There of two types of bat: One with English Willow and the other with Kashmir Willow.

If you are going to play with the tennis ball, or if you have the budget constraint (>Rs.2000/-), then go for Kashmir Willow bats. Sounds like they are manufactured in Kashmir. There are so many varieties depending on the brand. The popular brands are BDM, SS, Reebok, Bas Vampire and MRF. Depending on your style and personal preference you can choose one of them.

On the other hand, if you are going to play with the Cricket ball, you can still go for Kashmir Willow bats if you have the budget constraint (>Rs.2000/-). If your budget is above Rs.2000/- you can go for a bat with English Willow. They seem to be the best ones across the world. I think, the wood is imported from England and manufactured everywhere in the world, including India. The English Willow bats are something anyone can trust that it will not break as easily as any other bats. You can get these type of bats from all popular brands.

When you choose the bat, three things you should consider:

• The evenness in the weight of the bat. If you hold it horizontally, assuming you are qualified adult, you should be able to hold it without any shake in your hand. If you hold it in the top or bottom of the bat, you should feel the same weight. In other words, it should not be any different where you hold it, you should feel the same weight wherever you hold it.
• Number of horizontal lines. I'm not sure how far it is true. The better the bat, the lesser the number of horizontal lines in the face of the bat. The more the money you pay, the lesser the number of lines you will see in the face of bat.
• Not the best craftmanship. A good bat should have some kind of shallow, kind of small cracks in the edges. With this, it is clear that they have not polished or used any chemicals to make it look good.

DIsclaimer: Please do not take it as a best review. It is based on the experience I gone through and based on input from my friends whom I believe are good cricketers, excluding me! If you have different opinion on any aspect of these points, please feel free to highlight as it would be helpful for any other potential buyer.

I'm thrilled to see the current statistics. Chennai lost to Bangalore, chasing a very low score. Delhi won a thriller against Mumbai, thanks to Dinesh Karthik. Mumbai lost to Rajasthan, a very close match and a interesting one. It means, Delhi with 15 points confirmed its berth to Semi's. Now, will Chennai make it to Semi's? Or, if they loose this match, does their Semi final berth depend on how the Mumbai do against Bangalore. I would expect Mumbai to make it to Semi's and to make it an interesting contest.

The way Shewag and Gambhir bats,  McGrath and co bowl, I will be surprised if they do not win the cup. Rajasthan is doing very good so far, I'm not sure if they will carry forward. Punjab batting line is exceptional, but i'm not impressed about their bowling department. They go for as many runs and make their batsman life tougher. If they bowl first, they would make a good contest. Mumbai, if Jayasurya is out before the 5th over, we could predict the low final score. Other than Jayasurya, I do not see any other competent batsman in the team. With all these constraints, i would love if Delhi win the Cup.

I know Sachin is there in Mumbai, but I do not think he is quick enough to adopt to this format of game. Comparing all class A senior players, Dravid, Laxman, Sachin and Ganguly, I think Ganguly is outstanding. As a batsman, and in few matches as a bowler, his performance is exceptionally good. But as a captain, he did not see through his team to Semi final. Dravid also did well as a batsman, but failed miserably as a captain.

I still do not find a reason why Deccan is not winning matches

Indian Premier League

For a while, it was not clear for me how Indian Premier League (IPL) works. Who is spending money, how they earn and what happens behind the scene. After reading couple of articles in newspapers and over the internet, I think I understood how it works. Herewith I summarize the details about IPL based on what I know so far.

The Board of Cricket Council in India (BCCI) is the chief organizer for this event. The BCCI chairman have chosen the teams considering the awareness to cricket in those states. They have also got the nod from International Cricket Council (ICC) to involve the international players. Since BCCI is one of leading contributor to ICC in terms of fame and money, the ICC took the responsibility to convince appropriate cricket boards to allow their players participate in this tournament.

The BCCI have prepared the list of teams and list of players who would play in this tournament. They announce a tender to sell each team. The interested parties, corporates, business men and actors came forward to own the team. They paid the lump sum amount to BCCI to purchase the team. Next BCCI conducted the auction to purchase the players. The team owners again selected the talented players and purchased them with a lump sum amount. The part of this amount, I think goes to BCCI as they are one who conducted the auction.

I'm thinking the duration of the contract with the players is for one year. During coming years, depending on how they play they may either find a place in current team or, they would be bought out by other teams for larger amount. On the other hand, the BCCI have sold the TV rights for Sony Max for broadcasting all the matches live. Now, the bigger question how do everyone of them earn the money. Here is my understanding on this subject.

EARNINGS

BCCI -- You may have noted that BCCI have already earned a huge amount from the owners when they purchased the team. It also got a huge amount from Sony max for broadcasting the matches.

Team Owners -- They get amount if the team win the match. They get some amount everytime their team win. They get a lump-sum in case their team wins in the final. In addition, they get additional amount from team sponsors. In case of Kolkata Knight Riders, it is NOKIA. In few cases, the team owners themselves sponsor the team, for example, Bangalore Royal Challengers. The King Fisher Vijay Mallya is the owner of the team and King Fisher is the sponsor for the team. I think they do not lose even if their team loose the match, because their primary goal is to project their brand. It is achieved when their team is on field whether they loose or win.

Sony Max -- The entity which has the TV right to broadcast all the matches. Without any question, they get money from the Advertisements.

Ground owners -- They earn by collecting entry ticket from the audience who watch the match. In addition, they may get a amount from BCCI for organizing the match.

Players -- They get paid by their Team owners when they are purchased in the auction. In addition, probably they may get a bonus in case the team win the match. Also if they get Man or Match or Man of Series award, it is a bonus.

DLF -- The chief sponsor for this tournament. They have paid BCCI for sponsoring this event. They also pay for the prize money for the winning team, Man of match, Man of series.

Umpires and Referees -- They would be paid by the BCCI.

SPENDINGS

BCCI -- The BCCI would have paid ICC for allowing international players participate in this tournament. It pays the ground owners for organizing the event. It also pay for the match umpires and referres. Overall, the spending is lesser than the earnings obviously.

Team Owners -- They pay BCCI for purchasing the team. The pay individual players to play for their team. The corporates are in a win-win situation even if their team loose because, their primary goal is to project their brand. In case of individuals like Sharukh Khan, Preeti Zindha, they are hear to earn. I think, it is a riskier attempt for them. If their team loose more times, they they do win, I guess they would be a looser.

Sony Max -- The technological effort it has taken for broadcasting the matches. As usual, they should pay their technicians, Commentators, as they conduct the match.

Ground Owners -- The effort they put to maintain the stadium and pitches.

Players -- Time and their presence.

DLF -- They take responsibility for the prize money.

Umpires and Referees -- Time and their presence.

This is just my understanding about this tournament. So which team I'm going to support for. No one!

This time I'm not upset. I'm sure and convinced that India do not deserve this world cup.