IPL season 4

The gravy train that is the IPL continues to hum along, seemingly untouched not only by the many controversies and court cases that have swirled around the league over the last year but also the glut of cricket on the subcontinent over the past few weeks. Advertisers and sponsors remain undeterred by former IPL chairman Lalit Modi's alleged financial irregularities or the expulsion and subsequent court-ordered readmission of two franchises, with Sony Entertainment Television (SET) selling out its ad inventory and the league and its franchises signing on new sponsors.
The rush to be associated with the IPL, despite all the question marks, is a sign of just how hot a property it has become for those wishing to reach the Indian consumer.
"The fact that IPL has 11 sponsors as against nine of last season, and these sponsors signed up for the IPL in the midst of all the controversies and court cases indicates that the advertisers see clear value and benefit of association with IPL," Harsha Joshi, chief operating officer of Madison Media, told ESPNcricinfo.
The league has not escaped completely unscathed, however, from all the turmoil. Brand Finance, a firm that specialises in brand valuations, has pegged the value of the IPL at $3.67 billion in its latest report, down from the $4.13 billion the year before.
"The IPL juggernaut has hit a speed breaker with an erosion of $460 million of its long-term value," M Unni Krishnan, the managing director of Brand Finance, India, said in the report. "IPL's sustainability will largely depend on infusing governance policies to align all the stakeholders towards win-win relationships and thereby preserving the value in the long run."
At the same time, the report states that the "IPL remains a robust asset despite the challenges" and while the overhaul value of the league has shrunk, the value of the eight original franchises has risen from $333 million in 2010 to $355 million.
Perhaps proving the old adage that there is no such thing as bad publicity, the many controversies should also spur viewer interest in the league according to Sudha Natrajan, deputy chief executive office, Lintas Media Group. "The IPL is now an established property and the recent controversies are unlikely to impact the brand," Natrajan said. "It was evident from the interest level the auction of players has generated."
A number of new advertisers have jumped on board this year, the most high profile of which is German car manufacturer Volkswagen, who became an official partner of the league. Meanwhile cola rivals Coke and Pepsi have blanketed the franchises, partnering with five teams each in their own game of one-upmanship. Even Rajasthan Royals, one of the two teams to have been expelled from the tournament before a court order reinstated them, has seen its number of sponsors grow from 10 in 2010 to 16.
The desire to associate with the league is so strong that the IPL recently decided to allow teams the option - relatively unique in sport - of having different sponsors on their jerseys for home and away matches so more companies could have a slice of the IPL pie. "A lot of sponsors are interested in participating in IPL and the premier sponsorship opportunities are far more expensive at present," Sundar Raman, the IPL's chief operating officer, was quoted as saying in the financial daily Mint.
However, the decision has reportedly not gone down well with some existing sponsors, who fear it would weaken their association with their respective teams. Ravi Chawla, president for the lubes business of Gulf Oil Corp. Ltd - who recently signed a sponsorship deal with Chennai Super Kings - told the same paper that the blanked TV coverage negates the concept of "away" games. "Ultimately, it's a television match and the brand is associated with the team. Wherever you are playing in India, it is on television."
The 2011 IPL will also have ten teams competing for the trophy for the first time, up from eight the previous three years. The addition of two new teams -Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers - has also generated more interest in the league by creating new fan bases.
This demand has naturally been a boon for Multi Screen Media (MSM), which owns SET, the Indian broadcast rights holder, which televises the games on its entertainment channel SET Max. MSM expects to generate revenues in the region of Rs 10 billion from the 2011 tournament, an increase of about 25% over last season. It has already sold its entire ad inventory of 2,500 second per match, with 10-second spots going for as much as Rs 6.5 lakhs a pop.
"The IPL delivers consistent ratings and reach," Rohit Gupta, president of MSM Screen Media, told ESPNcricinfo. "From a brand perspective, it delivers very well. That is why advertisers like it. The key thing is consistency in ratings. If you look at the World Cup, across 49 games, the nine India games got huge ratings and advertisers but the other games did not."
The IPL's existing advantages - a family-friendly format, the way it is packaged as primetime entertainment and its appeal to women and children - are now joined by India's successful World Cup campaign which, Gupta believes, will add to interest in the IPL rather than result in a case of cricket burnout.
"Every time the Indian team does well, it has a positive impact," Gupta said. "There are no controversies around anybody. Everybody is on a high. All the players go in with all the positives when they play for their IPL teams. And from a consumer perspective, people love to see the India players play for their IPL teams."

Kochi fired by de Villiers

Five blistering sixes from AB de Villiers, and his 52-run partnership with Saurabh Tiwary, won the night for Bangalore Royal Challengers.
The first came in the ninth over in which Sreesanth leaked 15 runs as Bangalore moved to 80 for 2. It was a full delivery, off a free hit, and de Villiers went down on a bent knee to paddle-scoop it for a stunning six over fine-leg. The next blitz from him came after spinners Muttiah Muralitharan and Ravindra Jadeja choked up the run flow in the next few overs. With 33 runs required from the last three overs, de Villiers imposed himself against Raiphi Gomez, who was asked to bowl his first over in that pressure situation. The second delivery was smashed over midwicket, the fifth disappeared over long-off and the final delivery was bulldozed over long-on. Game over.

It wouldn't have been an easy decision for Mahela Jayawardene, Kochi's captain, to turn to Gomez but RP Singh's poor effort in the 15th over must have forced his hand. With 59 runs needed from the last six overs, RP Singh bowled a poor over. The first delivery was outside leg stump and Saurabh Tiwary shoved it to the fine-leg boundary. The second was a wide, the third was spanked to the straight boundary, and he kept bowling length and went for 15 runs.
Bangalore played the waiting game well; they saw out Muralitharan and treated Jadeja with some caution as they knew the seamers could be taken for plenty. It was the same resolve that saw them come back in the game with the ball and restrict Kochi to 161 after Brendon McCullum and VVS Laxman had added 80 runs in the first nine overs.
McCullum and Laxman are as different as a Bollywood masala flick and art-house cinema, but they combined superbly to lay a good platform. McCullum was the McCullum the world knows: aggressive, adrenaline-pumping and audacious as ever. He sashayed down the track in the first over to slap a Zaheer Khan delivery over extra cover, but really exploded in the second over against Dirk Nannes. A blasted off drive was followed with a slashed boundary but it was a thunderous pull over the midwicket boundary that really tested the lung power of the home crowd.
Laxman has been itching for the IPL to start to prove his worth in the shortest format of the game. There were a few lovely hits: a late cut for four against Tillakaratne Dilshan, lofted on drives on a bent knee and a couple of flicks, but it was a flat-batted thumping six over long-on that really declared his ambition to do well in this tournament. It was a short-of-length delivery from Abhimanyu Mithun, who must have been really shocked to see Laxman back away and flat-bat it over the boundary.
However, slowly, and surely, Bangalore began to claw their way back. In the final delivery of the ninth over, Laxman slog-swept Dilshan straight to deep midwicket, and in the 12th over, McCullum fell, top-edging a paddle scoop off Virat Kohli. Suddenly, the slow bowlers began to apply the squeeze. The legspinner Asad Pathan combined well with Kohli to keep Brad Hodge and Mahela Jayawardene in check. Jayawardene tried to break free against Daniel Vettori but was stumped in the 15th over, and Brad Hodge was yorked by Zaheer Khan in the 18th over.
It was left to Jadeja, who showed maturity in his shot selection, preferring the straight hits down the ground instead of across-the-line heaves, to push the score along. He did his bit with the ball too but it didn't prove enough.