Kapil interacts with Chennai Superstars

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

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

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

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

Chennai Superstars wins inaugural edition of ICL 50s!

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

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

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/