indian cricket leagues

Kapil interacts with Chennai Superstars

2008-04-03T21:24:00.000-07:00

Legendary cricketer Kapil Dev on Saturday held a four-hour long discussion with the members of the Chennai Superstar team that won the inaugural Indian Cricket League tournament early this month, exhorting them to do well in the coming season.

Kapil told them it is important that they do well as the coming season had more tournaments.

The former Indian captain held one-to-one discussions with the players and then interacted with the team.

According to T.Kumaran, a former India player, the players enjoyed the discussions.

“We were totally surprised at Kapil’s gesture of coming to the city all the way to discuss with us about the recently concluded 20-20 tournament.

“He had explained to us the importance of being fit and performing in the coming tournament since the 2008 season is going to be almost year long. In between we shared jokes too,” he said.

resource:indiancricketleaguenews.wordpress.com

INDIAN CRICKET LEAGUE Invades The Americas

2008-03-14T22:53:00.000-07:00

Over 15 million cricket fans residing in North America and the Caribbean are demanding more!

With cricket being the second most popular spectator sport world wide and more and more fans working and living throughout the world, International demand for cricket has never been higher. Fans want more cricket, more of the time, or rather more accurately all of the time! In order to meet the demand for cricket a number of cricket organizations throughout the world have expanded the traditional game of cricket from World Cups and Championships into a more easily consumable form of sports entertainment.

In recent years, the Twenty20 format has taken the world of cricket by storm with the first ever Twenty20 World Cup won by the Indian team this year. In an effort to fulfill the demands of fanatic cricket fans, the Indian Cricket League will be launching the first ever Twenty20 competitive Cricket League in the North American and Caribbean regions organized along the structure of other professional franchise sports. According to the Indian Cricket League President Sharad Chikara, the demand for cricket is growing rapidly in North America due to both the large influx of students and workers from many of the cricket playing nations like India, Pakistan, Sri-Lanka, Bangladesh. As well the International attention of cricket, especially the Twenty20 format, has also contributed to the rapidly growing demand in North America.

"Cricket fans worldwide now demand the Twenty20 format because it is more exciting, thrilling, and faster paced resulting in a more enjoyable entertainment experience. Our cricket fans on the IndianCricketLeague.com website forums have attested to the popular demand of the Twenty20 format without a doubt.", Sharad Chikara said. As an example, a fanatic cricket fan recently posted, "Twenty20 is the best thing that happened to cricket. Twenty20 at least defies the logic that cricket can be less interesting due to length of the games. The other good thing about this game is that matches start after working hours and that is the reason we have a new audience in the game. I think this Twenty20 should be played more and more. These matches should be played on home and away basis just like Premier league football. Right now there is not enough Twenty20."

According to initial information released on the website, bringing the Twenty20 format in a professional franchise sports league format to a broader and new audience is precisely what the Indian Cricket League intends to do. "Our mission is to promote and foster the best talent, create a highly competitive environment and provide equal opportunity to talented players. Indian Cricket League will provide superior entertainment, value, and service in competition with other professional spectator sports leagues. We will provide a centralized governing body alongside the investor and franchise opportunity of professional league sports. We believe this will allow us to deliver the ultimate cricket sporting experience for fans, players, coaches, and owners alike!"

The Indian Cricket League was founded in 2005 to provide cricket fans, players, coaches, and owners with a professional league sports platform. Cricket had always lacked the structure that professional sports leagues in the US and Canada have. The league will attract both local and international talent from other cricket playing nations just like Major League Baseball in the US. We want to build quality international cricket players, provide for equal opportunity to the young and the talented, and ensure that the best infrastructure and training is provided to the players. Indian Cricket League will share its pool of talented cricketers with other private cricket leagues and cricketing boards of the world.

resource: www.indiancricketleague.com

ICL vs IPL, leagues apart

2008-03-12T21:43:00.000-07:00

Ever since the launch of IPL last week by BCCI one wonders if the latter was just a knee jerk reaction to ICL or was conceived for the benefit of the game. Indian Cricket League's (ICL) goal is create enthusiasm amongst the budding cricketers, carry that enthusiasm and momentum in the Sachins’ of tomorrow and give the domestic cricketers a chance to showcase their talent. On the other hand IPL's launch last seemed to be a "me too" by bureaucrats who have dominated the game more than the game itself.

Apparently the BCCI league had been conceptualized about 10 years ago but had recently been finalized. I think I can assume with reasonable comfort that ICL's announcement early part of this year expedited IPL by good couple of years.

BCCI top honcho believed just a couple of months ago that a Twenty20 league format (referring to ICL) would serve no good to the game of cricket. And it is rather ironic that a league was launched by the same governing body just a few months later in the same format.

Ever since the launch of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) BCCI mocked at the league commenting from time to time that who would watch a bunch of retired cricketers. On IPL launch in Delhi last week, all I saw was great cricketers who were either retired or on the verge of retiring from the game.

ICC refuses to recognize Indian Cricket League, we all know why. It's interest is to promote its own agenda in the world rather than promoting the game it represents. ICC would never disappoint the richest cricketing board in the world; rather going forward when BCCI current head Mr. Pawar becomes its chief will turn into Indian Cricket Council. It is rather appalling that an incompetent man will represent the council. A man who is on a mission, a mission to progress his personal agenda and solidify BCCI’s monopoly over the game in India.

I see Indian Cricket League emerging as a successful business organization, not ridiculed with bureaucracy and corruption like its counterpart, operating as a autonomous organization, investing in building the cricketing infrastructure and take advantage of its media arm to reach out to all cricket loving fans in India and abroad.

Resource: www.indiancricketleague.com

INDIAN CRICKET LEAGUE Invades The Americas

2008-03-04T20:59:00.000-08:00

Over 15 million cricket fans residing in North America and the Caribbean are demanding more!

Resource: www.indiancricketleague.com

Chennai Superstars wins inaugural edition of ICL 50s!

2008-02-12T01:21:00.000-08:00

Tamil Kumaran declared Man of the Match

J P Yadav declared Player of the Tournament

Chennai Superstars won the inaugural edition of ICL 50s, played at Mayajaal Sports Village-Chennai, defeating Delhi Jets by 4 balls. This is their second straight victory after ICL 20 20 Championships. Chennai Superstars skipper R Satish won the toss and Chennai Superstars, medium fast bowler Tamil Kumaran was declared man of the match for his 5 for 39. Delhi Jets skipper J P Yadav was declared Player of the Tournament for his all round performance scoring 387 runs, 8 wickets and taking 5 catches.

Batting first, Delhi Jets managed to put on 240 runs in 48.3 overs. The Jets innings was off to a shaky start as the opener Sachin Dholpure was back in the pavilion by the 7th over, with the score on 27. This brought in Abhinav Bali who along with Mohnish Mishra put on 54 runs partnership for the second wicket to take Jets to a safer position after their horrid start.

Mohnish Mishra struck a fine 64 off 68 balls hitting 5 fours and 1 six and was the star of the Jets innings. Abhinav Bali gave him able support with a 30 ball 37. After the fall of Abhinav Bali, Mishra entered into 57 runs partnership with Abbas Ali to take the score past 130. After the fall of Mishra, JP Yadav and Ali added quick 37 to take the score past 175.

J P Yadav made 56 balls 45 hitting 2 sixes and one four. After the falloff Yadav tailenders didn't contribute much and the Jets managed to put on 240 runs in 48.3 overs. The stand out performance for the Chennai Superstars from Tamil Kumaran who took 5 for 38 and Thiru Kumaran who took 2 for 25.

Chennai Superstars were off to appalling start, loosing 3 wickets in the 8th over on a score of 33. After the fall of Vasant Sarvana, Hemang Badani entered into a 52 runs partnership with V Devendran to take the score past 80 in the 17th over. Devendran scored 43 off 56 balls hitting 2 sixes and 3 boundaries. After the fall of Devendran, Hemang and Harish scored 81 runs off 105 balls taking the score past 166 in the 35th over. In course of their partnership, Hemang scored 58 off 77 balls hitting 3 sixes and Harish scored 59 off 73 balls hitting 4 boundaries.

After the fall of Devendran, Hemang and Harish scored 81 runs off 105 balls taking the score past 166 in the 35th over. In course of their partnership, Hemang scored 58 off 77 balls hitting 3 sixes and Harish scored 59 off 73 balls hitting 4 boundaries.

Three wickets of Superstars fell quickly to take the score to 208 for 9 in 46th over. At this point the win for Delhi Jets was looking inevitable, but Superstars all rounder Thiru Kumaran had some other ideas. He struck 21 balls 38 hitting 2 sixes and 4 boundaries to take Superstars toward victory. Chennai Superstars won the match in the 50th over with 4 balls still to be bowled.

Brief scores: Chennai Superstars 242 for 9 in 49.2 overs (Hemang Badani 58, J Hariesh 59, V Devendran 43 , Shalabh Srivastava 3/ 38) defeated Delhi Jets 240 all out in 48.3 overs (Monish Mishra 64, J.P. Yadav 45, Abbas Ali 45, Tamil Kumaran 5/38 , Thiru Kumaran 2/ 25) by 4 balls.

Source : http://www.indiancricketleague.in/

PCB’s ICL rebels action justified, says Justice Qayyum

2008-02-09T03:05:00.000-08:00

Justice Malik Qayyum, the Attorney General of Pakistan, has changed his mind about the fate of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) rebels and now says that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has taken the right decision by banning them.

According to a PCB official, Justice Qayyum has sent a two-page letter to the Board chairman Nasim Ashraf in which he has written that after going through the details of the case he has come to the conclusion that the PCB is justified in its strict stance against the cricketers who joined the breakaway ICL.

Earlier, Justice Qayyum had said that the ban went against the fundamental rights of a citizen of Pakistan. “If these players decide to seek redress from the court then they have a strong case against the board as the ban is not justified,” Qayyum was quoted as saying. “The ban is a clear-cut case of restraining someone from earning from his trade,” he had said.

Taking note of Justice Qayyum’s criticism of the PCB policy against the ICL, Ashraf had a meeting with the Attorney General to tell him the reasons why such a strict stance has been adopted by Pakistan.

Six Pakistani players including former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and experienced all-rounder Abdul Razzaq featured in the ICL in spite of warnings from the PCB last year. According to details, the PCB Governing Board at a meeting in Karachi on January 25 endorsed the decision of the top PCB management to ban the ICL rebels from playing for Pakistan on in first-class competitions at home. Some of the players have decided to challenge the ban in court.

Source : http://paktribune.com/

Bond has no regrets over joining ICL

2008-02-04T03:59:00.000-08:00

A "vague" Indian Premier League (IPL) contract might be the reason why Shane Bond, the New Zealand fast bowler, opted to sign for the Indian Cricket League (ICL), a move that ultimately led to the end of his international career.

Bond, speaking to the Herald on Sunday, said New Zealand Cricket (NZC) wanted him to sign up with the IPL, but by then was in negotiations with the ICL. "They [NZC] wanted me to go to the IPL because they were pushing their players that way. But I was really thorough with what I had gone through with the ICL," Bond said. "I had a full contract that I had been through with the lawyers and they were really happy with it. It covered off every eventuality I could think of.

"Then I was given the IPL offer, but it was a one-and-a-half page memorandum of understanding that was really vague."

Bond said he did what he thought was the right decision after consultation. "I spoke to the Players' Association and with the lawyers and they both said 'you can't sign that because you don't know what you're signing'." The New Zealand Players' Association had slammed the contracts offered by the IPL last year.

"At the time I had to make a decision and it was easy, really. One was thorough and I knew what I was getting myself into and the other one I didn't really know what was going on," Bond said. "It was a simple decision in some respects.

"It's been disappointing that everything has been clouded because I'm a very black-and-white sort of person," Bond said. "With the various things being written and said in the media, it almost looks like it's been clouded to make it reflect poorly on me. I wanted to do everything properly, to get a release, to let people know what was happening so we could move forward. Unfortunately, due to circumstances, I wasn't able to do that.

"But some people are always going to think you're a traitor, and I can live with that," he said. "There's a right way and a wrong way of going about improving your circumstances and I think I went about it the right way, so I don't understand why people would be calling me disloyal.

"I find it strange that in any other job people accept that you try to improve your circumstances and get in a better position to provide for your family, but it's almost like you're not supposed to do that in sport. I don't understand that; maybe it's because professional sport is so new in this country. "

He warned that cases similar to his will crop up in the future in New Zealand. "Even though I'm gone now, this is going to be an issue that keeps affecting the game here - whether it's domestic or international players, or fringe international players who are looking at other opportunities. It will be interesting to see how it pans out."

He suggested his constant injuries did play on his mind as well, especially on contemplating retirement from Tests. "I got off the plane from South Africa and thought it was just going to be the usual rehabilitation then back into it. I had a scan and found out I was going to be out for two months and got really down in the dumps.

"I started thinking about it and came to the realisation I didn't want to go through that feeling of coming home from a tour early again. I looked at last year where I got through the whole year and went to the World Cup and everything went brilliantly.

"The whole year was basically one-dayers, so I started looking back to when I had problems and it was almost always in Test cricket."

Source : http://content-www.cricinfo.com/

ICL players consider legal action against PCB

2008-01-28T03:26:00.000-08:00

The group of players barred from representing Pakistan or playing in the country's domestic cricket for playing in the Indian Cricket League (ICL) is considering taking legal action against the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umar and Shabbir Ahmed - the three currently active players who would be otherwise eligible for Pakistan selection - hit out at the board's decision , arguing that it was an attempt "to destroy our livelihood."

"We will discuss this among ourselves and take some advice from Inzi bhai before we move forward," Farhat told Cricinfo. "This is a very sad situation and we will try everything in our powers to get back to playing for Pakistan."

Farhat and Umar said legal action was a definite possibility, while also clarifying remarks made by the PCB over a petition the players had apparently filed against the ban earlier at the Lahore High Court. Nasim Ashraf, chairman PCB, said the court had dismissed the petition, but Farhat said this was not the case.

"The petition wasn't filed," Farhat explained. "We reconsidered and decided to wait on it because the message conveyed to us was that the board's governing committee might change its mind and let us play after their meeting [on January 25]."

The board did offer one way back for the players, suggesting that if they pulled out of their ICL contracts, they would consider any subsequent appeal to lift the restriction. But Farhat insisted that pulling out of his three-year contract was not an option.

"That contract gives me security. It is like a safety net for me. What safety do we get here? We will not pull out of it on principle alone," Farhat said. "The board is happy to send players to the Indian Premier League (IPL), which is also another separate league. What is the difference between that and this? Will the IPL also not harm Pakistan cricket?"

Though the ICL isn't officially involved in helping the players in a legal battle should one arise, the group is planning to seek constant advice from the organizers on how to move forward.

Source : http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/

Cricket: Stand-off now close to court

2008-01-22T03:07:00.000-08:00

Shane Bond and New Zealand Cricket (NZC) are one step away from heading to court as a mediator has stepped in to help resolve the fast bowler's dispute with the national body.

Bond desperately wants to play in the England series but is being told he can't unless he reneges on his deal with the 'rebel' Indian Cricket League.

NZC is now embroiled in an increasingly fraught stand-off with its best player and the dispute over Bond's dual contracts have now been put into the hands of lawyers.

Talks with the fast bowler began close to a fortnight ago as an 11th-hour effort was made by NZC to extract Bond from his three-year, $3.1 million contract with the Indian Cricket League. No satisfactory agreement was reached and a mediator has been called in to try to prevent the dispute reaching the Employment Relations Authority.

At the heart of the matter is whether Bond has breached his contract with NZC after signing with the ICL. Bond is the top-ranked New Zealand cricketer and is on a retainer of more than $120,000 through to June 1.

As was revealed here two weeks ago, the dispute is further confused by the fact NZC cleared him to sign with the ICL, almost certainly in written form, which, employment law specialist and Buddle Findlay partner Hamish Kynaston explained, could be construed as a legally binding document.

When contacted recently Bond said he had "agreements" in place with NZC that meant he could not discuss the situation and that has not changed in the interim. Yesterday he confirmed that those agreements were still intact and he would not comment.

This newspaper also contacted New Zealand Cricket, the Players' Association and Andrew Scott-Howman, an employment lawyer who specialises in sports contracts and who is understood to be directly involved in this case. None of them were able to comment on either the broad process or the minutiae of the dispute.

However, a source told this newspaper that big hitter Sir John Anderson was involved, at least initially as NZC tried to push the line that there is a general playing condition, rather than a specific contract clause, that precludes Bond from playing for New Zealand and in a competition that is not sanctioned.

Bond wants to do both.

With the matter now before mediation, Kynaston said there was several potential outcomes.

"The whole process is geared up for the parties to work out something confidentially and to reach an agreement.

"Generally speaking, if they reach a mediated agreement that concludes any potential further claim, though there are always exceptions to this," Kynaston said.

Mediation is usually set against a legal backdrop - so if they fail to reach agreement, a claim in the employment court invariably follows. Both sides, however, are desperate to avoid that and have outwardly remained confident of finding compromise.

That confidence is now believed to be ebbing.

Source : http://www.nzherald.co.nz/

Bond named in Canterbury line-up

2008-01-15T03:06:00.000-08:00

The contractual dispute between Shane Bond and New Zealand Cricket took another twist yesterday when Bond was included in the Canterbury squad for the Twenty20 domestic cricket series starting on Friday night.

Canterbury coach Dave Nosworthy said he was treating Bond's inclusion purely on a cricketing basis. He was advised by NZC's sports science medical co-ordinator, Warren Frost, that if Bond came through club cricket last Saturday satisfactorily, he could be picked.

Bond bowled eight overs for his club team, Old Boys-Collegians, taking none for 19, made 45 with the bat and showed no signs of discomfort from the abdominal muscle tear that forced him home during the first test against South Africa in mid-November.

"Shane has been passed fit and we want him to play. He is, of course, a welcome addition to our squad," said Nosworthy yesterday.

Nosworthy said he was aware of all the speculation swirling about Bond and his future, but expected him to be at training this week with the 14-man squad ahead of the Wizards' first match against Central Districts at QE II's Village Green.

NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan said discussions between Bond and NZC were ongoing, and neither party would comment, although some resolution is expected this week.

It is believed Bond wants to fulfil his NZC contract obligations to the end of May and be available for the tours at home and away against England.

But signing a lucrative contract for the ICL puts Bond in conflict with the establishment International Cricket Council and the powerful Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which is staging a counter Twenty20 series, the Indian Premier League, which has the ICC's approval.

Vaughan has said the NZC would be discouraging players with ICL contracts from being picked for the Black Caps, but whether Bond can be legally prevented from playing appears at the heart of the matter.

Bond is joined by fellow Black Cap Peter Fulton, back in the provincial squad after test duties, and Carl Frauenstein has also been included.

The only player omitted from the State Shield side which beat Wellington on Sunday is New Zealand under-19 player Corey Anderson. Nosworthy said playing for Canterbury A at the national tournament would be better preparation for the World Cup youth event next month.

Source : http://www.stuff.co.nz/

Yousuf braces himself for arbitration hearing

2008-01-12T02:59:00.000-08:00

Mohammad Yousuf will have legal counsel representing him at the next arbitration hearing in Mumbai examining his pull-out from the Indian Cricket League (ICL). The representation will be arranged by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for the hearing on January 24.

Yousuf initially signed up with the ICL after being dropped from Pakistan's squad for the World Twenty20 last September. Soon after, however, he was convinced by the PCB to turn his back on the ICL, represent Pakistan and also sign up the Indian Premier League (IPL), a rival circuit officially sanctioned by the BCCI.

Organisers of the ICL have insisted that Yousuf cannot renege on his contract and appear for the IPL and sent him a legal notice last year, which prompted the arbitration hearing. However, Yousuf or any representation, failed to appear at the last hearing in Mumbai in December.

"There is another hearing on January 24 in Mumbai and we are keen for them to hear Yousuf's side of the story before they take any decisions," Nasim Ashraf, the PCB chairman, said. "This is an arbitration hearing trying to mediate in this dispute, not a court of law. They issued a hearing without listening to Yousuf's version last time and we want to make sure that doesn't happen this time. We will have legal representation at the next hearing."

At the same time, the board has also filed a petition in the Lahore High Court, arguing that the dispute should be heard in Lahore, where Yousuf is based and where the contract was signed.

Ashraf also said that the board was considering the cases of other players who played in the ICL and are, for the moment, barred from playing domestic cricket in Pakistan. Former Pakistan openers Imran Farhat and Taufeeq Umar, as well as Shabbir Ahmed, played in the ICL recently and the PCB has subsequently prevented them from playing domestic cricket.

The players have gone to court challenging the ban but Ashraf said the court had dismissed the petition. Farhat and Umar were prevented from playing in the just-concluded Quaid-e-Azam trophy final for Habib Bank. But their futures will now be discussed at the board's governing committee meeting on January 25 and there appears a chance the domestic ban might be revoked.

"We will look at their cases, but I want to reiterate that they all had an opportunity to play for Pakistan," Ashraf said. "Some of them [Farhat] even had central contracts but they handed them back and chose to play there. That is their choice certainly for the contracts are lucrative, but we are also now paying players well when they play for regions.

"The players should be asked why they chose that option, but we would like to move forward from the matter now. We don't want a confrontation with any of them."

Source : http://content-www.cricinfo.com/

Lara deflects questions about WI cricket return

2008-01-11T02:31:00.000-08:00

After his splendid showing in Trinidad & Tobago's victory over Guyana in their Carib Beer Series first-round match at Queen's Park Oval on Monday, the 38-year-old Lara responded unenthusiastically to reporters' queries about whether he would consider playing for the West Indies again.

"I've had my time. And when I called it a day, I knew that this was the time and I don't want to have any regrets at all," said Lara, who retired from international cricket in April after the West Indies' failure in the Cricket World Cup (CWC).

"I don't think you should think about that (me coming back) right now. I think it's important that I'm here to play for Trinidad & Tobago. The result today is what it's all about," added Lara, who smashed 123 and an unbeaten half-century to claim the Man-of-the-Match award as T&T whipped Guyana by nine wickets.

The popular double world record-holder said he does not miss Test cricket but was "happy getting up at 3:30 in the morning watching the guys", referring to the battle the West Indies team is currently having in their three-Test series against South Africa.

He praised the West Indies players for their performance in the current series with South Africa, although they lost the second Test in Cape Town.

The Caribbean side stunned South Africa in a 128-run victory in the first Test in Port Elizabeth for their first ever Test win on the continent and Lara believes they have done well.

"The last two Test matches they've played, they played very good cricket, fighting cricket. You have to put aside the loss.
"We're going into the last Test with the possibility of winning the series. And credit must be given to the guys over there, they've performed well, they're knitting as a unit which is good," added Lara, who turns 39 years old in May.

Already the world record holder for the highest individual score in Test cricket, 400 not out for West Indies against England in 2004, and first-class cricket, and 501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham in the 1994 English County Championship, Lara is also the highest aggregate scorer in the history of Test cricket at 11,953 runs.

Lara said he is willing to play regional cricket at this time but will be ready to step aside later in the season - when the international players return - to give younger players a chance to develop.

Source : http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/

Cullinan out in the cold

2008-01-07T03:42:00.000-08:00

SA pressure forces SuperSport to silence top commentator because of links with rebel league.

Daryll Cullinan was withdrawn from SuperSport’s commentary team for the second and third Tests against the West Indies after his accreditation was revoked by Cricket South Africa.

Cullinan said he received a letter from CSA in which it was stated that his accreditation was being withdrawn because it was felt inappropriate that he commentate on official cricket when he had an involvement in the unofficial Indian Cricket League.

CSA president Norman Arendse said the decision was taken by the board’s management committee.

“We accredit media representatives to report on official cricket. As a member of the International Cricket Council we felt it was entirely hypocritical to have a commentator who was effectively participating in rebel cricket.”

Arendse said the active participation of Cullinan as coach of the Kolkata Tigers was the issue because it put him in the same situation as six South African players who are currently excluded from domestic cricket after playing in India.

Tex Texeira, head of production for SuperSport, said a meeting was planned with CSA in the near future. “We would like to be able to resolve the issue because Daryll is a top-class commentator,” he said.

Texeira said, however, that the former Test batsman had been aware that there might be problems.

“Daryll approached us and told us that he planned to go to India,” said Texeira. “We felt it wasn’t the right thing to do. We have a strong relationship with CSA and the International Cricket Council, who are both opposed to the ICL.

We therefore drew up a document stating that we were happy to let Daryll go to India but that should there be repercussions we had the right to terminate his contract with SuperSport.”

Texeira said that “about a week ago” SuperSport received a letter from CSA in which the cricket body expressed its unhappiness about Cullinan doing commentary.

“Our partnership with CSA is very strong and after discussions with Daryll it was decided to take him off our team for the next two Tests.”

Cullinan said he was “disappointed” by the decision, although he admitted: “I was aware that my going to India was a concern to SuperSport. I will wait and see what happens at the meeting between the two parties.”

Arendse confirmed a meeting with SuperSport would take place as soon as Imtiaz Patel, the television company’s head, returned from holiday.

Arendse said the players who went to India were not banned but they were in breach of contract because they had not been released by their franchises.

“That is why they are not playing for the remainder of the season. We are taking it one step at a time. If a player wants to come back we would have to deal with it. We need these guys playing in our cricket.”

Source : http://www.thetimes.co.za/

Hackles rise as Cullinan joins rebels

2008-01-07T03:35:00.000-08:00

Daryll Cullinan's career as a cricket commentator in South Africa could come to an abrupt end if Cricket South Africa and SuperSport cannot come to some agreement over his involvement in the rebel Indian Cricket League.

A meeting is scheduled between the two organisations later this month to resolve the Cullinan accreditation and commentary saga which has raised a few eyebrows around the country.

Cullinan, one of the few former South African Test stars commentating on television these days, has for all intents and purposes been switched off for the time being.

And he has had his accreditation request turned down by Cricket South Africa a few days ago following his link-up with the rebel Indian Cricket League which is bankrolled by the giant Zee Television Networks in India.

Land for ICL: Rlys now in reverse mode

2008-01-01T04:04:00.000-08:00

Having publicly backed the Subhash Chandra-promoted Indian Cricket League (ICL) some time back, even going to the extent of saying that the Railways would offer its stadia to the rebel league, Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav is now having second thoughts on the matter.

Highly-placed sources in Rail Bhavan told The Indian Express that the Railways Ministry has shot down the proposal envisaging an agreement between the Railways and ICL wherein the Railways would have offered its stadia across the country to host ICL matches. This latest decision is learnt to have got Lalu's nod as well.

"Since the Railways' Sports Promotion Board is affiliated with the Board of Control for Cricket in India, any such arrangement would have caused a direct conflict of interest," a senior ministry official said, confirming the development. "The Railways cannot simultaneously owe allegiance to the BCCI and provide its stadiums to a rebel cricket league. It can lead to a lot of legal issues," the official added.

However, even as the ministry officials stick to this line, Rail Bhavan corridors are abuzz with murmurs that this volte-face is a direct fallout of Yadav's wish to get his cricketer son Tejaswi included in the Indian national side.

Sources said that Lalu, having backed the rebel league and even attended its inaugural function recently, had a late realisation that his open support to the ICL was jeopardising his son's chances of making it to the national team.

Tejaswi Yadav, who currently plays for Delhi's Under-19 team and is said to be a competent cricketer, could not find a place for himself either in the India Under-19 team scheduled to tour South Africa in January 2008 or in the list of probables for the forthcoming Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia in February 2008.

Not that the selection process was skewed - there were several other better contenders for the spot - but the main problem was the BCCI's bad blood with the ICL.

Following Lalu's open support to the ICL earlier this year, the Railways had started working out the modalities for having a long-term arrangement with the ICL wherein Railways stadia would have been made available to ICL at nominal rates.

In November, the Railways even threw open its Mahalaxmi ground in Mumbai for ICL players to hold a training camp. But with the proposal officially scrapped for now, the Railways association with the ICL appears to be on its last legs.

The ICL is, as it is, finding it a little difficult to organise tournaments and practice grounds for the top-notch international-national gathering. This will be a further blow to the league.

Also, with the BCCI's own Indian Premier League drawing huge national and international interest in the sale of franchises, the balance seems to have tilted towards an "official" venture.

Now, it is believed, that even if some players cannot make it to the top echelons - Team India - he could well make a good living through teams in the IPL and not lose a chance of making it back to the national squad.

Source : http://in.news.yahoo.com/

Moin Urges PCB To Change Its Stance

2007-12-28T03:03:00.000-08:00

Former captain Moin Khan has urged the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to allow Indian Cricket League (ICL) contracted players to play domestic cricket.

The PCB has banned Inzamam-ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, Imran Farhat, Shabbir Ahmed and Taufiq Umar - all ICL players - from taking part in domestic matches in the country. And Farhat has already decided to take legal action against the decision.

The board's policy hasn't gone down well with Moin, who is the coach of Hyderabad Heroes in the ICL, and he has asked the PCB to rethink their stance.

Moin told the Post: "What is so big about this ICL?

"Don't players take part in many such privately organised Twenty20 competitions which are not sanctioned by the board?

"I say as long as the ICL does not clash or disturb international commitments of players, there is nothing wrong with it.

"More importantly, the ICL has never stopped anyone from playing for his country. So what is the big fuss?"

PCB has adopted the Board of Control for Cricket in India's approach to ICL but Moin doesn't believe that should be the case.

"I don't think our board should follow the policies of the Indian board," the former Pakistan wicketkeeper said.

"The Indian cricket officials might have a problem with the ICL but that is their internal problem. Why should our board be harsh on our players who are committing no crime?

Source : http://www.cricket365.com/

BCCI upset after Tuffey is picked for Auckland

2007-12-24T03:55:00.000-08:00

Just five days after he played in the final of the 'unrecognised' Indian Cricket League (ICL), Darryl Tuffey was picked by Auckland to play a One-day tour game against the visiting Bangladesh side at the Eden Park Outer Oval on Friday.

This has left the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which was unaware of the development till informed by TOI, seething in anger. "All the boards had agreed in principle at the last ICC CEO's meeting that any player who is part of an unauthorised tournament will not be encouraged. This is a violation of a gentleman's agreement. Lalit Modi (BCCI VP) will write to New Zealand Cricket to protest against this move," said Niranjan Shah, BCCI secretary.

In the Essel Group promoted ICL, Tuffey played for Chandigarh Lions and was to then move to Sydney (to play grade cricket). But as the ICL drew to a close, Tuffey changed his mind and went back to Auckland.

Tuffey will feature for Auckland in rest of the domestic season as well. In the coming days, another Kiwi 'rebel' Chris Harris, who played for Hyderabad Heroes, could also be playing for Canterbury in their national championship.

While Pakistan banned seven players, who figured in the ICL, from playing domestic cricket, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) seems to be going soft on the 'rebels'. "Any (ICL) player will be eligible to play in domestic cricket as non-contracted players (on a match-by-match basis). However, in accordance with the policies of other Test-playing countries, they will not be eligible for selection for any New Zealand Cricket representative teams (National or A teams)," Justin Vaughan, NZC CEO and former allrounder clarified to TOI.

Source : http://cricket.indiatimes.com/

PCB Ban ICL Rebels

2007-12-21T03:49:00.000-08:00

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is to exclude players who are participating in the Indian Cricket League (ICL) from domestic cricket.

The ICL is not sanctioned by the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the PCB had already ruled that any Pakistani players participating in the competition would not be considered for national duty.

Now it seems the likes of Inzamam-ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq, Shabbir Ahmad, Azhar Mahmood, Taufiq Umar and Imran Farhat will have to sit out domestic fixtures as well.

A PCB spokesman told the Daily Times: "Since the ICL is not recognised by the PCB and the Indian cricket board, the players who have joined the ICL despite warnings from their respective boards will not be allowed to play in the domestic circuit.

"The rebel players have tried to contact the PCB through their respective departments but the board gave them the cold shoulder.

"The board is following 'zero tolerance policy' towards such players."

The (un)importance of being Brian Lara

2007-12-18T03:30:00.000-08:00

Brian Lara was the Indian Cricket League's (ICL) biggest catch - big enough to even unnerve the cash-rich Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The Board even tried to persuade him to dump ICL.

But in the end Lara turned out to be the biggest disappointment of ICL's inaugural Twenty-20 championship played at the Tau Devi Lal cricket stadium here.

0, 4, 3, 9, 'did-not-bat' and 15 are not the credentials that Lara - unarguably one of the best batsmen in the world - is used to. But that is the reality of T20 that dawned on the great player in just six matches, his Mumbai Champs team played in the rebel ICL championship this month. It surely was a big come down for the man, who not only has the record of the highest number of Test runs to his name but also the highest individual Test score of 400 not out.

If not the ICL itself, Lara would like to put the inaugural championship out of his mind. What was even more embarrassing for Lara was not only his individual failure in the T20 matches but also the fact that Mumbai Champs, which he led, finished last of the six teams. It lost five of the six matches that it played here.

It was also the first team to be knocked out of the championship. The Champs were the most fancied team in the tournament with an international star cast that included Lara, Nathan Astle, Vikram Solanki, J.J. Van der Wath and Mervyn Dillon in their ranks.

Ironically, in the one game that Lara's team finally won, the team's star batsman did not even bat - pushing himself down the order due to lack of form.

"I am new to the T20 format and will take time to adapt. I have not played this kind of cricket before. We did not play to our potential and failed in all departments. But I am pleased to see some of the younger Indian players. They have a lot of talent," Lara meekly put up a defence for his string of poor performances.

The justification seems out of place given the successful performances by his contemporaries Inzamam-ul-Haq, Chris Cairns, player of the championship Ian Harvey, Stuart Law, Nathan Astle and others in the same tournament.

The whole aura involving Lara with the ICL has been dramatic right from the beginning. Having signed the contract with ICL, Lara kept them guessing till the last moment by not turning up. In between, there were reports that BCCI vice president Lalit Modi was in touch with him to get him to ditch the ICL and join the BCCI's new Indian Premier League (IPL).

At one stage ICL's executive board chairman and legendary cricketer Kapil Dev also seemed unsure when he said just a week before the championship, "I understand he has started from the West Indies. He should be reaching."

Lara finally did turn up for the ICL tournament but remained aloof from the rest of the international players playing here. Incidentally, while all teams and players were put up by the ICL at the government-run Hotel Mountview here, Lara and his team stayed in five-star comfort of the Taj Hotel.

Top players here were generally accessible to media and fans. Inzamam, Chris Cairns and others were even seen crossing the busy street opposite their hotel in Sector 10 here and pulling their cricket gear with them, Lara was definitely in a different league. When he practiced, a virtual human fence of burly bouncers screened him from the media and fans.

Source : http://sify.com/

ICL announces eventful season for 2008

2007-12-18T02:57:00.000-08:00

Subhash Chandra’s Indian Cricket League (ICL) which kick started its first season in November, will host 5 tournaments in 2008. The announcement was made today by Essel Group chairman Subhash Chandra and Kapil Dev, chairman of the executive board, ICL.

The second season of ICL will roll-out in February and will include 50-over matches as well.

” It is indeed heartening to see the response Indian Cricket League (ICL) has been able to generate in India and across the globe. After a successful launch in keeping with the promise made, ICL is proud to announce its cricket calendar for the coming season.” ICL conducted its first 20-20 championship at the Tau Devilal cricket stadium at Panchkula, Chandigarh from November 30 to December 16, Subhash Chandra, chairman, Essel Group said.

ICL’s 2008 event calender will begin in February with a 50-over tournament featuring domestic cricketers, to be followed by a Twenty20 triangular series. In March-April, ICL will organise the ICL Grand Championship in which 8 teams will participate in a Twenty20 tournament. By April- May, the league will open academies across cities. September-October will witness the ICL Invitation Cup (a 20 over a side tournament in which 8 teams will participate). The season will conclude in November-December with the second edition of ICL Twenty20 Indian Championship.

Source : http://www.aboutindiancricketleague.com/

Preview: Tigers & Superstars combat for final place

2007-12-14T04:02:00.000-08:00

It was an entirely dissimilar scenario when the Chennai Superstars and Kolkata Tigers faced each other during the preceding occasion – only the second match of the ICL Indian 20:20 Championship – Shabbir Ahmed bowled his team to a breathtaking victory by six runs.

Two weeks into the competition and the tables may have turned on Chennai Superstars. Stuart Law’s lineup, which was well placed to top the table after three consecutive wins to start the campaign, slipped down to the fourth in the points tally whilst McMillan’s Tigers have emerged as the team to beat.

The most positive characteristic for both teams is that captains McMillan and Law have been in good nick and more prominently, have influenced results in the tourney. The former is the second highest run-getter at the event and also the man with utmost hits outside the park. Law has fixed into a more established, subtle role, one of following up on the good work done by Harvey, Read, Satish and the rest.

Both teams will be pleased with rhythm their bowlers have found as well. Nantie Hayward, Sujay Tarafdar, Lance Klusener and Upul Chandana will lead the attack for the Tigers, whereas the Kumarans, Shabbir Ahmed and Ian Harvey will expect to persist with their fine form.

The Tigers will hope to fall back on experienced veterans Lance Klusener, Craig McMillan, Deep Dasgupta and Darren Maddy to fire in the imperative semi-final. Younger players like Mihir Diwakar, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala and the hero of the match against Hyderabad Heroes, Sujay Tarafdar will hope to establish their significance.

English wicket-keeper batsman Chris Read has fared well, filling into his new job role as the number three batsman, who is expected to provide the initial impetus if the openers fail to do the same. Russell Arnold played a critical knock during the last match against Tigers and will be a vital middle-order batsman for Superstars.

Triumph is the only ambition for the two teams heading into the fabulous semi-final clash. Chennai Superstars and Kolkata Tigers have played great cricket to amuse the crowds at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium and regardless of the outcome have fashioned brands of their own – which they will look forward to to bring back in March for the 50-50 over contest.

Source : http://www.indiancricketleague.in/

ICL Cricket matches now live on Spice mobile TV news

2007-12-14T03:57:00.000-08:00

Punjab's telecom service provider Spice Telecom has launched Spice TV that provides subscribers an opportunity to watch Live Cricket on their mobile phones for the first time in India.

With Spice as the official telecom partner for the Indian Cricket League (ICL), the Spice-ICL partnership is now poised to enter a new level altogether with this service.

The Spice TV launch event saw Brian Lara, and former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq amongst a host of other international stars unveil Spice TV for the people of Punjab.

Subscribers can choose from a bouquet of 13 channels with varying genres, ranging from news channels NDTV and Times Now, Zoom or Bindaas in the entertainment category, or even Cartoon Network for cartoons.

Taking about the Spice TV service, Mukul Khanna, vice president of marketing at Spice Telecom said, ''At Spice we always strive to offer great innovations to our subscribers. Spice TV is an initiative in this direction. Our subscribers can now watch live cricket on their phones. And what better an opportunity to launch this service than with ICL matches on in the tri-city wherein Spice Telecom is the official telecom partner.''

Himanshu Mody, business head, ICL, said, ''We are happy to partner with Spice Telecom. This is an exclusive tie-up where Zee Sports has partnered with Spice Telecom to present Live ICL matches for this season. We appreciate the company's endeavor to promote the global cricketing community in the region. This initiative has brought all the cricket fans in the region together on a single platform.''

Some of the highlights of Spice TV include:

* User-friendly and an Easy to Get Started feature
* The customer will be kept entertained while buffering of the content is in process
* Spice TV offers genuine channel options with a continuous stream of Audio and Video
* Pay per day packs available

To view Spice TV, customers would need to

* Dial *789# or send SPICETV as an SMS to 50789 to activate the service
* Install SpiceTV application on the handset from the URL received.
* Open the SpiceTV application and choose the pack you wish to subscribe
* Open the SpiceTV application and select any TV Channel to view from your pack

A list of handsets which support Spice TV include over 50 Mobile Handsets, including

* Nokia's 3230, 3250, 5500, 6600, 6620, 6260, 6630, 6670, 6680, 6681, 7610, N70, N71, N72, N73, N80, N91, N92, N93, E50, E62, E60, E61, E70.
* Sony Ericsson K750, W800, K600, V600, Z520, W700 and Z525 series, W600, W550, W900, W810, Z530, W300, K510, K310, K320, Z550 and Z558 series, K610, K800, K790, W850, Z710, W710, Z610 and W830 series, and
* Future device support includes Spice, Samsung, Motorola and other low end GPRS enabled devices on Nokia and Sony Ericsson.

Source : http://www.domain-b.com/

Get ready for another ICL

2007-12-12T03:06:00.000-08:00

ICL is here to stay. Buoyed by the success of Twenty20 games in Panchkula the Indian Cricket League is planning to host another tournament in March next.An agency conducting survey regarding the viewership of programmes being run on various TV channels found out huge interest generated by the ICL matches among cricket buffs. “While the current Indo-Pak series got 2 rating points, the ICL matches got 1.8 rating points,” Essel Group’s executive vice-president, Ashish Kaul, revealed here.

“The tournament will be held at the same venue (Tau Devi Lal Stadium at Panchkula) in March next and possibly one more in October,” Kaul revealed here.

“The number of teams likely to participate the next time is likely to go up.” Kaul said adding that the focus, at the moment, was on the Tau Devi Lal stadium, where more facilities would be added to make it a better venue.

“The ICL matches will reach there in the households in Europe, the USA, the Caribbean, South Africa, Sri Lanka and other countries,” said Kaul, elaborating about a deal signed for the telecast of the ICL matches. The deal will enable its matches being available on TV sets virtually worldwide.

“Gateway, Astro and Siffy, all well reputed companies, will arrange live telecast of matches. Astro is one of the biggest DTH telecast provider.” The ICL matches are already available on a number of Zee channels across the country.

“Ideally, we would like that all big cities in the country have their own teams like Chandigarh Lions or Mumbai Champs competing among themselves.

“The successful launch of the tournament is like a dream come true. We did not have much time at our disposal to prepare for the 17-day tournament. There was a lot of skepticism about its launch. We have proved a lot of people wrong. Despite huge time restraints, I think we have managed to put up a decent show. The infrastructure has been put in the shortest possible time which in itself is a record of sorts.”

“Now that a beginning has been made, we are aware of the problems and the unexpected glitches which will be taken care of in the next tournament,” he said.

Asked about the offer made to host the matches at Eden Gardens, he replied that certain problems cropped up due to which Kolkata was not thought of as a venue.

He said that the ICL got a boost with former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav rallying for the success of the ICL. Besides Yadav, leaders like Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Amar Singh and Shatrughan Sinha have already visited the venue.

Source : http://www.aboutindiancricketleague.com/

Indian Twenty20 leagues war hots up

2007-12-11T03:20:00.000-08:00

AS REBEL Twenty20 Indian Cricket League tournament chairman Kapil Dev expressed his desire to sign Australia's elite players, the Board of Control for Cricket in India is considering an "amnesty" so the ICL's international brigade can switch camps.

The BCCI "olive branch" approach to the likes of West Indian great Brian Lara, Australians Stuart Law and Ian Harvey, Kiwis Chris Cairns and Nathan Astle, former Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq, South Africa's Lance Klusener and Sri Lankans Russel Arnold and Marvan Atapattu is viewed as a strategy to derail the breakaway league.

If the players accept the offer it will not only beef up the Indian Premier League's "star power" which includes Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Michael Clarke, Brett Lee and Michael Hussey — but also pave the way for them to win the mind-boggling revenue from the subcontinent's lucrative pay-TV market.

"We could allow the foreign players to play in the Indian Premier League if they terminate their contracts with ICL," BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla told reporters in India.

Dev said the ICL remained committed to luring the best possible players to the made-for-TV competition. "We are basically feeding international cricket," Dev told The Sunday Age.

"We are only trying to increase the amount of cricket being played. If anyone is nervous, I'm very sorry.

"We'll welcome everybody. We want more cricketers from Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Australia. We want the best of the best here.

"We don't want to spoil cricket, we don't intend to upset the international calendar.

"The ICC should be happy with what we're trying to do. We aren't trying to offend anyone, we are simply increasing the amount of cricket," Dev said.

The ICL has suggested it will up the ante by taking the modified version of the game to North America, where there is a large number of students and workers from many of the cricket-playing nations like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The rebel league was founded by the owner of Zee TV after he was denied the official broadcasting rights to Tests and one-dayers, despite offering substantially more than the station that got the licence.

Source : http://www.theage.com.au/

Boje to be questioned today

2007-12-11T03:19:00.001-08:00

Former South African cricketer Nicky Boje is expected to appear before the crime branch of the Delhi police on Tuesday for questioning in connection with the match-fixing case in 2000.

Boje, who is playing for the “Hyderabad Heroes” team in the Indian Cricket League, was served a notice by the crime branch on December 5 asking him to join the investigations in the match-fixing case. However, the notice did not mention any date for appearance.

It is learnt that the left-arm spinner has contacted the Delhi police expressing his willingness to appear for questioning on Tuesday. The most likely venue for his questioning is the R.K. Puram office of the crime branch. Boje would be asked if he was offered money to under-perform in any match and whether any team member had then accepted such an offer.

Source : http://www.hindu.com/

I am elated at the reception: Kapil Dev

2007-12-07T02:48:00.000-08:00

The chairman of the executive board Kapil Dev has expressed great satisfaction over the conduct in which the inaugural season of the Indian Cricket League has been acknowledged.

"I'm extremely proud of the way the ICL has shaped up. We might not have had teams blazing away to big totals so far, but in hindsight the ICC World Twenty20, too, saw the 150-mark being breached only eight times," the World Cup winning former captain said, adding that the organisers haven't got any reaction from the top bosses at the BCCI yet.

Kapil, who was also the coach of the Indian cricket team, said he was relieved when the Tau Devi Lal Stadium opened its doors for ICL's inaugural Twenty20 tournament.

"We thought we might have to play in open fields somewhere because everyone seemed to shut the door on us. I'm disappointed that Chandigarh didn't give us the (Sector-16 Stadium) ground even after pleading with them so many times."

Kapil said that he was confident about international players striking good form during later stages of the tournament. The former India captain, however, came back to his own venture saying that senior international players have been wonderful with the young Indian players, and one should not look into Brian Lara's Mumbai Champs failing to register a win so far.

"Results don't come overnight. If you look around, the likes of Chris Cairns and Inzamam have been brilliant with the young boys, and the standard of fielding in the tournament has been breathtaking. The seniors look as keen as youngsters," he said.

Source : http://www.indiancricketleague.in/

Fitness trainer from Australia teaches new methods

2007-12-06T03:55:00.000-08:00

A fitness trainer from Australia has been teaching new methods to players to stay fighting fit for the Indian Cricket League's Twenty20 tournament.

Dearne, who also runs her own fitness studio in Melbourne, has been working with players, giving them tips on how to further improve their fitness levels.

"I have introduced them to Pilates, which is a set of exercises quite popular in Australia, UK and even USA.

"This form of exercise is especially aimed at strengthening abdominal and back muscles because in most form of sports these take more strain," Dearne told reporters here.

She said she had also been guiding players and re-assuring them on the fitness programmes they were already following.

"Among the Indian players featuring in the ICL, I have been happy to find that most of them are really fit.

"Their basic fitness levels are really impressive and they are highly motivated about what they are doing," she said.

Dearne also gives them tips on following a healthy diet.

"In this part of the world, I find players have the tendency to over indulge, but that's okay as long as they burn out the excess calories they are consuming," she said.

Source : http://www.hindu.com/

Indian Cricket League

2007-12-05T01:28:00.000-08:00

The Indian Cricket League (ICL) is a private cricket league that runs parallel to the existing cricket league managed by BCCI. Matches in the ICL follow the Twenty20 format. Tau Devi Lal stadium in Panchkula, near Chandigarh, will be hosting the ICL for the 2007 season. The stadium has a capacity of 20,000 and the ICL plans to lease the stadium for 10 years.

History
Zee telefilms (part of Subhash Chandra promoted Essel Group) bid for the telecast rights of the biggest international cricket event - 2003 World Cup. Although the highest bid, it was unsuccessful. Subhash Chandra again bid for telecast rights again in 2004 and ended up in an inconclusive court battle. Last March, he bid again for the 2006-10 rights and once again lost. His response: the ICL. “They denied us the cricket content,” says Himanshu Mody, business head of ICL and Zee’s sports channels.

“So, we had to create our own content”.On Zee Telefilms announced that it would be partner with infrastructure major IL&FS to create a new ambitious cricket league, Indian Cricket League (ICL).This league will have a prize money of $ 1 million for the winner.

ICL was set up with a Rs. 100 crore (Rs. 1 billion) corpus, and would initially comprise six teams to be expanded to 16 in three years. This will make ICL the richest professional league in the country with an annual prize of $1 million (Rs. 4.4 crore). ICL has already signed a number of major players but is yet to reveal their names. On July 24th, some great international names cropped up such as Brian Lara. The ICL has confirmed that Brian Lara and Inzaman-Ul-Haq has signed up and will be joining the league.However, the Pakistan Cricket Board warned its players to stay away from the league.Imran Farhat though chose to opt out of his Pakistan Central contract to sign with the Indian Cricket League.Former captain of the Pakistan Cricket Team Javed Miandad said he is not able to understand why PCB is not allowing its players to play in the league and why it is threatening players with a lifetime ban

League structure
Each team will be coached by a former India player and will comprise four international, two Indian and eight budding domestic players. Essel Group is also planning to set up cricket academies all over the country. BCCI has been assured that it is free to draw from ICL's talent pool. The league became active in November 2007 with matches in the Twenty20 format.
Only professional, paid and accountable people have been hired to run the ICL. There will be no "honorary-positions" such as unpaid selectors. Former international cricketers including Kapil Dev, Tony Greig, Dean Jones and Kiran More have been hired as board members of the Indian Cricket League.The board positions will be paid positions.

Reasons for creation

Several factors have played a role in formulation of a cricket league which may run in parallel to the current official Indian cricket control body, BCCI.

The "Inverted Pyramid" cricket structure
There is wide disparity in facilities enjoyed by the national team and the several regional ones. This makes the regional players far from finished products when they get a chance to represent the country, hence preventing a huge country like India to have adequate bench strength when key players get injured or retire. Also, the regional cricket boards depend on the BCCI for hand-me-downs in terms of funds for infrastructure and grassroots development. The players who make it to the top have strong backing from sports management firms and also can afford top notch personal trainers, physiotherapists and technical consultants, hardly the preserve of the average-joe Ranji player.

India's poor performance in recent years
Essel group has sought to capitalise on the disappointment of Indian cricket fans with the poor performance of their cricket team in the World Cup and the South African tour prior to that. Indian team's failure in the World Cup has led to lower earnings to cricket broadcasters, advertisers, cricket sponsors and travel & tour operators. These defeats also caused massive disappointment to India's millions of fanatical cricket fans.

The question of 'why can't a nation of 1 billion with millions of cricket players produce even a reasonably competent team' has been hotly debated across newspapers and news channels. One of the answers which has gained wide acceptance is that the BCCI, the cricket control body of India, has failed miserably in its job and needs a major overhaul in its working and organisation. Millions of Indian fans who hero-worshipped their cricket team are finding BCCI, with its image already mired with scandals, favouritism and political influence an easy target to blame for this debacle.

Zee Telefilms desire to create sports content
The league could help the country develop talent, as well as provide lucrative sports programming for Essel Group for Zee Telefilms, which lost out on the rights to broadcast all BCCI-sanctioned cricket matches in India until 2011.

In fact Essel Group had launched Zee Sports earlier with the anticipation of bagging the BCCI telecast rights in 2006. This was followed by Zee acquiring 50 percent in TEN Sports in November 2006 for Rs. 257 crore (Rs. 2.57 billion). This gave the company a few international cricket rights — West Indies, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. But these five-year rights were at their end.

Cricket played in India generates Rs. 1,000 crore (Rs. 10 billion) in advertising and subscription revenue and Subhash Chandra has been acutely aware of his company missing out on the lucrative cricket pie.

During his battle with BCCI and ESPN Star Sports for the five-year telecast rights in August-September 2004 in the Bombay High Court, Chandra was present every day for the hearings. Despite Zee bidding the highest at $307 million, BCCI and its then president Jagmohan Dalmiya denied him the rights.

The pain of denial has been with Chandra since 2000 when the ICC World Cup rights were sold to NewsCorp’s Global Cricket Corporation (GCC) for $550 million despite Zee bidding the highest at $650 million citing Zee's insufficient sports marketing experience.

In August 2005, Zee again emerged forerunner with a pitch of over $340 million while ESPN Star Sports, the other principal contender, is believed to have offered around $325 million. BCCI took the stance that Zee was not qualified as a specialist broadcaster and refused to consider Zee’s proposal. The matter expectedly went to court and Doordarshan emerged the beneficiary.

Chandra then tried the political route too and supported Sharad Pawar’s candidature as BCCI president against Dalmiya. Pawar emerged victorious but not Chandra. In the last round of bidding in February, last year, it was Nimbus who bagged BCCI’s telecast rights till 2011 for $613 million with Zee trailing at $513 million.

Since there was a Zee-Nimbus alliance before the bidding, media pundits thought Nimbus’ bid was a Zee front. But Nimbus chose to go its own way and launched its own sports network – NEO Sports.

BCCI's Response

The BCCI refused to recognise ICL as a cricket league, and criticised Kiran More and Kapil Dev for joining ICL.Kapil Dev's association with ICL was seen as conflict of interest as he was the chairman of National Cricket Academy, a BCCI owned cricket facility.As of August 21, 2007 Kapil Dev has been sacked from his NCA post.Subhash Chandra had earlier stated that the ICL will go ahead regardless of the BCCI stance. The International Cricket Council gave a statement through its chief executive, Malcom Speed, that ICC won't recognize ICL unless BCCI recognizes it. ICC looks at ICL as an issue to be sorted out by BCCI.

Faced with the threat of young players joining the ICL, the BCCI jacked up prize money for winners, runner-up and losing semi-finalists across all tournaments. An average domestic cricketer can hope to make around Rs 35,000 per match day from the season of 2007-08: more than double the Rs 16,000 they got in 2005-06. The BCCI has also planned to do away with honorary selectors, who will be paid from September 2008 onwards.

BCCI has started its own international Twenty20 league, with the help of Australian, England & South Africa boards. The league, which will start in October 2008, is called the Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket. The league model is said to be a revolutionary one, on the model of NFL, MLB in USA

ICL takes BCCI to court

In August 2007, ICL filed a petition against BCCI in the Delhi High Court accusing that BCCI is threatening and intimidating them as well as other state organsiations not affiliated to it and asked the court to stop BCCI from interfering with its attempts to sign up players for its tournaments.It also petitions that the BCCI stop trying to "out-hire" many cricket stadiums in India that are owned by the state governments, in anti-competitive, anti-market behaviour to stop the ICL from using them to play matches.

On August 27, 2007, the Delhi High Court ruled in favor of ICL. In its ruling, the Delhi High Court has said that players should not suffer in the battle between corporate giants. The court has issued notice to all corporate sponsors, the state cricket associations & the BCCI against terminating contracts of players joining the league.

The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) of India has asked its Director-General of Investigation to do an initial investigation into BCCI's action against players who have joined ICL. The investigation was based on media reports of BCCI giving an open statement that it will ban players who will join ICL. It was also reported in the media that all state associations, under BCCI, have removed cricket players from contracts.

Support for the league

ICL has received support from unexpected quarters. There was a fear that lack of infrastructure, like the cricket stadiums, might limit the success of the operation of the league. But, support from various government bodies has boosted the league. It was reported that camps will be held at Mayajaal in Chennai, which is a private resort with good cricket facilities .Indian Railways chief Lalu Prasad has shown his backing by opening all the cricket stadiums controlled by the Indian Railways to the league. Terming ICL as a “good initiative”, Mr. Lalu Prasad has given a statement saying that the BCCI and ICL should, each, come up with a cricket team and play against each other to show who's the best. The state government of West Bengal has also agreed to rent its cricket grounds, notably the Eden Gardens, to the league and anybody else.

Future of ICL
It has often been said that the ICL is a challenge and/or a rival to the BCCI.In a poll conducted by a leading online cricket website 68.9% of those voted said ICL will do better than BCCI in the coming years, 14.9% said they will work together with ICL having a supportive role, while 16.2% said that ICL will be a failure.

Broadcasting of ICL

Since the whole ICL is conducted by Zee Telefilms, The ICL is going to be broadcasted worldwide on Zee Sports. Even online it will be broadcasted by Zeesports through online broadcasters like Streambox

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Zee sells ICL’s global rights for $10 m

2007-12-03T20:13:00.000-08:00

Despite low initial TRPs, the Zee group sold the international broadcast rights for its Indian Cricket League (ICL) matches to three global distributors for an estimated $10 million, industry sources said. The three distributors are Astro PPV -– a leading direct-to-home distributor for the South-East Asia region, the Sri Lanka-based Derana and Gateway, which reaches countries in Europe and the US, among others.

The broadcasts on these platforms will be in addition to Zee’s reach in other countries through channels such as Zee TV. In an attempt to shore up advertising support for the group which has been minimal on the poorly-distributed Zee Sports, Essel group decided to show the first 30 minutes of ICL matches on all group channels except its two movie channels.

As per the deals struck on Monday, ICL’s ongoing Twenty20 matches will be telecast on Zee Sports across the UK, US, South Africa and other African countries, the Caribbean region, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

While Essel group executive V-P Ashish Kaul did not confirm the amount for which the deal had been struck, he said it was the first time a domestic sporting event had been sold to an international platform as big as this. The three distributors have bought the rights to broadcast all ICL matches. The feeds of the ongoing Twenty20 tournament have already begun. “These broadcasters, in turn, will market the matches and sell on-air inventory,” Mr Kaul said.
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The group has also introduced a multi-language feed on its direct-to-home (DTH) platform Dish TV in Hindi, Tamil and Bengali, in addition to the existing English feed. This comes days after Zee group announced the highest prize money in domestic cricket -– Rs 3.9 crore for the winning team and a total of Rs 15 crore.

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

Zee`s ICL scores near duck on debut

2007-12-03T01:45:00.000-08:00

Even with cricket stars like Brian Lara, Chris Cairns and Inzamam-Ul-Haq on their side, the poor cable home penetration of the Zee Sports channel translated into poor viewership and advertising for the India Cricket League (ICL), the Essel group-promoted rebel Twenty20 cricket championship that begun on November 30.

The first three Twenty20 matches played on November 30 and December 1 generated peak ratings of only 0.5 on Zee Sports despite aggressive promotions and appearances by film personalities.

According to the online ratings of the first three ICL matches released by aMap, a Mumbai-based television ratings agency, even the combined ratings of all the 25-odd Zee channels for the first hour of the ICL tournament failed to attract significant viewers interest with the average time spent on the channels at eight minutes.

The maximum combined ratings for the first 30 minutes of the third match played on Saturday between Mumbai Champs and Hyderabad Heroes was 1.0. But this was because of the match available across all the 28 Zee network channels. The standalone rating on Zee Sports for this match was 0.2, the aMap report said.

Even the market share captured by Zee Sports was about one per cent of the total cable homes, the aMap report added.

Zee Sports is currently available in not more than 10 million cable homes out of roughly 76 million cable households in the country. It is also absent on Tata Sky, the second-largest direct-to-home (DTH) company reaching around 1.5 million subscribers.

These ratings are the worst in recent times for any important cricket tournament held in this year involving Indian cricketers.

The India-Bangladesh series, after the World Cup debacle earlier this year, generated ratings of 0.5-0.7 in a number of matches on Neo Sports. But due to improved distribution, the current India-Pakistan test match series received an average ratings of over 2.4, sources said.

“Agreed its early days for ICL, but at least the Zee group should improve the cable penetration of Zee Sports if viewers have to watch it for some time at least,” a senior media planner for a leading auto and telecom company said.

But senior Zee executives are upbeat. “The fact that ICL is being watched in over 125 countries across the Zee network is a first of its kind. There will be teething problems, but then with time everything will be sorted out and we will have television advertisers by December 5,” Ashish Kaul, executive vice president, brand development, Essel group recently told Business Standard.

ICL was announced in April this year by Essel group chairman Subhash Chandra as an alternate to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). It has roped in a number of Indian cricketers including Rohan Gavaskar, Dinesh Mongia and international stars like Brian Lara and Inzamam-Ul-Haq to play in the Twenty20 format cricket championship.

ICL was conceived of as a television property for Zee Sports. It attempts a new concept in cricket of a tournament comprising professional clubs with players of different nationalities on the lines of the European soccer tournaments.

It has faced a number of initial problems such as lack of recognition from BCCI and the International Cricket Council, the supreme body for international cricket around the world.

Source : http://www.business-standard.com/

ICL Decide Against Duckworth-Lewis Method

2007-12-03T01:42:00.000-08:00

In the event of any interruptions due to rain, bad light or for other reasons during the forthcoming Indian Cricket League (ICL), the organisers will not follow the Duckworth-Lewis method, Cricket365 has learnt.

A Kerala-based enginner V Jayadevan has devised an exclusive programme, known as the VJD system, for Twenty20 matches based on data from the World Twenty20 Championships and this will be used for the inagural ICL tournament.

"We shall be using it for one year and will observe the difference," an ICL source told C365.

The effort of 44-year-old Yayadevan was hailed by India's greatest batsman Sunil Gavaskar, and the BCCI have also decided to use it during the current season.

Jayadevan, an engineer from Thrissur, has devised a method that claims to be "superior" to the existing Duckworth-Lewis method.

Jayadevan's method is based on a mathematical model of the natural development of an innings through its various stages of settling down, making use of field restrictions, mid stages of stabilising, acceleration towards the end and the final 'slog' overs.

Based on the general scoring pattern and research of past matches, a 'normal' statistical curve has been developed. Regression analysis was carried out using 'spread sheet' software and a cubical polynomial equation was used for determining the scoring pattern.

Putting all this into use, Jayadevan has generated a 'target curve'. He also provides a 'target table' where the revised target can be computed depending on the percentage of total overs that were completed for different percentages of wickets. To make the entire process easy, a computer programme has been devised.

Jayadevan started to work on the VJD System in 1998 and gave it a proper shape in 2001. The D/L method has led the pack for several years, and Jayadevan's system will come under closer scrutiny from the ICC before a decision is made on whether to deploy it.

Source : http://www.cricket365.com/

Mohammad Yousuf to face arbitration hearing

2007-11-30T20:14:00.000-08:00

Mohammad Yousuf, the Pakistan batsman who recently pulled out of the Indian Cricket League (ICL), is set to face an arbitration hearing in Mumbai on December 15. Yousuf had signed with the ICL in the wake of his omission from Pakistan's squad for the ICC World Twenty20 before cancelling his contract after talks with the Pakistan board.

Yousuf then signed a national contract as well as signing up to play in the India Premier League (IPL), a recognised league that is run by four different national boards and is approved by the ICC.

The organisers of the ICL insist he can't join the rival league (IPL). "It's an open and shut case as far as we're concerned," said Ashish Kaul, the executive vice-president of the Essel Group who are organisng the tournament, told Cricinfo. "The contract clearly says he can't play in any other professional league."

Meanwhile the Pakistan board, who convinced Yousuf to cancel his contract, have assured their full support. "We will fully defend Yousuf, if he is taken to court using all legal means," said Nasim Ashraf, the chairman of the PCB.

Besides Yousuf, all of the ICL's other Pakistani recruits have decided to honour their commitments with the league. The most prominent among them is the now retired Inzamam-ul-Haq, who despite having signed on with the ICL, was given an opportunity to make his exit from international cricket in the second Test against South Africa. The others in the ICL mix are Abdur Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, Taufeeq Umar, Imran Farhat, and Shabbir Ahmed.

Source : http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/

Stage set for ICL kick off

2007-11-29T20:05:00.000-08:00

"Twenty four runs in one ball. Jujubi (too easy)," screams a look-alike of Tamil actor Rajinikanth from a poster outside the Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula. Around 200 eager spectators hover around the periphery of the ground trying to figure out what the spectacle is. Organisers fume over last-minute preparations, emcees fret over logistics, and the players kick up gusts of dusts practising their direct hits. The Indian Cricket League is finally here.

"We've had so many spanners thrown into the works that we can't believe we've finally got so far," says one of the organisers, heaving a sigh of relief. Everyone hopes the opening game of the tournament, Chandigarh Lions (with Chris Cairns, Andrew Hall, Daryl Tuffey, Imran Farhat in their line-up) taking on the Delhi Jets (with Taufeeq Umar, Paul Nixon in the side), attracts a good response but nobody is going to complain if it's Bollywood actor Kareena Kapoor's dance show that's whetting the appetite. The next few days may see boundaries between sport and entertainment blur considerably.

One of the goals of such a format, the organisers say, is to build city pride, whatever they can rustle up in a few days. It's of course a different matter that the Delhi Jets has precisely one player (Abhishek Sharma) who's represented Delhi and the Mumbai Champs the same (Robin Morris). Players have been grouped according to the zones they come from and it will be interesting to see how they gel as a unit. Four or five international stars in one side adds some spice to the mix.

What the players seem impressed about is the quality of the support staff provided. Jock Campbell, an Australian physio, and CJ Clarke, his countryman who trained the Sri Lankan side that reached the final of the World Cup this year, have apparently cracked the whip during the camps. Masseuse (women, incidentally) have assisted them. Now that's a novel way to lure players.

In an official launch at Chandigarh's Taj, the organisers unveiled a funky trophy and announced an overall prize money of 15 crores (US$ 4 million approx). It includes prize money for all teams; a team can lose every game and still go back with INR 85 lakhs (US$ 213,000).

Jazzy television coverage is expected too - GPS devices being attached to players, displaying their heart-beat rates, body temperatures etc. A giant screen has been installed and disco-like arrangements have been set up on the stage. The first half-hour of all games will be shown across all channels of the Zee network. "Switch on the TV and see what we can do to Indian domestic cricket," seems to be the message. There was a suggestion that the third umpire will call no-balls but the umpires - four first-class umpires from England - have apparently insisted that their job remains the same.

Rains aren't expected but in case matches are curtailed it won't be the Duckworth-Lewis system being used. Instead the organisers have chosen the Jayadevan method, an Indian version that has been trialled in domestic competitions.

Another new rule to be enforced is that even if a batsman has made his ground, there will be no overthrows after the ball hits the stumps in an attempted run-out.

It's required the organisers to overcome several hurdles, the most interesting of these is this: the organisers were not allowed to use BCCI-accredited equipment and needed to travel to Dehradun to ferret out the only non-BCCI super-sopper in the country. The tournament is yet to begin but this must surely be a candidate for the scoop of the year.

Source : http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/

ICL set to roll Friday, unveils plans

2007-11-29T20:02:00.000-08:00

The Indian Cricket Leauge (ICL) promoted by the Essel Group is all set to take cricket to the next level in India. The tournament is all set to start off on Friday at Panchkula. Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav would officially inaugurate the championship that is pitched as the next big thing in Indian cricket.

Himanshu Modi, Business Head, ICL on Thursday while addressing a press conference here dwelled on the various factors of the League and talked about the League’s media visibility and award patterns.

Modi elaborated that the League would be giving away a total of prize money of Rs 15 crore to the winners of the "20-20 matches beginning in Panchkula on Friday. Out of the allotted money a sum of Rs 3 crore 90 lakh will be awarded to the team winning the 2020 series.

The team coming second shall be rewarded 1 crore 90 lakh. The teams that gain the 3rd, 4th and the 5th position will also be awarded accordingly. Besides a total of Rs 18 lakh shall be granted to the team that maintains a winning record.

When questioned as to whether ICL was intentionally trying to keep the former West Indies captain Brain Lara away from the media, Modi stated, "There is absolutely no such intention at the part of the league. If such an impression has been created its only because of the fact that things are moving at a very fast pace as we had a lot of aspects to cover before the inaugural match tomorrow."

Answering sponsor related queries, Modi snubbed aside statements that the Legue was in a sponsorship crunch. "We have quiet a few sponsors right now and the figure is sure to go up once the league gets into action. It is difficult for people to invest in to a product that has not been launched yet. However sponsorship has never been a problem for us," he said.

Source : http://cricket.zeenews.com/

ICL: Race against time

2007-11-29T00:40:00.000-08:00

Like sentinels at the gate, the distant Shivalik foothills stood like passive observers to the hectic activity at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium here on Wednesday. They must have seen the race against time to prepare the bed for the latest baby - the Indian Cricket League (ICL) - which will arrive on India's cricket firmament in just a day's time.

Gangs of workers, television crew, ground staff, ICL top brass and all those who are part of the show had anxiety written on their faces, just like expectant parents in hospital corridors. Yet, there was that certain smugness in their demeanour that comes from defying the diktat of the Big Brother.

The ground on which 20 Twenty-20 ICL games will be played is still bumpy in a few places; patches of bald earth peeped through the carpet of grass in a few areas and fine dust swirled in the air when the lawn mower was brought to work. But in the midst of all this former India wicketkeeper and executive board member of ICL, Kiran More, painted a picture of quiet confidence. "By 5pm on the 30th evening everything will be in place. If not, then you can go ahead and criticise us for failing to deliver. But that won't happen. Even the dust will settle and the ground will be in perfect condition for cricket," More said.

Right through the day six teams had sessions in the two nets and at the ground. The last to come were the Mumbai Champs, led by the legendary Brian Lara. After a quick inspection of the wicket and the ground they went for regular practice under the eyes of coach Sandeep Patil.

The arrival of Lara must have been a huge relief for the men behind this idea, especially after the gossip mills adding grist to the talk of the West Indian jumping ship in light of BCCI's unabashed courting of the genius for their proposed IPL. "I used to have a daily laugh with him over the phone regarding all the speculation. I knew he would be coming as I was sure he would be honouring his contract," said Himanshu Modi, project head of ICL.

Before Lara & Co, Kolkata Tigers sweated it out for a couple of hours. All attention, and naturally so, was on South African Lance Klusener, whose erstwhile teammate, Gary Kirsten, is likely to be appointed Team India's coach. When asked about the development, the all-rounder said it is perhaps the biggest challenge in the career of the former South African opener. "It's a big responsibility as he will be coaching one of the biggest teams in world cricket. There will be pressure on him," he said.

But the hard hitting cricketer was more keen to talk about the task at hand. "I think ICL is a great idea. For one it gives a very good platform to young unknown talent to show their wares on the big stage. I think we are seeing the evolution of cricket here," Klusener said.

ICL is not just about the simple game of bat and ball; the promoters want to make it a complete entertainment package with Bollywood star appeal. Big ticket silver screen performers like, Kareena Kapoor, Yana Gupta, Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar will light up the stadium at the inaugural function.

Also, the 'rebels' will use the opportunity to show the political blessing for their venture. "Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and railways minister Lalu Prasad Yadav will also attend the function," Modi said.
So, let's wait for the first day, first show for the fun, games and even bigger games to begin.

Source : http://cricket.indiatimes.com/

ICL will be a big gain for Indian cricket-Inzamam ul Haq

2007-11-29T00:37:00.000-08:00

The Indian Cricket League is the kind of tournament that will benefit everybody. Particularly, it will be a big gain for Indian cricket. It will be a great opportunity for the young cricketers to learn by playing alongside international players. It will be a unique experience for them, which would hold them in good stead for the future. They will get to know what big-game pressure is all about, and how to keep their calm in such situations.

I didn't join the ICL for money. I liked the concept, and also the noble motive of the organisers, which I think will only be beneficial both for the players and the game. There are many talented players all around, but not all get the right kind of opportunities. This tournament will give them the perfect exposure, besides getting them good money for their efforts.

I really can't fathom the reason why this is called a 'rebel' tournament. I sincerely feel such efforts should be encouraged by the cricket boards, not threatened. It's short-sightedness on their part. For, such tournaments will only help in creating a bigger talent pool, and that should be a welcome thing for any cricket board, be it the Pakistan Cricket Board or the BCCI.

I will be leading the Hyderabad Heroes, and believe me, it has been an enriching experience for me over the last few days. There is so much talent in this side. They have so much enthusiasm and are willing to work extra to reach their goals. I have been particularly impressed by Ambati Rayudu and Anirudh Singh. They both are class players.

This is only the first year, and I am really optimistic about the future. The arrangements have been fantastic, and God willing, we should have a great tournament. We will gradually see more and more players coming in, and more people participation. I can't wait for the event to start. I pray it lives up to the expectations and serves its purpose.

ICL all set for cricketing carnival

2007-11-29T00:32:00.000-08:00

Friday, Nov 30, will be a day to remember in Indian cricket history. That’s the day when the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) gets down to the business end and hosts its first ‘carnival like’ Twenty20 cricket tournament.

Quite a few big guns are here, many of them have just retired from international cricket. They will make Chandigarh their home for the next three weeks. And what’s more, the city will also be the focus for the global cricketing community as all cricket fans will be eager to see how the ICL unfolds.

The star cast cobbled up is impressive. There is Lara, who holds some of the most well-known batting world records including a Test match score of 400 runs not out; former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and his team-mates, all-rounder Abdul Razzaq and discarded opening batsmen Taufeeq Omar and Imran Farhat; former Sri Lankan skipper Marvan Atapattu, New Zealanders Nathan Astle; Craig Macmillan and Chris Cairns, South Africans Lance Klusener, Nicky Boje and Andrew Hall; Australian Stuart Law. They will all be part of the six club teams named after six major cities.

The tournament, being organized at the Tau Devi Lal sports complex’s cricket stadium in the adjoining town of Panchkula in Haryana, 15 km from here, will test the staying power of the ICL as it takes on the mighty cash-rich Indian Cricket Board.

The Board has already labelled the ICL as a ‘rebel’ league. Its affiliated units have refused their grounds for the ICL. Players and sponsors were dissuaded from associating with the rebels.

The six participating teams comprise Delhi Jets led by Marvan Atapattu, Chandigarh Lions by Chris Cairns, Hyderabad Heroes by Inzamam-ul-Haq, Chennai Superstars by Stuart Law, Kolkata Tigers by Craig Macmillan and Mumbai Champs by Brian Lara.

Besides five international stars in each team, other players will be India discards like Dinesh Mongia, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, J P Yadav and others. The teams will also have many young Indian players. There was an exodus of players from Hyderabad and Punjab.

There are nearly 30 international stars in the line up of 100 cricket players for the first tournament.

The first 20-overs-a-side match will be between hosts Chandigarh Lions and Delhi Jets Friday.

Matches will be played on 13 days in the 17-day tournament. On weekends, there will be two matches. Most matches are in the afternoon and evenings.

The stadium at Panchkula, leased to ICL for 10 years with full backing of the Haryana government, was still being given finishing touches Wednesday even as the players descended at the venue for some practice. New stands have been erected, brand new floodlights are in place and the pavilion and media centre are being readied for the first big event by the ICL.

ICL’s chief executive Ashish Kaul told IANS that his organisation does not need either the Indian Board’s recognition or their money. “We will put up a good show here and will do it even better next time.”

To back its claim, the Zee television network - a company of the ICL promoter Essel group - has taken an unprecedented decision to show 30 minutes of every match live on 25 of its channels during the tournament. The complete live transmission of all T-20 matches will be done on Zee Sports channel.

The Essel Group, which announced ICL April this year, has already promised a pool of Rs. 1 billion for their league.

“The coming of ICL into cricket has meant financial security for young players. Now they need not bother about financial security while playing cricket,” former Pakistan skipper Inzamam said here.

ICL chairman Kapil Dev, an Indian cricket legend who captained India’s only world cup winning performance in 1983, says that the first ICL tournament will be full of entertainment for cricket lovers.

“It is our baby and if there are any shortcomings, we will learn from this tournament. But we are serious about cricket. It will be a carnival out there,” Kapil said.