And so it went on, an outpouring of excitement and unguarded energy about teams and favourite players and the imminent start of the new India Premier League that is all but guaranteed to become a huge success here. That people should have displayed such enthusiasm at a location so close to the home ground of the Delhi cricket team was perhaps not surprising. In India, cricket is more than just a sport, but the IPL has taken this obsession even further, involving not just the best domestic and international cricket players it can lay claim to, but also roping in the other major love of Indians – Bollywood stars. Back in January it was announced that, Shah Rukh Khan, perhaps India’s most celebrated movie star of the moment, had bought a major stake in the Kolkata Knight Riders, the franchise from the city formerly known as Calcutta that will include the likes of Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Ponting. Players’ chiefs will talk to England’s leading cricketers and officials next week in an attempt to find a way to accommodate them in future seasons of the Indian Premier League. Following Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, reiterating his willingness to shift the dates of the cash rich Twenty20 competition in future years to allow Englishmen to take part, the Professional Cricketers’ Association will canvass the views of the national side once they are over their jet lag after returning from their New Zealand tour. read more

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