India the cricket crazy nation

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April 25 – India is a cricket crazy nation. Work slows down to a snails pace, random people stare into Tv shop windows and everybody stays tuned into the match of the day.

The latest commercial twist to cricket or the Indian Primiere league (IPL) is being played with much gusto in India. 8 Cities are pitted against each other with each city team owned by either a large industrialist or bollywood star. Created as a shorter more exciting way to play cricket and raise money like that of the English Premier League in footbal, the Board of Control for Cricket in India created the Indian Premier League. The eight teams are – 1. Kolkata Knight Riders 2. Chennai Super Kings 3. Mumbai Indians 4. Deccan Chargers 5. Rajasthan Royals 6. Bangalore Royal Challengers 7. Delhi Daredevils 8. Kings XI Punjab.

The teams were given to the highest bidder. While the base price for the auction was US$400 million, the auction fetched US$723.59 million. Mukesh Ambani and Reliance Industries also controlled by him bought the Mumbai Indians for US$111.9 million – the most expensive team.

As of late, the Kolkata Knight Riders (owned by bollywood superstars Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and her husband Jai Mehta), the Delhi Daredevils (owned by GMR holdings) and the Chennai Super Kings owned by India Cements and and N Srinivasan have been ruling the roost. While the Kings XI Punjab and Deccan Chargers are lagging behind.