Kochi IPL team had been in the news for more of wrong reasons than the good ones. From the chaos that arose during the team formation, to the teams losing matches more than winning, Kochi Tuskers has had a tough time. And the last we hear about the team is that they have been suspended! Hence that becomes a close to the whole Kochi Tuskers saga.

But wait, Kochi IPL fans have some reasons to be happy about. Kochi might be the host to a few Indian Premier League matches for this season. Maybe we might not be cheering out loud for Kochi Tuskers this time, but you can clap your hands for your favourite stars from other teams. Kerala Cricket Association has requested the BCCI for the same, and now we need to wait and watch what BCCI concludes regarding this.

Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, which was the host for last year’s IPL matches, was renovated paying quite a fortune to raise it to international standards. The organizers are now having quite a tough time. Now, the stadium is being the venue for matches like the Ranji Trophy, but the organizers are not benefitted through these matches.

Maybe bringing down a few matches down to Kochi will be commercially benefitting the organizers, and also provide entertainment to Kochi cricket fans as well. Let us see what is in store!!

If you are a die hard cricket fan and you are wondering where to watch the matches from, head to Le Meridien and watch the matches with happy hours. Remember to place your last order before the match is over. Offer is valid only during the game.

When we were invited to the curtain raiser show of S36, a band conceptualized and brought together by Kochi’s own Sreesanth, I secretly hoped he was not going to take this music thing fulltime, coz I for one have not had enough of him on the cricket field.

Last night, I went to JT Pac not knowing what to expect, and by the end of the show I had some concrete opinions about what I had seen. So here is my review :
I have to confess I missed a couple of songs, Mostly coz of traffic on a Sunday evening  ;), but as I got in to the theatre, the first song I heard was a rendition by Madhu Balakrishnan, that man is super polished on stage, what stands out most is his presence on stage and I’m convinced that comes from years of performing. But that is expected from one of Kerala’s foremost singers. I was here to listen to the singers I have never heard before. The next song was a tamil song by Deepak Das, one of the young singing talents in the band. He did not seem scared of the stage, he did not seem shaken up by the celebrities sitting in the first row, he belted out a clean number with the help of Latha Krishna. Harib another vocalist with the band sang a very well co-ordinated hindi number. Their rendition on ‘Allah Ke Bandhe’ got the crowd going and was a musical treat.

The highlight of the evening was an unplugged performance by the band, it truly showcased the amazing range the vocalists in the band have, I was particularly impressed by the two youngsters Deepak and Harib, the ease at which Harib reached those high notes were incredible. Madhu Balakrishnan was his amazing self. Another highlight of the evening was a song written and composed by Sreesanth himself. The tamil song was called ‘ Anubulla Azakai’ and was dedicated to his mum, I believe there was an ulterior motive. There was also a world cup song called Hello.

It was an entertaining evening of music, but the shining star was the exuberance of youth and the never say never attitude. There were people on that stage who had put in a lot of heart and soul into their performance and it was all in the open for people to see and enjoy. We should also commend Sreesanth for having put together a set of young artists to make this band, its his passion that made the evening happening, the same passion and heart with which he runs in and bowls on the cricket field.

Was it a error free evening, no, but it was the curtain raiser show, and they have a super mentor in Madhu Balakrishnan, and we know they will not lack support or passion. They will learn to use the equipment and sound to benefit their voice as they go along. Will I pay to watch them perform , Hell Ya…

The Band

Vocals :
Madhu Balakrishnan
Deepak Das
Harib
Latha Krishna
Sreesanth

Keyboard : Anoop
Lead Guitar : Sandeep
Bass Guitar : Chippu
Percussion : Shomi
Flute and Sax : Jose
Drums : Arunroop

Original Compositions : Deepak Warrier
Anubulla Azakai : written and composed by Sreesanth

Hello : The World Cup song
Composition : Deepak Warrier
Lyrics : Sreesanth.

Photographs of the event coming soon

Dec 5 shall be marked as a historic day for Kochi. The BCCI today allowed the franchise to play in the fourth edition of the IPL. Guess three time’s a charm after being given three deadlines, the owner consortium has finally decided to work together and the BCCI as seen this as a positive response. So cometh this April and we shall see a true blue team from our city. Something to be proud of.

Hooray for that Kochiites!

The Kochi IPL team just got a shot of life in to their slowly withering hopes. The fate of the team will be decided on the 5th of December by the BCCI on receiving a fresh proposal from the owners which indicated that they have resolved the shareholder issue.

This news comes with a sigh a relief from all over Kochi and Kerala, with a death blow so closely having loomed, the Kochi IPL team has got their breather for some time.

Kudos to the owners to have come to a resolve after so long, better late than never. Their decision will come with gratitude from the countless cricket lovers from Kochi. So people light the candles, pray to your cricket gods and hope for the best! The dream of seeing an IPL team for Kochi may still be real.

Cricket lovers in Kochi are going to love this.. World renowned architectural firm, Hopkins has been given the task of designing the new cricket stadium in Kochi. Hopkins who has olympic stadiums in London to their credit is now going to work on the 23 acre land in Edakochi. Soon Kochi will have a stadium of international standards with all the works. The stadium will also consist of a practice stadium, indoor practice area and an international quality turf.

Hopkins have been involved in designing stadiums all over the world including one for the London Olympics 2012. We have taken the courtesy of putting up a few pictures of the projects they are involved in just to interest you.. Hope we can expect something similar in Kochi..

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Here is some good news for all those cricket crazed kochiites out there. International cricket is coming back to Cochin after 3 years. Again with an India vs Australia match on October 17th at Kochi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. This match is the first in the series of India-Australia ODIs.

The Jawaharlal Nehru stadium is going through a major revamp in tune with the IPL. Work will soon finish. This is the 7th international match that will be played in Kochi. The first match played in Kochi was in 1998. Here is the history of matches played in Kochi so far.

• India-Australia 1998;India won by 41 runs
• India-South Africa 2000, India won by 3 wickets,
• India-Zimbabwe 2002, Zimbabwe won by 6 wkts,
• India-Pakistan 2005, India won by 87 runs,
• India-England 2006,India won by 4 wickets
• India-Australia 2007, Aussies won by 84 runs.

We sometimes wish Symonds had used his bat to hit other things as well..

Here is some good news for the cricket crazy in Kochi. After somewhat of a  long break Kochi will play host to an India-Australia match in October 2010. This development follow after GCDA’s (Greater Cochin Development Authority) move to grant permission to the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) to host matches.

Thats not all. if things go according to plan, Kochi will also soon be host to IPL matches as well. As we get ready for these cricket developments to take off almost 9 franchisees have taken interest in having a Kerala IPL team.! As Kochivibe has reported earlier it is confirmed that Priyadarshan and Mohanlal have made serious bids to get a Kerala IPL team happening.