Sachin Tendulkar was named captain and icon player of Mumbai Indians, the highest-priced side, owned by the Reliance Group of Companies, ahead of the inaugural IPL. The team had some turbo-charged players like Jayasuriya, Shaun Pollock, Harbhajan and Malinga. The side, however, failed to deliver on its promise in the inaugural competition, despite some memorable performances like that of the young all-rounder Abhishek Nayar.

The second season opened with two new names for the side – Zaheer Khan, who was brought in from RCB, and batsman Shikhar Dhawan from Daredevils. JP Duminy, the South African powerhouse, was roped in, fresh from his success in Australia. But the side could not quite make it even this time round, bowing out of the competition before the semis. Kyle Mills and Mohd. Ashraful have been bought out. At the 2010 auction, they bagged the biggest player of them all – Kieron Pollard – at USD 750,000 after winning the silent tie-breaker. Harshal Patel from the U-19 side has also found a place in the side.

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The Indian Premier League’s tie-up with the television channel Colors promises to have much greater repercussions than outwardly visible.

Speaking exclusively to us during the press conference to announce the IPL-Colors tie-up, Colors’ CEO Rajesh Kamat revealed plans of an IPL Season 3 -Colors awards night on April 23 bringing together the biggest names in the cricketing and film world.

Says Kamat, “So far we’ve seen glamor at awards functions. This is the first time that the glamour from two different entertainment industries cinema and cricket, will be merged.”

The idea is to jointly upstage the film awards by hosting an ‘IPL Awards Nite’ where super-celebrities from the movies and cricketing fields would join together.

When asked to reveal more details, Kamat said, “It’s early to discuss details of the awards night. It would be one among several major tie-ups with the IPL that our channel has planned. The first of these collaborations is to bring 14 cricketers from the IPL on our reality show ‘Fear Factor’.”

The 14 cricketers’ names are yet to be short-listed. Adds Kamat, “After doing Bigg Boss, with Mr. Bachchan our channel was wondering how to take the unexpected ahead. The IPL-Colors tie-up is an attempt to break the notion that cricket and television are only compatible for the telecast of matches. We want to use the star status of cricketers on our channel in permutations that are unpredictable.”

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Google India and IPL have inked a deal wherein a dedicated IPL channel on YouTube will stream all the action of the latest season live, on http://www.youtube.com/ipl

According to this agreement Google will have exclusive online rights for IPL content for two years and both Google and IPL will jointly share revenues from sponsorships and advertising.

This is the first time Google is live streaming – a mega cricket tournament spanning 60 matches over 45 days – for a major global sport on YouTube.

Apart from the 60 matches, cricket fans will also enjoy special content which will include match highlights, player interviews, wickets of the match, top sixes of the match, award ceremony, pitch reports and much more, at any time convenient to them. Those watching IPL matches live on youTube will also get a special treat – an exclusive “YouTube view” that will provide viewers with an alternative view of the match not available on television or any other media.

In addition to live streaming of matches on YouTube , Google will also host a special IPL branded Orkut community which will host live chats with Man of the Match, team owners, contests and match polls to engage fans and audiences while the tournament is on. Users will also be able to enjoy short clips of highlights and other special video content on YouTube mobile.

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