This weekend the India Premier League of Cricket (IPL) kicksoff for the 2018 season. The IPL is aTwenty20 tournament among teams representing Indian cities and some states. It runs through April and May, beginning thisweekend, with most of the games being played today. As a T20 competition, it uses the shortestand most action filled format in the sport, over a dynamite two monthseason. Each team gets to pitch only 20overs (sets of six pitches), so the play is very brief and exciting. This sport also features some fairly heftymoney, so the Indian teams are able to attract foreigners to play. Each of the eight teams may employ up to fourforeigners.
The top team in recent years has been the Mumbai Indians, whowere champions last year, and indeed three times in recent years. If they are not the league’s most popularfranchise – and they might well be – then it is at least unquestionable thatthey are its most successful. Three wins in the past five seasons haveestablished that. The holders have an enviable squad again, with Jasprit Bumrahbeing their top Indian player, who is a clutch player, who always shines atthis time of year. He is a seamer, one ofthe top three in the world, which means he has the knack to be able to bowl theball so that the seam hits the earth, and can cause complicating deviationswhich can confuse the batsman. This isalso the home of Evin Lewis, of Trinidad, who in other formats, and in T20i hasproves himself to be a good player. Meanwhile, Sunday is also the day of the running of theBahrain Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel was'chuffed' after claiming pole for Sunday's race as Ferrari lock out front row. On the other hand, there was disappointmentfor world champion Lewis Hamilton, who received a five-place grid penalty,which could adversely affect his chances. the German took pole position for Sunday’s race with a lap of 1 minute,27.958 seconds in the final seconds of the qualifying session. Vettel is now well placed to open up a commanding early leadin the championship as world champion Lewis Hamilton was only fourth quickest,but will start ninth due to a five-place penalty for a gearbox change madeafter practice on Friday. Hamiltonadmitted it was now a case of damage limitation for the race and trying tominimise the potential points loss to championship leader Vettel. Hamilton said “I’ve got the softer tyre so I should be able to go longer [beforepitting]. There are a couple of different strategies tomorrow so I will try andeek out every last bit of power and strength from the car.” >From France, don't miss today's Premier cycling event among the Spring >classics: The 2018 Paris–Roubaix is a road cycling one-day race that is >scheduled to take place on 8 April 2018 in France. It will be the 116th >edition of the Paris–Roubaix and the fifteenth event of the 2018 UCI World >Tour, commonly referred to as the "Hell of the North." The race is known for it's "pave" or cobblestone sections which pop up when least expected, and are generally surrounded by mud and waterholes. This year there are 9 cobbled sectors included in the 256.3 km route. Peter Sagan, perennial nice guy, pro, and contender, has great hopes. He has great hopes almost every years, but seems to save his great energy for the Grand Tours. -- Posted By Rex to SR at 4/08/2018 01:02:00 AM -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "omnisport" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/omnisport. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
