The goal scored with Shashi Tharoor’s resignation has been so powerful that it has rebounded upon the scorer himself. The self goal has meant that Modi stands suspended from the league he himself created, and faces a slew of corruption charges.

So much information has been leaked from various ‘sources’ with each passing day that the average cricket viewer’s attention has been forced to move away from the games being played on the field, to those off the field. It is indeed a sad state of affairs that a tournament which gave India immense international recognition, and brought on India’s domestic talent to the forefront, has been so tainted with corruption.

Adding fuel to the fire are the match fixing allegations. If they turn out to be true, there will be immense public anger, and the BCCI can then bank upon the fact that TRPs for any future editions of the IPL will never be the same again.

In spite of the information overload, there are many things we do not know; and though Modi had threatened to reveal the dirt in the game once the tournament concludes, he is yet to open the promised Pandora’s Box.

It is ironical that at the beginning of this year’s tournament, Lalit Modi made the team captains sign the MCC ‘spirit of cricket’ pledge.

The spirit has been murdered.

In a country where the rich and the powerful almost always escape the clutches of the law, will the spirit ever get justice? Even if Lalit Modi is convicted and prosecuted, there are bigger pawns (read politicians) on this chessboard, who may yet again subvert the system to save their skin. And the common man‘s faith in democracy will be further diminished.

Pop, Reggae and Bollywood enthralled a packed house at the home ground of Deccan Chargers team (Hyderabad having been replaced due to violent protests there).

Meanwhile the first match of the tournament saw a big upset when a seemingly victorius Deccan Chargers were defeated by Kolkatta Knight Ridersby 11 runs. Batting first, KKR lost two wickets in the first over and two more by the start of the sixth. Chaminda Vaas struck with the first and third balls of the match to remove Manoj Tiwary and Sourav Ganguly. Cheteshwar Pujara and Brad Hodge departed to leave the Knight Riders wobbling on 31 for four after 5.1 overs.

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However, England batsman Owais Shah and Sri Lanka all-rounder Angelo Mathews united in an unbeaten fifth-wicket stand of 130, the second highest recorded in professional Twenty20 matches, to take Kolkata to an above-par total of 161.

Although Deccan started at a gallop, with Adam Gilchrist and V.V.S. Laxman putting on 61 for the first wicket in less than six overs, they lost their way after both departed and finished the match scratching around for singles and overthrows. Pace bowlers Ishant Sharma and Charl Langeveldt exploited the damp conditions as Kolkata won by 11 runs.

IPL also created history by being the first major sports tournament to be telecast live on YouTube. All matches of IPL 3 will be broadcast with a 5 minute delay on the popular video sharing site. However, all did not go as planned because YouTube was ‘experiencing technical difficulties’ during the first half hour of the match. Hopefully things will be more streamlined as the tournament progresses.

Sadly, IPL fixtures this year have been set in a bad calendar with most of the international teams busy playing one another. Therefore we shall be seeing a lot more retired and not so great players play bat and ball this season. Already the Indian Premier League resembles a retirement destination of Aussie cricketers. Need I say more?

Indian one-day captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds attracted maximum moolah as teams spent big ahead of the inaugural Twenty20 Indian Premier League (IPL). Star-studded names were up for grabs in Mumbai ahead of the Twenty20 tournament, which begins on 18 April.

Some of the country’s biggest companies, including Vijay Mallya’s UB Group, have bought franchises. Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta have bought into the Kolkata and Mohali franchises, adding further glamour to the league.

Surprises were in store in the course of the long auction conducted by the London-based independent auctioneer, Richard Madley.

Chennai – a franchise team owned by N. Srinivasan’s India Cements, set the ball rolling by giving $1.5 million for Dhoni while Hyderabad (owned by Deccan Chronicle) paid $1.35m for Symonds at a glitzy auction to determine who plays where in the IPL tournament

Retired Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne was the first player to go under the hammer fetching $450,000 from Jaipur. Compatriot Brett Lee went higher, being bought for $900,000 by Preity Zinta and Ness Wadia owned Mohali. Rookie Indian pacer Ishant Sharma was bought by Shah Rukh Khan owned Kolkata team for $950,000, while his partner Rudra Pratap Singh fetched $875,000 and was bought by Hyderabad. Reliance Industries Limited kept quiet for a long time before opting to take Sri Lankan opener Sanath Jayasuriya.

TOP 10 WINNING AUCTION BIDS

Mahendra Dhoni: $1.5m (Chennai)

Andrew Symonds: $1.35m (Hyderabad)

Sanath Jayasuriya: $975,000 (Mumbai)

Ishant Sharma: $950,000 (Kolkata)

Irfan Pathan: $925,000 (Mohali)

Brett Lee : $900,000 (Mohali)

Jacques Kallis: $900,000 (Bangalore)

RP Singh: $875,000 (Hyderabad)

Harbhajan Singh: $850,000 (Mumbai)

Chris Gayle: $800,000 (Kolkata)

Five “marquee players” players were reserved from the auction – team captains Ganguly (Calcutta), Yuvraj Singh (Mohali), Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai), Rahul Dravid (Bangalore) and Virender Sehwag (Delhi) – and guaranteed 15 per cent more than the highest-paid player at their franchise.

The 15 per cent premium meant Tendulkar would fetch $1,121,250 per season – still short of Dhoni’s salary.

The eight franchise teams of the IPL — Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mohali and Mumbai — had a budget of up to $5 million each to purchase contracted players. The maximum number of overseas signings was capped at eight per team.

The structure of the bidding saw players auctioned off in groups – “marquee players”, batsmen, bowlers, wicketkeepers, allrounders – and produced some unusual results. Ponting, skipper of the world’s best international team, will be paid some $275,000 per year less than Calcutta teammate David Hussey, who is only on the fringe of the Australian setup.

The teams will pay the winning bid to the player annually. The contracts are for a three-year period and are guaranteed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

In all, the first IPL will pay one million plus dollar salary to six cricketers: five Indians and one Australian.