Cheap tickets and the Dhoni aura

Rajasthan slash ticket rates
It was difficult for the authorities in Jaipur to fill up the 30,000 seats at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium and resorted to slashing the ticket rates, Mumbai Mirror reported. That wasn't all. The Rajasthan Police demanded Rs 80,00,000 (approx US$ 200,000) for providing security for the first match against Kings XI Punjab. Terming IPL to be an event organised for monetary benefits, the Rajasthan Police refused to provide security free of cost.

No full house at Chennai either
Despite the presence of the most expensive player in the IPL, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Chennai Super Kings are struggling to get a full house for their first home match against the Mumbai Indians. A day before the match, PTI reports that only 15,000 of the 38,000 available tickets have been sold. Besides the now-mandatory cheerleaders, Chennai have also lined up singer Hariharan and popular drummer Sivamani to entertain the crowd.

Hayden settles in
Matthew Hayden was all praise for Dhoni's leaderships skills and even said he had an aura about him. "I have no issues with that. Dhoni is a fine thinker and a confident individual," said Hayden. "There is an aura about him. For me, it is a great experience sharing the dressing room with Indians and learning how they go about their cricket."

West Indies players to return on May 18
Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Dwayne Bravo are expected to return to the West Indies on May 18, in time for West Indies' series against Australia. West Indies Cricket Board CEO Donald Peters said that the players will return four days before the first Test in Jamaica, starting on May 22 .

Another floodlight failure at Eden
While the Kolkata Knight Riders have got off to the perfect start, winning two out of two, they are yet to get things in order at their home ground, Eden Gardens. After being criticised for preparing a difficult track for their first home game, which was also blighted by a power failure, there was further embarrassment as two of the floodlights went off during a practice session.