Thankfully, after the start of the tournament, the off-the-field issues have stopped, but on the field, the players have continued to make news for all the wrong reasons. Here is a lowdown of all the things that have gone wrong in the tournament so far:

Yuvraj proposes, Ness disposes:
After been disposed off as the captain of the Kings XI Punjab side, Yuvraj Singh wanted to shift to the Mumbai Indians side according to a report in a newspaper. The owner of the side, Ness Wadia refused, but then was worried that the combination of the loss of captaincy and the lack of desire to play for Punjab would mean that he could underperform. Wadia is then said to have supposedly spoken to the BCCI about his fears, who had had a talk with the player.

The result? Yuvraj Singh struggles through most part of the first half of the tournament, whereas the Punjab side capitulate to one loss after another and after having played ten games, they are already out of the tournament.

Ordinary or extra-ordinary?
Gautam Gambhir is a rather angry man on most occasions, but this time around he seemed to have stirred the hornet’s nest by calling the Rajasthan side ordinary. He was been asked whether he thought he was worried about the Royals chasing down the target that was set by the Daredevils, and he replied that apart from Yusuf Pathan, he was barely worried about the ordinary side.

Modi reprimanded Gambhir, but that did not mean that the dashing southpaw stopped making statements. He said that he stood by what he said and did not care much for people who had not held a bat in their hands – alluding to Shilpa Shetty in this case. Rajasthan went on to beat Deccan and Punjab in two successive games and look to be heading their way into the semi-finals.

While diplomacy was never Gambhir’s middle name, surprising to hear Gambhir call the Royals ordinary anyway, given that they have won the first edition of the IPL and look good to enter the semi-finals in the second!

Over-rate issues:
While it was good to observe that the IPL had taken upon itself to sweep the slow over-rate offenders with fines that were anything but tiny, the surprising bit was that not only the captain but all the rest of the players were fined a bomb as well.

So picture this. Kumar Sangakkara gets fined $20k for his first offence, $40k for his second and gets banned for his third one. He has already lost more than $100k in fines. But more importantly, each of his player has also lost around $50k, which is probably more than what some of the players even earn in the entire duration of the tournament! This means that by playing in the IPL, these players, with contracts worth $30,000 or $50,000 stand to gain nothing, all thanks to some slow thinking captains! Quite a joke I tell you!

You can buy your tickets through the official source at Ticketgenie by clicking the links below. All times  are IST. Prices range from RS100 to RS3000.

08 OCT

• RCB v Cape Cobras
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09 OCT

• NSW v Diamond Eagles
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09OCT

• Daredevils v Victoria
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10OCT

• Cape Cobras v Otago
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10 OCT

• Deccan Chargers v Somerset
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11OCT

• NSW v Sussex
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11OCT

• DD v Wayamba
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12OCT

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12OCT

• RCB v Otago
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13OCT

• Victoria v Wayamba
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13OCT

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14OCT

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RP Singh celebrates in the victory in Johannesburg! Well done Deccan Chargers. 24-May-2009.

3rd Match: Delhi Daredevils v Kings XI Punjab
When: IPL 2009 19th April 2009
Toss: Delhi Daredevils - elected to field
Winner: Delhi Daredevils by 10 wickets
Man of the Match: DL Vettori (Delhi Daredevils)

Well done Daredevils!

4th Match: Deccan Chargers v Kolkata Knight Riders
When: IPL 2009 19th April 2009
Toss: Kolkata Knight Riders - elected to bat
Winner: Deccan Chargers by 8 wickets
Man of the Match: RP Singh (Deccan Chargers)

Well done Chargers!

GAME 3 - PHOTOS - DAREDEVILS vs PUNJAB

Daniel Vettori put the skids on Kings XI Punjab, Delhi Daredevils v Kings XI Punjab, IPL, 3rd game, Cape Town, April 19, 2009

© Getty Images . This image may not be reproduced without specific consent from Getty Images and Cricinfo.

Preity Zinta gives Delhi Daredevils brand ambassador Akshay Kumar a hug, Delhi Daredevils v Kings XI Punjab, IPL, 3rd game, Cape Town, April 19, 2009

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Ravi Bopara wallops the ball down the ground, Delhi Daredevils v Kings XI Punjab, IPL, 3rd game, Cape Town, April 19, 2009

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GAME 4 - PHOTOS - CHARGERS vs RIDERS

Sourav Ganguly gets tall to force the ball away, Deccan Chargers v Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL, 4th game, Cape Town, April 19, 2009

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Adam Gilchrist pulls for four, Deccan Chargers v Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL, 4th game, Cape Town, April 19, 2009

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Cheerleaders gyrate at Newlands, Deccan Chargers v Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL, 4th game, Cape Town, April 19, 2009

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Stay tuned to T20Cricket.asia for more Results on IPL2 in South Africa.

Check out the results for DAY 1 - Game 1 and 2.

Bangalore Royal Challengers
Official Website

Kolkata Knight Riders Official Website

Game results IPL 2008:

What happened?

Adam Gilchrist hit 109 runs from 48 deliveries (42 balls) bringing Hyderabad's Deccan Chargers to 10-wicket victory over the Mumbai Indians.

He managed to beat Andrew Symonds record from the previous game of 100 runs from 47 balls.

To amount this tally he slogged nine 4's, ten 6's and maintained a freakish strike rate of 227.08!

This brought Deccan their first win beating the Mumbai target of 154 with 44 balls and 10 wickets to spare.

The highlight for Gilchrist was found when facing Pollock. He hit him over deep backward square-leg boundary for consecutive sixes bringing his first T20 fifty. The next hit a four into the offside boundary and followed launching a 6 over long-leg making 23 for the over.

Pure Efficiency

Gilly scored 96 of his 109 bucket load from boundaries. Check cricinfo for more match stats.

That's Gold!

JM