Sree shows his batting skills

 He just bowled a maiden over !!!

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 Sreesanth and Bollywood star Riya Sen having fun at the

 marketing campaign of Gitanjali jewellers' 'Rivaaz' collection

The other malayali in the Kochi Team

Raiphi Vincent Gomez is the other malayali in the Kochi Team.   He is the Ranji Team captain of Kerala.   An allrounder with attacking style of batting.
In the last IPL season he has played for Rajastan Royals.    Kochi has bought him for 30 lakhs.










 This  video  shows his  batting  talent. He has scored 35 runs off  an over.

KOCHI's stadium will be match fit before February 28th

The renovation work at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, home ground of KOCHI IPL team will be completed before February 28th.This work will cost  Rs 5-7 crore according to  Kerala Cricket Association sources.

"KOCHI is an unfamiliar territory", Bengal Tiger

Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly denied the media speculation  that Kochi IPL team has approached him to play in this year's edition of IPL.
"I don't know much about Kochi; it seems you guys know more... Well till now, I've not been approached by any team," Ganguly told reporters today  in Kolkata.    This will be a huge disappointment for KOCHI IPL fans.  



Here are some  of  Gangulyspeak  today.


"As I''ve said earlier, Sreesanth should have been taken into the World Cup squad".

 "All other players are very good. I am sure India will do very well".

"They have very good batsmen. The bowlers have bowled well against South Africa".

"However, South African wickets have good bounce, which is not there in the sub-continent. But bowlers like Zaher (Khan), Ashish (Nehra), Munaf (Patel), they know how to bowl to a particular opposition on a particular ground of the sub-continent".

"We will support you whatever happens. If you win, it's fantastic. If you don't we will still support you as we think u are one of the finest teams in the world. It's a good and settled side with a great bunch of boys".

"All teams will have two wicket keepers. It's important that Dhoni remains fit".

Balachandra Akhil and Chandan Madan are new additions to Kochi IPL team

Allrounder Balachandra Akhil who played for Royal Challengers last season and









 Chandan Madan  a wicket keeper from Punjab who was with Mumbai Indians    have joined Kochi Team.

Our very own VVS gets PadmaShree

              This is a proud moment for Kochi IPL team.   Its team member VVS Laxman has been awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian honour, for his services to cricket.  The award was announced on 25th January.  He is the 11th cricketer in our country to receive this award.  The earlier awardees are  Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag, Bishan Bedi, Kapil Dev, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and MS Dhoni.   2010 was a terrific year for VVS.  He scored 939 runs from 11 Test matches at an average of 67.07 with two centuries and seven fifties in 2010.    "It is the biggest award for me, a very prestigious award. It's a great moment and I feel very proud," said Laxman.

Will it be KOCHI EMPERORS?

         yentha.com, a leading website in Kerala   reports that Kochi IPL team will be named as KOCHI EMPERORS.
 
   http://www.yentha.com/news/view/1/2345

Kochi IPL team still on the hunt for "Bengal Tiger"

Express News Service reports that Kochi IPL team is still on the hunt for "Bengal Tiger".
“The Kochi team has made a move to acquire Sourav Ganguly,” a Kerala Cricket Association official close to the franchise owners told Express on Friday.
http://expressbuzz.com/cricket/kochi-ipl-team-hunting-for-%E2%80%98bengal-tiger%E2%80%99/241421.html

ktk

TEAM members

Domestic

• S Sreesanth
• VVS Laxman
• R P Singh
• Parthiv Patel

• Ravindra Jadeja
• Ramesh Powar
• Vinay Kumar
• Vincent Gomez

• Kedar Jadhav
• Tanmay Srivastava
• Deepak Chougule
• Sushant Marathe

International

• Mahela Jayawardene
• Brendon McCullum
• Steven Smith
• Muttiah Muralitharan

• Brad Hodge
• Thisara Perera
• Steve O'Keefe
• Michael Klinger

• John Hastings
• Owais Shah

Kochi IPL team denies the reports of bringing Ganguly

"It's not true at all. We are not in talks with Ganguly, so the question of his involvement with the side does not arise," co-owner of the Kochi team Satyajit Gaekwad said.

"I have no comments to offer on this", said another co-owner Vivek Venugopal. 

Will Dada come to Kochi?

NDTV reports that the former Indian Captain Sourav Ganguly might be signed on by Kochi IPL team after  being ignored by all the ten teams during the auction. But since the IPL rules clearly states that  the capped players put up for auction can only be bought through an open bidding process, the rest of the nine franchises have to agree to Kochi signing Ganguly.   He was the captain of  Kolkata Knight Riders in the last three seasons.      

Kochi team for IPL to be announced by March: Lawson

Kochi, Jan 19 (PTI):  Kochi IPL team coach Geoff Lawson today said the entire squad would be announced by March, ahead of the April 8 start of the fourth season. Speaking to reporters after a selection trial in which 43 local players took part, Lawson said, "The team will be announced by March. We will do a thorough research... a(selection) camp was held in Mumbai also."

The Australian did not mention any names that were likely to make it to the Kochi IPL team from the selection trials here but said he was "impressed with the local talent".

"It looks like they''ve got what it takes."

On the question of who would captain the Kochi team,Lawson said Sri Lanka batsman Mahela Jayewardene was the likely candidate.

During the IPL players'' auction held this month, Kochi bought 17 players and later added six more uncapped India players to its squad. Each IPL team is permitted to have a maximum of 30 players in its squad.

On Pakistani players being excluded from IPL 2011,Lawson, a former Pakistan coach, said, "It is a loss, theyshould have been part of IPL."

Assessing India''s chances in the World Cup, he said, "If they can (afford to) leave out someone like Sreesanth, they should be a very good team. India is a strong team."

The former Australian speedster said South Africa, Sri Lanka, England and India are the teams that are likely to reach the semifinals of the World Cup, but warned "never ruleout Australia."

When asked about the name for the Kochi IPL team, which is yet to get an official name, he merely said, "experts are discussing."