Cricket Bookies

Today illegal cricket bookies operate out of communication centers and not from residential spaces, to ward off enforcement agencies, on the eve of the cricket World Cup matches followed by the Indian Premier League tournament in Indian cities. There are around lakhs of bookies, both big and small, who are in the business of cricket betting through illegal telephone exchanges to run their cricket betting rackets in UK, Belgium, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa and Dubai.

A crime branch official disclosed that there are intelligence inputs on bookies currently being in the thick of transactions worth crores, in this illegal betting market which totally runs on trust and reputation of the bookie and reference. In Mumbai they are currently operating out of areas like Opera House, Marine Lines, Grant Road, Kala chowky, Bandra, Dadar, Chembur, Malad, Borivali and Navi Mumbai.

The current trend For - Batting is done far less on the outcome of the match and more on the runs scored by an Individual Player, Catches taken on the field; Number of boundaries scored; Fall of wickets; A Bowler's performance etc." In the last few years with limited over matches like Indian Premier League and ODI Matches, Batting stakes are huge and majority of the stakes are placed on an individual player's performance rather than on the final outcome of the match.

Hence, not only betting syndicates have multiplied but even match- fixing has turned into a lucrative business," said a crime branch official. Cash transactions take place within 24 hours of the betting.

The money is delivered either at the bookie's office or at a safe location like restaurants or hotel suites specially booked during major international cricket tournaments where the Indian team is playing.

Dhoni, not a bachelor now

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, captain of team India, weds 23-year-old Sakshi Rawat, his school mate.

The couple had a wedding in the rural resort in Dehradun. The resort is owned by Vasundharea Raje Scindia, former Rajsthan chief minister. The 500-bigha property is situated at 25 kms from Dehradun. Dhoni’s family reached there on Saturday evening but the groom couldn’t reach before Sunday morning.

The marriage was held according to the Kumaoni customs. Charan Das, a local florist, supplied flowers for the function, while marriage outfits and the DJ were brought in from Mumbai.

It was raining and there was no power. Ashish Nehra and R P Singh from Indian team were present at wedding ceremony.  Among other guests were John Abraham and Farah Khan were present. The meal served was vegetarian and Dhoni was dresses in a designer green sherwani and Sakshi wore a red lehenga.

Dhoni and Sakshi have studied together at DAV, Shamily in Ranchi. 

Cricket

Cricket is a very popular game in India. IPL is the latest format of cricket in India. Players are earning in crores and people waste their money and time by watching cricket matches in stadium or on TV.  

IPL

IPL - 2010, logos of 8 Teams

Sahara Adventure Sports, part of the Sahara group, and little known five-member consortium, Rendezvous Sports, have won “an extremely competitive” bidding for the two new franchises (Pune and Kochi) of Indian Premier League for 10 years.

Two new teams from Pune and Kochi will be playing in the IPL from 2011. The total number if IPL franchises reached to 10 with entry of Pune and Kochi teams. And 94 matches will be played. 

The other cities in the fray were Ahmedabad,  Cuttack, Dharamsala, Gwalior, Indore, Kanpur, Nagpur, Rajkot, Vadodara, Visakhapatnam. 

Addressing the media, Mr Lalit Modi, the IPL Commissioner,  said there were totally five bidders – Sahara Group, Adani Group, a Pune consortium, VC Digital (of Videocon group) and Rendezvous Sports. Sahara group offered $370 million (Rs 1,702 crore) against Adani group's $315 million and Pune consortium's $261.3 million. As Sahara was the highest bidder for three places – Ahmedabad, Nagpur and Pune – it was asked to choose any one, and it chose Pune to be its home ground."

According to Mr Modi, Rendezvous offered $333.33 million (Rs 1,533 crore) for Kochi and clinched the deal.

He said the total bidding value of the two new franchises is more than the total value of all the other eight franchises. “Overall, the bidding was extremely competitive and I hope, they make good business,” said Mr Modi.

Answering to a question on the Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr Shashi Tharoor's involvement in the bidding process, he said, Mr Tharoor, who is an ardent fan of cricket, helped Kerala to have a team of its own. “And his role ended there.”

Mr Modi also ruled out any further expansion of IPL in the near future.