Bollywood couple Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan Pataudi were among the bidders for the Pune IPL franchise before IPL annulled all bids and postponed the tender for two new franchises. 

It was reported in the Indian media that Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan Pataudi had entered a bid for Pune along with Kareena's sister Karishma Kapoor and her husband Sunjay Kapur (owner at Sona Group).   Saif himself has famous cricket connections - his father the 9th Nawab, Mansur Ali Khan "Tiger" Pataudi captained India and grandfather the 8th Nawab, Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi has the rare distinction of having played tests for England and India.

Talking about the IPL bid, Saif said: "Yes, we were interested in buying the Pune team but the bidding process was cancelled. Kareena and I had submitted our bid and there was one other person but Lalit cancelled it. It would've been great if we could have bought the Pune team and entered the IPL as I love cricket too."

According to some media reports, the two had bid $300 million for the Pune franchise in consortium with Karisma, Sunjay, Videocon's Venugopal Dhoot and Panchshil Group's Atul Chordia!
 

Kareena Kapoor would have joined Shilpa Shetty and Preity Zinta as a celebrity owner had her bid been declared winner!

They will have to continue to support Mumbai Indians for now!

Cricketers love their Ferraris....can you blame them? 

The Ferrari 360 appears to be the most prized wheels among cricketers.   Scroll down and you will see who owns the 360.

Here are two:

1) Sachin Tendulkar and his Ferrari 360 Modena

2) Aravinda De Silva had a 355 before he upgraded to a 360 Modena!

More pics of the De Silva Ferrari here.

Sexy WAG and Mrs Australia contestant Haley Bracken wore an eye-catching gown to the Allan Border Medal presentation on Monday, February 15th.   So eye-catching that she was adjudged the best dressed WAG for the evening. 

She may have received a lot of attention for her see-through gown but her Aussie fast bowler husband Nathan Bracken supposedly said: "I think you look great, so who cares what anyone else thinks."

Haley designed the dress herself and hopes to wear it at the Mrs Australia final in July.  Click here for pictures from the medal presentation.

Emami signed up Indian cricket captain M S Dhoni and Bollywood actor Preity Zinta to endorse its to-be-launched brand in the edible oils segment.

Kanak "Konnie" Huq is a British TV presenter of Bangladeshi descent who loves and supports the English cricket side.  A graduate of Cambridge, Konnie is the longest serving presenter of the BBC serial - Blue Peter.    A true believer in sport, she recently said, "I think sport on a global scale is a brilliant thing, it transcends culture, race, money."

A complete cricket fan, she was among the celebrities that was featured in a 12th Man video in support of England ahead of the Ashes last year (see below) where she hopes that England whips the Aussies because "I know you are superb and they are not."  Konnie was voted 34th on UK's sexiest women's list.   If that wasn't going to motivate the English cricketers, then there is not much there that would!

The video in support of Ashes (Konnie Huq appears at 00:59).

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Sherlyn Chopra (aka Mona Chopra aka Menaka Chopra) is from Andhra Pradesh, India.  An Indian model and actress, Sherlyn was most recently seen in the cricket movie Dil Bole Hadippa.   She is a winner of Miss Andhra crown.  

Apparently, looking at her recent pictures, she has an aversion for clothes but she sure likes to wear a pair of cricket gloves once in while!  Have any for her?

The Grand Hyatt in Mumbai witnessed a Sanath performance of a different kind at the Chivas Studio launch.

One look at the models who looked torn apart,  you probably thought "what an odd look" but if you know Sanath well, you know that is how his bowlers and fielders look as well - ripped apart.  

The nervous Jayasuriya did not lose control on the ramp however and appeared ready for more.  Jayasuriya was doing it for the Goan designer, Wendell Rodricks, who presented his collection 'On the Wings" apparently inspired by birds.  When asked about the clothes, Sanath, who is a man of few words,  lived up to his reputation.  "It is very nice and comfortable to wear all these.  That's the way his clothes have always been. So I love to wear his clothes."

Australian cricketers Mitchell Johnson and Shane Watson play an exhibition match with the two most beautiful tennis players Alicia Molik and Sania Mirza at the Moorilla Hobart International.  (See video at the bottom).

Sania is no stranger to padding up having done so several times before.

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A female streaker tries to get Ross Taylor's attention on Day 3 at the New Zealand vs Pakistan 2nd Test, Basin Reserve, Wellington.  Of course, his score of 97 was the only other positive in the match which Pakistan won by 141 runs.

Hope this streaker can use the streaking experience to the same effect as Lisa Lewis. 

Some years ago, Lisa Lewis of Hamilton, New Zealand gained notoriety after streaking in a bikini at Waikato Stadium in 2006 during a rugby test.   Arguing that running onto the field in a bikini was not exactly streaking, she auctioned her bikini for $4000 to pay the court fines.  As her website says, her ensuing media and cyberspace cult-following caused "a storm in a D cup."   There was no looking back for her after that episode as she launched a career as a news reader, an entertainer, and became a household name in New Zealand. 

Lisa being escorted out by 'enthusiastic' security at the rugby match

If you are 18 or over, click here for Lisa Lewis' story.

The annual CEAT Cricket Awards show took place at a SoBo on Sunday.  Members of the Indian and Sri Lankan teams were present and Mallika Sherawat provided the much needed Bollywood sizzle.  There was also a discussion on test cricket’s future and impact on T20.  The Award winners were:

International Cricketer of the Year : Gautam Gambhir (India)
Test Batsman of the Year - Gautam Gambhir (India)
ODI Batsman of the Year - Virender Sehwag (India)
Test Bowler of the year - Mitchell Johnson (Australia)
ODI Bowler of the year - Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka)

 

Former Indian off-spinner, Errapalli Prasanna, received the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ from his contemporary Sunil Gavaskar on this occasion.

 

Among the attendees were Harsh Goenka, Sunil Gavaskar, Venugopal Dhoot, Cyrus Poonawala, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, and Kumar Mangalam Birla.

In the world of cricket WAGs, there is a queen.   Her name is Rachel Flintoff.

Behind every successful man, there is a woman - and for Freddy, it is his wife Rachel.

If you read this interview with Fabulous Mag, you will see that Rachel is not just a pretty face, she is a phenom -

She says, "If Andrew and I have an argument, I won’t leave the house until we make up. You never know what’s going to happen."

And Rachel also wants a tattoo:  "My husband Andrew has the three lions and his England cricket shirt number, 11, on one shoulder and the names of me and the kids on the other. I’d want one somewhere discreet, like my lower back."

Rachel, along with Freddie, is a supporter of Sport Relief - an organization whose aim is to improve and rehabilitate people's lives and AF Foundation - a children's charity founded by Andrew and Rachel that raises funds to develop and improve child rehabilitation and physiotherapy units throughout the UK.

Azhar is in the limelight again.  Some days ago, loud pleas were made by Congress MPs for the ban on Azharuddin to be lifted.  

More recently, on Sunday, a party was thrown in his honor at the JW Marriott by Videocon's Aniruddha Dhoot and Venugopal Dhoot.   The party was to celebrate Azhar's recent success in electoral politics.   Azhar was elected from the Uttar Pradesh constituency of Moradabad by a margin of over 49,000 votes!  He joins the likes of Kirti Azad and Navjot Sidhu - both cricketers were also elected to the parliament this year.

But there were very few politicians in attendance on Sunday.  Instead, Azhar was surrounded by the stunning beauties, cricketing greats and bollywood personalities.

Azhar has taken the time-tested formula to shore up his image - presence at entertainment events + ticket to the parliament!   Ahead of the election, Azhar said he wants to serve the poor and is inspired by Rajiv Gandhi. 

Azharuddin with Tollywood bombshell Shriya Saran

Sangeeta Bijlani with Azharuddin

Kapil Dev, Sangeeta and Anirudha Dhoot watch as Azhar cuts a cricket bat cake

 Lakshmi Rai (Dhoni's buddy) was among the guests

So was Riya Sen

Not to forget Hyderabadi beauty - Diya Mirza

Parvati Omankuttan was there too!

Vengsarkar and Kapil warm their drinks.  Azhar wasn't drinking!

Azhar's got style.  And blame it on the woman!

Sayali Bhagat knows her cricket!

Shriya Saran was sizzling....

Sneha Ullal was there too!

Brokenwood was the brain-child of the who's who of the Australian wine profession - Tony Albert, John Beeston and James Halliday who put the initial money together in 1970.  The name comes from the fact that the original vineyards in the Hunter Valley, north of Sydney, were planted on a site originally set aside for a cricket oval.  The pitch and outfield were planted with Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz.

If you are not going to play cricket, might as well make it a vineyard.  Or as Kirigin Cellars did in California, dual use for cricket and wine is best!

Earlier this year, Indian media reported that: “Sayali and Shoaib were extremely close to each other and they spent quality time together when Shoaib was in India during the Indian tour. However, the constant media glare and the distance took a toll on the special friendship."

Too bad their relationship went the way of Indo-Pak cricket.   There were also rumors that the two were going to act in a movie by Wilson Louis.  Sayali did act in a cricket movie called Kirkit.  But it was with Jackie Shroff.  And the movie and Shoaib are now a thing of the past for this bombshell.

Sayali was "friends" with Shoaib Malik.

Sayali is Miss India 2004

Kirkit Movie featured Sayali Bhagat and Jackie Shroff - A bad movie best forgotten.

Her best cricket related role however remains that of a Singaporean journalist who proposes to Rahul Dravid on MTV Bakra.

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The White Mischief girls are the hottest cheerleaders in cricket.   Whether or not Mallya got the team right, he got the cheer squad just perfect.  Here are some recent photos and promo material.