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[Str8bat]

I am with Jeet on this. Delhi look very competitive. Need to hold their nerves in the big games though. Top scorer - Sehwag or Dilshan

[SAF Bats]

Tendulkar is in rare form at the moment or Sanath Jayasuriya fast run scorer in ODI but you cant discount Matthew Hayden either

[Talisman]

I'm sure the value of it is worth a lot, India is quite a big place! Does the money make the cricket better then? It's meaningless though, what player cares for anything apart from the money?

[harry kovert]

Surely poor performance would affect a player's future earning capacity though???

[Talisman]

Agreed, but money is the cause, at least for county and country they will want to win badly for the win itself. World Series been and gone and now IPL.

[Tom]

How many MMI's are going to be on show Tom? existing players that is and who do you expect to top score from your players?

Only Dwayne Smith going so far. So a definite 1 if he uses it. He used it a couple of times whilst playing in Australia, but didn't have huge success with them. I had hoped we'd have at least a couple of players on this shortlist too http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283855.html

Winner: Delhi Daredevils
Highest runscorer for me: Sachin Tendulkar

[Talisman]

Who on that list? interested to see Brad Hodge is far ahead on total runs scored.

[harry kovert]

From Guardian Online today:

Cricket is to return to ITV for the first time in more than 30 years after the broadcaster acquired rights to this year's Indian Premier League competition.

The deal will see the broadcaster air 59 of 60 live matches on ITV4. The IPL starts on 12 March and runs for 45 days.

Coverage will be presented by Matt Smith with Bollywood actress and presenter Mandira Bedi who hosted Cricket World Cup coverage in India.

The IPL will also have a specialist section on the ITV.com website and has the right to webcast matches. The tournament will be supported by a prominent marketing campaign on ITV. In the UK, the rights were previously held by pay-TV service Setanta, which collapsed last year.

In January, YouTube struck a deal to webcast live IPL matches globally.

The IPL, which is an eight-team tournament of Twenty20 cricket, includes players such as Sachin Tendulkar, Shane Warne, Jacques Kallis and Chris Gayle. English players participating in this season's tournament include Kevin Pietersen, Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara and Owais Shah.

"In only two years, the Indian Premier League has already established itself as one of the world's most high profile and exciting sports events which attracts some of the very best cricketers from around the globe," said the ITV director of digital channels and acquisitions, Zai Bennett. "It is an exciting acquisition for one of the UK's fastest growing digital channels and we're delighted to be able to offer the whole tournament free-to-air to our viewers."

The chairman and commissioner of the IPL, Lalit Modi, said that he was delighted that the IPL tournament will be broadcast on a free-to-air channel.

[Buzz]

Cricket on poor man's telly! Brilliant!

[harry kovert]

Some cricket on terrestrial television for the first time in ages. About bloomin time!

[Jeet]

Would've nice if BBC would've bought the rights.

Matt Smith, what does he know about cricket?

[SillyShilly]

I dont the BBC are in a fantastic position to be buying up the rights to cricket considering the amount of cuts theyr'e about to make......ITV will have to do, i for one am not complaining as non-skyer!!!

[Jeet]

I dont the BBC are in a fantastic position to be buying up the rights to cricket considering the amount of cuts theyr'e about to make......ITV will have to do, i for one am not complaining as non-skyer!!!

I'm not complaining SS, but BBC's commentary/pundits are better than Matt Smith, who's usually a football presenter.

[SillyShilly]

Completely agree with you - even Sue Ryder could do a better job!

[harrystokoe]

http://www.cricinfo.com/ipl2010/content/current/story/450790.html