Team Hyd ready for IPL

The Deccan Chronicle Group, which won the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket franchise for Hyderabad, has announced that its team would play a minimum of 14 matches starting April 20, 2008, as part of the DLF-IPL cricket series under the T20 format.

"Ours is going to be one of the favourite teams in IPL, going forward," J Krishnan, president and chief executive officer, Cricket Initiative of Deccan Chronicle, said on Monday.

While Hyderabad's VVS Lakshman has been appointed as the captain of the yet-to-be-named team, the Deccan Chronicle promoters could manage to bring quite a few international cricket stars like Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, and Shahid Afridi among others into the team through some high-profile bids.

The 18-member team announced on Monday consists of the two Australian players besides Herschelle Gibbs of South Africa, Afridi of Pakistan, Chaminda Vaas, Chamara Silva and Nuwan Zoysa of Sri Lanka, and Scott Styris of New Zealand along with Indian players including RP Singh and Rohit Sharma.

Captain Lakshman and CEO Krishnan feel that the latest spat between Ishant Sharma and Andrew Symonds would not make Hyderabadis any less enthusiastic in welcoming Symonds.

"Symonds and I are good friends for a long time. He is a thorough professional. I don't see any issues in leading the team," Lakshman said.

He said they could put together a winning team with each of the high-profile players, including Symonds, capable of single-handedly taking the team to victory.

While the DC will spend as much as $15 million (close to Rs 60 crore) on Hyderabad franchise this year, Krishnan says they would be in good profits in the first year itself through a variety of revenue streams, including broadcasting, gate collections, and brand merchandise.

Robin Singh has been roped in as head coach while Vijay Mohan Raj is team manager.