Sports on TV: IPL action gets hotter

The weekend is upon us once again and there’s plenty of sport to look forward to.

The third season of the DLF IPL is into its third week and the action just gets hotter. There are three games to catch this weekend. On Saturday, in the only game for the day, the two teams at the bottom of the table; Kings XI from Punjab and the Kolkata Knight Riders will lock horns with each other at the Eden Gardens. The game starts at 20:00hrs.

On Sunday, Rajasthan Royals host the Chennai Super Kings at 16:00hrs. This game is followed by the game at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, where Adam Gilchrist will be looking forward to continue his good form at this ground when the Deccan Chargers take on the Mumbai Indians. This game begins at 20:00hrs. All the IPL matches are live on SET Max.

Australia will host the second Grand Prix of the season this weekend. After winning the first race of the season, Ferrari and Fernando Alonso will be considered the favourites for this grand prix. For the Indian contingent, Force India will look to build on their point scoring finish and try pushing up and contending with the big guns. Karun Chandhok will look to complete his first race of his career driving for the Hispania Racing team. Qualifying for the race is on Saturday, starting at 11:20hrs and the race itself is on Sunday morning at 11:30hrs, live on STAR Sports.

Further, there’s plenty of football too. There are a few key ties for the title as well as qualification for European football. In the first live game, Chelsea will look to build on their 5-0 thrashing of Portsmouth when they host Aston Villa at 20:30hrs on ESPN. Arsenal travel to Birmingham to play Birmingham city. This game is live on STAR Sports at 20L30hrs. In the late kickoff, Bolton Wanderers entertain Manchester United. This game is live on ESPN, starting at 22:55 hrs.

On Sunday, Liverpool will look to put their defeat at the hands of Manchester United behind them and get back to winning ways when they host Sunderland at Anfield. This game is live at 20:30 hrs on ESPN.

For tennis fans, there’s the Sony Ericsson open at Miami. Catch top ranked players like Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Justine Henin and Jelena Jankovic in action over the weekend. Catch the tournament live on ESPN starting at 20:30hrs.

For adland, there's an interesting episode of Storyboard to look forward to.

This week's Storyboard is dedicated to the DLF IPL advertisers. Over 65 brands have together spent around Rs 700 crore for airtime on SET Max. How many of these are using their marketing money effectively? What are the interesting brand strategies and who are the worst advertisers? The Storyboard team gets you all the answers by speaking to the general public, trawling the web and by getting reactions from the advertisers themselves.

Don't miss the strong opinions, insight and all the energy on Storyboard at 8:30 am on Saturday and 11:30 am on Sunday, only on CNBC TV18.

(Picture courtesy: Zimbio.com)