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IPL auction injects a new lease of life in England cricket AsianVoiceNews
The Indian Premier League auction has injected a new lease of life to England cricket. Earlier youngsters were not very enthusiastic in joining cricket because of low pay a cricketer earns. They preferred football over cricket. A good county player can earn around £100,000 a year but majority of them get about £70,000 for slogging throughout the year playing 4-day cricket, 50-over and Twenty20 matches. But all this attitudes will change now after English players made it rich at the IPL auction. At the auction at least six English cricketers were picked for mind blogging figures. Ben Stokes became IPL's most expensive import when Rising Pune Supergiants shelled out £1.73 million on him. Tymal Mills' story is more interesting. Before touring India with England recently, the injury-plagued left arm pace bowler had just one international cap. Yet such was the impression he made in the three-match T20 series that seven of the eight IPL franchises expressed interest in him. He was picked by Royal Challengers Bangalore for £1.4 million. Chris Woakes - £504,000, Eoin Morgan -
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Tymal Mills, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes and Eoin Morgan
£240,000, Jason Roy120,000, Chris Jordan £60,000, were the other cricketers picked in the auction. Jos Buttler and Sam Billings were already contracted. Ben Stokes and Tymal Mills were on the crossroads before the auction. Ben Stokes was on the fourth anniversary of being sent home in disgrace from Lions tour of Australia. Mills was in a dilemma due to a congenital back condition for the last two years. It looked as if he would be forced to retire, but with support from his county Sussex, Mills opted to become a T20 specialist, bowling rapid four-over bursts. Mills has been hugely successful as a free lance cricketer, playing in
Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and Bangladesh to supplement his £40,000- a- year county deal. He was sold for 24 times the £60,000 price on his head when Mumbai Indians began the bidding. But one thing is certain. The youngsters will now concentrate more on the shorter version of the game. There are just too many great leagues around the world these days where you can earn good money. These leagues are now hugely popular, cricket is good and the events attractive for fans to attend, while international cricket still lacks real context. The younger players now must be thinking more towards making sure their game is geared to the shorter ver-
sion. The very best can play all formats, but that is only a few. The Tymal Mills story is just a reminder that if you go through difficulty as a young player playing the longer version of the game, there is another option. Now the authorities also have a role to play in attracting more and more talent. They have to encourage their players to play league matches so that they can earn a good sum and set an example for others to follow. The England and Wales Cricket Board has to find money to make sure that county players are earning decent amount, otherwise the new generation will be wanting to play the shorter version than the international cricket.
Dhoni joins teammates for his first train ride in 13 years Former India captain M S Dhoni used a train journey to reach Kolkata to play Vijay Hazare trophy after a gap of 13 years. Dhoni, the captain of the Jharkhand side, along with his teammates and support staff boarded the Hatia-RanchiHowrah Express to reach Kolkata. Dhoni was offered flight ticket but the skipper preferred a train ride over a 60-minute flight along with his colleagues. They took the train at around 9.45pm from Hatia. The station had been put on high alert. Top Railways officials were waiting for the special guest. “Our state
association was a bit iffy about Dhoni going to Kolkata by train. We suggested him to take a flight. But he refused. In fact, he said, “it’s better to take a train for Kolkata.” He came to the station in the team bus. He said, “when I’m the captain, I must travel with the team.” He didn’t do train journeys for the last 13
years and, maybe, wanted to revisit his past,” Jharkhand team manger PN Singh said, adding: “No demonetisation effect is involved here, because the team travelled by plane throughout the season.” The Hatia railway station didn’t witness much fan frenzy. Some people requested Dhoni for autographs and selfies before he was ushered into his designated coach and berth, by the Railway Protection Force (RPF). His co-passengers were awestruck but didn’t create trouble. “Obviously, they had been asking for Dhoni’s
autographs and requesting for selfies, but all the passengers were very dignified.” But by the time the train pulled up at Ranchi station, news had spread like wildfire and the platform was overcrowded. Everyone wanted to see their hero but the Railway police and officials managed the situation very well. Dhoni was all smiles. He obliged almost every copassenger. The catering staff and train attendant turned up and requested for pictures with him. It continued till 2’o clock in the morning, but Dhoni never said no,” Singh said.
and Sunrisers Hyderabad. “I have faced a lot of hardships. But I was feeling the heat during the auction. There was so much hype around me. It was an emo-
tional moment. My parents are still daily-wage labourers. Nobody in my house understand cricket. When I was picked, I was talking to my friend and mentor A Jayaprakash. My villagers were celebrating it.” The pacer came into prominence during the Tamil Nadu Premier League, where he was representing Dindigul Dragons. He bowled a Super Over against Tuti Patriots in which he landed four yorkers on the trot to win the match for his team. The money that he will
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Cycling from Bhuj to Ahmedabad to raise funds Asian Voice | 4th March 2017
A group of 52 people (47 men and 5 women) will participate in a challenge which sees them cycle 350 km from Bhuj to Ahmedabad in Gujarat. The cyclists are in the age group of 24 to 57 with at least 19 of them being over 40 years of age. The majority of them have no history of cycling. Their aim is to raise funds for two charities in India. They will converge in India from several countries namely Australia, Kenya, India and England to take part in this epic challenge. The idea was the brainchild of three friends - Sanjay Kerai, Prakash Patel and Sailesh Patel. All three had previously completed a cycle challenge riding across the Sahara. Sanjay later in 2016 organised a bike ride. He arranged for a group of cyclists to take a journey of 30 miles to help raise awareness for Haven House Hospice. This helps raise the profile of cycling within a group of youth who were quick to sign up to the notion of a bike ride in India. With the awareness raised and interest peaked, the boys soon went into action and started devising a plan of action to try and actually make this happen. In October 2016 they raised £20,000. The team have been training for several months, having tackled many mini challenges within their preparations
such as Biggins Hill. There have been accidents and injuries throughout their training but that did not discourage the participants and they continue to peddle. This weekend saw the cyclists host a fundraising dinner and dance which helped them raise £100,000. They are still in need of donations and you can make a donation by visiting www.mydonate.bt.com/events/man dir2mandir The funds thus raised will be given to Urja Trust and AAWC (Apne Aap Women’s Collective). Both of these charities are based in India and aim to help young women who have been abandoned, adolescent young girls, women forced into prostitution etc. They help fight against human trafficking and work hard to give these young girls and their children the opportunity to a better standard of life, some dignity and pride. The charities have been specifically chosen for the work they do and Prakash Patel and his wife have even been to India to visit them both. The challenge that these brave men and women have accepted is no mean feat and they have their work cut out, but we have the utmost faith that each and every one of them will make it to their final destination with a big satisfying smile on their face.
TN labourer's son Natarajan becomes IPL sensation
Thangarasu Natarajan of Salem became the latest IPL auction sensation after he was bagged for £ 300,000 by Kings XI Punjab. The son of a dailywage labourer in Chinnappampatti village, 40 km from Salem, Natarajan was “stunned” when his price surged from £10,000 to 300,000 in a matter of seconds. “It hasn't yet sunk in,” Natarajan, who is known for his yorkers and the similarity in action with Bangladesh's Mustafizur Rahman, said soon after he was picked up by Kings XI Punjab. “I'm not com-
paring myself with Mustafizur. He is phenomenal and I need to improve a lot,” a modest Natarajan said. The leftarm pacer started off as a gully cricketer, earning Rs 5,000 every time he helped his team win in the districts of Tamil Nadu. In fact, gully cricket was his only source of income till he made a move to Chennai to play the TNCA league. Natarajan, the eldest of five siblings, said he was left speechless by the bidding war between KXIP, Pune Super Giants, Kolkata Knight Riders
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get from IPL will help repay some of the family loans and take care of his brother's education. “I personally don't have any wish. I recently constructed a house for us. Now I would like to repay some of our loans and take care of the education of my brother and sisters,” he said. Even though he has an IPL contract now, Natarajan said he would “never forget” his gully cricket days. “That was my life. I will always remain the same Nattu or leftu Mani that I'm. Whatever I'm today as a cricketer, it is because of gully cricket.
It had taught me cricket and life lessons. I never had a personal coach as such,” he said. Life wasn't a bed of roses for him even after he had made his first-class debut for Tamil Nadu during the 2014-15 season. The 25-year-old, during his first Ranji game, was called for suspect action and had to spend two years on the sidelines remodelling his action. “I couldn't think properly after I was called for suspect action. I couldn't think of anything else as cricket became my life,” he said.