Balaji cheered despite moving to KKR

He might have moved over to the Kolkata Knight Riders, but former Chennai Super Kings pacer Laxmipathy Balaji received a huge cheer as he prepared to bowl to CSK'su00a0 Suresh Raina during last night's IPL game.

There were some shocked faces in the crowd, who had probably not realised that Balaji was sold to Kolkata at the players' auction. They looked around, puzzled, but still gave the pacer in the violet and gold jersey a big cheer!

Robin Jackman feels like an Indian citizen
Robin Jackman feels half Indian already. He was born in Shimla, has been in India since the first week of February for a World Cup commentary assignment, and won't be returning to his home in South Africa until June. "I went back home just for a few days between the World Cup and IPL. And here I am, back to the country where cricket has a different meaning," Jackman, who returned to India for a commentary assignment for the IPL, told MiD DAY in a casual chat.

Asked if he expects the Twenty20 tourney to live up to the hype of the previous three editions, and the Englishman said: "Why not? The people are already over the World Cup. A new party has begun! This is the golden era of cricket. Never before have we had so many millions tuned in to watch cricket inside three months. The figures, the TV guys tell me, are staggering."

How Chennai changed from blue to yellow...
In the age of brands and practiced professionalism, it is important for organisers of a mega cricket tournament to ensure that everything is in order. Just weeks before the start of yesterday's IPL opening ceremony, Chennai was painted blue. In no time, it has change to yellow. While ICC ensured that ambush marketing was a no-no during the World Cup, the IPL followed suit, ensuring that every brand name displayed around Chepauk was associated with the tournament.

There are CSK hoardings everywhere you go. At the airport a huge hoarding reads "Welcome to the City of the Champions." Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) secretary Kasi Vishwanathan thanked the IMG group for the quick work.u00a0

"They helped us turn things around so fast. In no time, we were ready for the IPL. They were also constantly instructing us on the dos and don'ts, there are so many guidelines that we are supposed to follow. It took us just five days to entirely revamp the stadium for IPL. We couldn't have done something like this even five years ago. "Today, there is lot of professionalism in cricket," said Vishwanathan.