. Why didn't he lower his base?

This just sounds so absurd. I know why no one would be willing to pay a million for Clarke, but isn't it the IPL who decides these base prices?

If its really the players then someone needs to consult Shakib and tell him that he's worth way more than a mere $75,000!

Modi needs some explaining to do.

When England and Australia introduced cricket to the world over a century ago, little did they know that one day their regional teams will be vying to play in a competition being held in India, which over a century ago was being ruled by the British.

Who would have believed back then that one day Middlesex will be taking on Victoria in Mumbai.

That is exactly what will be happening on the inaugral day of the Champions League.

The one cricket spectacle that can catch the imagination of billions around the world was launched in Delhi last week.

The first ever Champions League will take place between December 3rd and 10th in India.

Lalit Modi and company officially launched the competition this Thursday where the draws for the groups were held and various awards were given out to top 20-20 performers of the season.

Even though the teams are not actually cricket clubs, the involvement of regional / state teams from domestic competitions of test playing nations in a tournament, is the first baby step towards promoting club cricket around the world.

Football, arguably the most popular sport in the world, has relied on the 'club culture' for over a century and there's no reason why cricket cannot replicate the formula for taking the sport to a wider global audience.

The number of doors that this can open for cricket are unimaginable in my view.

Here's a look at what the Champions League will throw our way.

The Groups & The Teams

Group A:
Victoria Bushrangers
Middlesex Crusaders
Pretoria Titans
Chennai Super Kings

Group B:
Rajasthan Royals
Sialkot Stallions
Natal Dolphins
Western Warriors

Bushrangers, Crusaders, Titans, Super Kings, Royals, Stallions, Dolphins, Warriors - ever seen such a diverse mix of participants in any sort of competition?

Reminds me of the WWE!

You've got royalty, you've got men going for battle, you've got animals, you've got fish, and you've got gardeners!

And you've got them from Australia, South Africa, England, India, and Pakistan.

Lalit Modi has managed to bring them all together in India.

One can easily imagine a similar competition played out over a longer period, maybe a decade or two down the line involving teams from New Zealand, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, China, Hong Kong, USA, Canada, Brazil, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Nepal, Netherlands, Ireland, and many others.

Globalization is an understatement.

The Matches

The opening match of the Champions League will be played in Mumbai between Victoria Bushrangers, the winners of the KFC 20-20 competition in Australia, taking on the Middlesex Crusaders, the winners of England's 20-20 competition.

The top 2 teams from each group will qualify for the semi finals. The final of the tournament will take place in Chennai a week after the opening match.

The Captains

Bushrangers and the Warriors, the Australian teams, are captained by Cameron White and Marcus North respectively.

Shoaib Malik, the Pakistan captain, will be leading the Sialkot Stallions, while MS Dhoni, the Indian captain, will be leading the Chennai Super Kings.

Retired former Victorian, Shane Warne, will be leading the IPL champions Rajasthan Royals, and Middlesex will be captained by Shaun Udal.

The South African teams, Titans and Dolphins, will be led by Pierre Joubert and Ahmed Amla (Hashim's brother) respectively.

Where else will you find a french play cricket amongst the elite?

The Awards

Shaun Marsh, who topped the averaged in both the IPL (Kings XI) as well as the KFC 20-20 Cup (Bushrangers), won the best average for a batsman award.

Sohail Tanvir picked up the award for best bowling figures for his 6-14 for the Royals against the Super Kings, which are also the best bowling figures in all official 20-20 cricket, excluding the ICL.

Charles Langeveldt won the best strike rate for a bowler award for picking a wicket every 9 deliveries for the Cape Cobras, while Graeme Napier of Essex won the best stike rate for a batsman award with a SR of 195.2!

Brendon McCullum (Knight Riders) won the award for the highest score of 158 that he hit in the opening math if the IPL, and Yusuf Abdullah from the Natal Dolphins won the award for the best economy rate of 4.32.

A special award was given to Shoaib Malik for leading the Sialkot Stallions to 3 consecutive 20-20 titles while remaining unbeaten in 16 successive 20-20 matches.

Thats the longest winning streak in 20-20 cricket for any team. The Australia of 20-20 cricket?

Now that you have been familiarized with the Champions league, I can talk about the more interesting stuff related to the tournament.

If Ijaz Butt's comments are to be believed, talks of a possible merger between the Indian Premier League and the Indian Cricket League were held during the recently held ICC moot in Dubai.

During that meeting the BCCI was asked to meet the ICL officials to possible come up with a solution regarding the league and its players considered to be rebels.

Ijaz Butt, at his 1st press conference since taking over as PCB Chairman, claimed that a merger was suggested.

Butt has definitely come out with something that was discussed behind closed doors and this would definitely not please the BCCI or the ICC.

At a time when Pakistan cricket requires all the support it can get, Butt cannot afford to get on the wrong side of anyone, let alone the BCCI.

Lalit Modi & Co. are sure to come out with a reaction soon.

And I can almost see the grins on the faces of Subhash Chandra and Kapil Dev.

What I don't understand though is that how can the smartest cricket brains in the world (they should be that if they're heading the national cricket boards) even think about a possible merger between the IPL and the ICL.

A league with 17 teams including multiple teams from the same region hardly sounds feasible.

So why would these so called cricket brains even think of such an idea?

In my view, the simplest solution is to allow the ICL players to play for their regional teams in domestic competitions and also allow them to be considered for international duty.

No one has to do anything more. And I doubt the ICL is looking for anything more. Maybe they want the BCCI's help in gaining access to more grounds and facilities for holding matches and practices, but surely they are not looking for the two leagues to be merged.

So why is the ICC even discussing such a solution?

The best solution, one that I would like to see, is that the bans on the players be lifted and the ICL winners be granted entry into the 20-20 Champions League.

That for me is the ideal scenario. Not an IPCL!

The first ever Asian Cricket Awards were held in Karachi on Friday.

Australia have held award nights for many years now with the "Allan Border Medal" being the event of the year. Everyone looks forward to that night in order to get a peak of the Aussie WAGS.

South Africa held their awards recently as well. I'm not sure whether this was their first time or of they've done so before as well.

India could have had an award night or two of their own if they had learnt something from Bollywood, which I think has 10 award functions every year.

Why in this case they wanted to hold one jointly with Pakistan and Sri Lanka is beyond me.

The BCCI with Bollywood in tow could have held a GRAND Awards night even if they wanted to have one with Pakistan and Sri Lanka's involvement.

Have the Indian cricket Administracrats missed a trick here?

Have they missed out on a money making opportunity?

Where were Sharad Pawar and Niranjan Shah when these awards were being planned? Or above all, where was the man who has given entertainment to all and made money for the BCCI - Lalit Modi?

Think about this:

Asian Cricket Awards.

Hosts: Ravi Shastri and Karan Johar.

Presenters: Ajay Jadeja & Neha Dhupia / Shoaib Akhtar & Rakhi Sawant.

Performances: Kareena Kapoor, Mallika Sherawat, Shahurkh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Celina Jaitely, Amrita Arora, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Abhishek And Aishwariya Bachan, Meera, Reema, Resham, Shaan, Mummar Rana, Shahid Afridi, Ali Zafar, Atif Aslam, Hadeeqa Kiyani, Shahid Kapoor, Malaika Arora, Saif Ali Khan, and more.

Award Presenters: Imran Khan and Hema Malini, Wasim Akram and Madhuri Dixit, Sunil Gavaskar and Rekha, Kapil Dev and Jaya Bachchan, Arjuna Ranatunga and Bindoo, Shoaib Akhtar and Rakhi Sawant, Saurav Ganguly and Nagma, and more.

Award Categories:
Best Cricketer, Male
Best Cricketer, Female
Best Match
Best Coach
Best Captain
Best Supporting Captain
Best Supporting Cricketer
Best Supporting Coach
Best Wicket Keeper
Best Cricketer in Catch-Dropping Role
Best Cricketer in Comic Dismissals
Best Debutant of the Year
Best Run Out (fielder)
Best Run Out (batsman)
Lifetime Achievement Award

To add to the glamour and achievements the TV people should have also gotten awards in the following categories:

Best Commentator
Best Supporting Commentator
Best Sound from Stump Mic
Best Cameraman
Best Pitch Curator
Best Presenter
Best News Channel
Best Weather Forecast Predictor
Best Cricket Show
Best Cricket Movie

And the Administrators as well.

Best Selector
Best Supporting Selector
Best Board Member
Best Supporting Board Member
Best Chairman
Best Supporting Chairman
Richest Board Member

The rights to telecast the show should have been put up for grabs -Sony, ZEE, ESPN, Star, Neo, Ten Sports, Fox, and others would have vied for the rights and the BCCI would have received a multi-million dollar cheque.

Cricket and Bollywood in India - how did the BCCI miss this money making idea?

Throw Pakistan into the mix and play the India-Pakistan solidarity angle and you have a sure shot winner.

Throw Sri Lanka in and market the "Asia is One" gimmick and you have a sure shot money spinner.

Then why was an Asian Cricket Awards night held in Karachi, where no such performances were possible instead of Mumbai or Delhi?

Oh BCCI, you have disappointed.

If you turn it around next time and follow my tips, I will expect Royalty.

You'll make money, I'm sure you can share a little.

It hasn't happened yet but I can see it coming.

Shoaib Akhtar landed in India yesterday to play for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League. He would have left Pakistan thinking that finally he is going to be doing what he's always wanted.

He would have thought he would party with SRK and his cronies every night and in between play a few matches too.

He must have thought that finally he would not have to provide any sort of justification to any captain or coach about anything.

He would have thought that he'll just run in, bowl 4 overs a day, and party away.

He must have thought that the IPL will be one big party.

And on top of all this, he would have thought what better than to get paid for all this.

What more did he want.

Little did Shoaib know though that a man by the name of John Buchanan, who also happens to be the coach of KKR, and the same man who took an entire Australia team to a boot camp against the wishes of a certain Shane Warne, was waiting for him in Kolkata.

This is what Buchanan had to say on learning that the Shoaib Akhtar had arrived:

“Obviously, Shoaib has a reputation, not only on the field but off it too... There are rules in place and there are ways in which the team has been operating. The rules are the same for everybody and there won’t be exceptions, no matter who you are. As long as Shoaib understands what’s in place and abides by the rules, there shouldn’t be any drama.”

Does Buchanan really think there won't be any drama? Especially if he's ordering Shoaib to live by the "rules"?

He must be kidding seriously. He talks about the reputation that Shoaib has off the field and it is that reputation that is going to lead Shoaib to bite Buchanan's ear off.

All of Shoaib's past coaches have had a problem with him. Be it Miandad, the late Woolmer, the coach at Nottinghamshire, the man who coached the ICC World XI, everyone. And all of them have had problems because of Shoaib's lack of respect for authority.

Buchanan, with that statement, has already stamped his authority. And you can see it coming. A slap, a bat, a punch, even a bite. I see it coming.

For Shoaib's sake and the sake of Pakistan I hope Shoaib has cleaned up his act. I know what I'm hoping for is like wishing for hell to freeze over but I still hope for Shoaib to stay away from controversies and deliver on the field.

He himself has promised that by saying:

"I have been able to overcome this traumatic situation and return to the field because of IPL chairman Lalit Modi, Knight Riders owner Shah Rukh Khan and captain Sourav Ganguly. The way they stood by me, fought for me and empathised with me is unbelievable. I will never let them down in my life."

If he doesn't want to let them down he will have to clean up his act. He will have to deliver on the field.

The title of this post is something I don't wish to read about. I hope to see Shoaib Akhtar make the headlines with a bunch of wickets and match winning performances. I hope to see pictures of Shoaib celebrating wickets with Ganguly and not of him dancing with him.

I hope to read about how Shoaib took KKR to the semifinals. And hopefully to the IPL title.

Well, his former captain Wasim Akram believes that Shoaib will perform. This what he had to say:

"Once Shoaib sees the crowds, and of course the babes around, I think he will be able to perform."

Welcome to the IPL Shoaib!

A few days ago on Ottayan's blog, I said that it was bound to happen.

We all knew it would happen sooner rather than later.

Maybe this is the boost that the Knight Riders needed to get back to their winning ways. Only time will tell though, how effective Shoaib would be. He could potentially form a lethal attack with team mate Umar Gul.

I hope he does well.

But where does all this leave the PCB?

This is yet another one of the umpteen U-turns the PCB and its so called "3-man committees" have taken since Dr. Nasim Ashraf has been in charge. It is beyond ridiculous now.

First they ban Shoaib.

He appeals against the ban.

PCB sets up an appellate tribunal.

They uphold the appeal saying ban is just.

Tribunal says Shoaib is free to play in the IPL though.

IPL says they won't accept banned player.

Nasim Ashraf personally requests Lalit Modi.

Modi says sorry can't do.

Shoaib lawyers plead for 1 month suspension of ban.

Tribunal accepts.

Lalit Modi says:

"We look forward to Shoaib playing for us, I am going to call him immediately and invite him to come to Kolkata tonight or tomorrow morning."

Who are you guys kidding?

I mean seriously. So Lalit Modi is willing to allow Shoaib play knowing that in a months time he will be banned from cricket in and for Pakistan for 5 years.

What difference does it make whether Shoaib is banned from today or from June onwards?

And what happens after the current IPL tournament ends? Shoaib won't be allowed to play in future IPL seasons?

What a joke.