Proud to wear State colours
Rahul Dravid is a cool customer under most circumstances and has the ability to easily negate even the most potent of questions. But a TV journalist took him by surprise, questioning about the etiquette behind the name of his team – Royal Challengers. "Is it good that your team is so openly carrying the name of a liquor brand?" the scribe asked.

The surprise on Dravid's face was obvious, before giving a crisp reply. "This is the first time I am hearing anything like that. I don't think there is anything wrong with our team's name. Kingfisher is sponsoring not only our team, but they are sponsoring other teams as well. We are wearing the Karnataka flag colour and we are proud of that," Dravid said.

In fact at the Feroze Shah Kotla Stadium, the visiting Bangalore outfit found a small group cheering for them. The Karnataka Bhavan officials egged their team on with full throat. "It is good to see Karnataka flag on the playing field (Royal Challengers' uniform). We expect a strong show from them," one of the Challengers’ officials said.
Technical fault, so     delayed start!

The IPL is all about commercialisation. The old-fashioned customs and manners do not have much place in this tournament. The match between Bangalore Royal Challengers and Delhi Daredevils was to start at 8.00 pm. But the first ball was not delivered until 8.10 pm. The reason given was that the official broadcaster was not able to telecast the match due to some technical reasons.

Apparently, there was a small fire in the broadcast room, and some cables were burnt giving a tough time for the engineers and they took nearly 40 minutes to fix the problem. The spectators too became restless as the match did not begin on time.

‘IPL comparable to Rugby World Cup’
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has been left astonished by the IPL’s success, and is comparing the billion-dollar Twenty20 extravaganza in scope and scale to the Rugby World Cup.

Chairman Giles Clarke, who witnessed the initial rounds of the IPL spectacle with CEO David Collier, told the ECB’s AGM at Lord’s that his admiration for the event was huge.

“Our admiration for what has been achieved is immense,” he said. “It was, as the Indians say, a great tamasha. There was light, glitz, glamour and music. We must congratulate them on establishing a tournament which has the same scope and scale which can be compared to the Rugby World Cup”, he told the members of the ECB, according to a media release. “Those who were in Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai will talk of a great spectacle and a great show.”