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June 7, 2009
Back in the fold
Posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago in Indian Cricket League
The ICL has lost a huge number of players after the BCCI announced it's decision to award amnesty to those who has signed up with the league. Though they took up the offer, many of the players appreciate the experience and the money they got from the ICL. The Indian Express spoke to some of them:
Avinash Yadav’s family lived on the frugal earnings of his father, who grazed cattle and sold milk for a living. But with an ICL cheque of about Rs 70 lakh, the Yadavs now have their own house in Benaras and a gleaming SX4 to give company to the cows and buffaloes in the courtyard. “I’m from a lower-middle class family. They don’t know what the BCCI is or what the ICL means. All they know is that because of cricket our lives have become more comfortable,” says the left-arm spinner, who didn’t go beyond playing a few Ranji Trophy games because of Murali Kartik’s presence in the Central Zone side.
March 19, 2009
BCCI policing the game
Posted on 03/19/2009 in Indian Cricket League
The BCCI has forced New Zealand Cricket's hand in keeping out ICL players from being associated with India's tour to the country. The Indian Express editorial remarks that the BCCI has always been brash in showing its clout. But its hyper-obsession with punishing anyone associated with the ICL indicates its tunnel vision on developing the game.
The New Zealand cricket press has reacted by calling BCCI officials “travelling goons”. Rude words those, but look what the BCCI’s doing by enforcing such degrees of separation from the ICL. It is actually ordering cricketers to be put out of work — not just from the field but also places as removed as television studios.
February 13, 2009
BCCI must give ICL players a second chance
Posted on 02/13/2009 in Indian Cricket League
Harsha Bhogle, writing in the Indian Express, calls upon the BCCI to revoke its ban on ICL players for the larger interest of Indian cricket, particularly after the league, hit by recession and the absence of Pakistan players, was cancelled after it was initially scheduled to be held in March.
This is the time for the IPL and BCCI to show how large their heart is; to throw a lifeline and say “come on, young men, come back and play cricket”. If the ICL decides that it is getting unviable to continue, will these cricketers never play cricket again? Wouldn’t that be inhuman? Other players in the past have romanced with apartheid regimes, no less, and returned.
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he establishment has to take care of them in the larger interest of Cricket in India. Children take their own decisions but parents can never shut their door on them forever. This is the time for the victor to be magnanimous, to offer a hand of support, to allow them to feel the excitement and earn a living.
October 18, 2008
Egos the main obstacle for IPL, ICL harmony
Posted on 10/18/2008 in Indian Cricket League
Adam Parore, in the New Zealand Herald, writes of what he believes is a shift in public perception about the two leagues after the failure of talks between the ICL and BCCI. The "official" IPL are the bad boys of world cricket, whereas the ICL is no threat to anybody, he writes. Parore adds that international cricket is no longer an incentive for New Zealand players participating in the ICL, as they can live productive, enjoyable lives without playing for their country.
Lalit Modi, the IPL boss, seems to have a philosophy of walking quietly, but carrying a big stick. He'll tell you one thing, then turn round and bang you on the head.
That said, once the egos have been put aside, there's no reason why the two competitions can't live together harmoniously.
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(Shane) Bond is making about $1.5 million a year for four months' work at a standard where, if he's at 80 per cent of his peak, he's doing a really good job for his team. It's reasonably low stress from a performance perspective, he's making heaps of money, and can play with his kids eight months a year. Why would you not want to do that?
October 11, 2008
Cricket's other Mody
Posted on 10/11/2008 in Indian Cricket League
Himanshu Mody, the ICL's operational head, in an interview with Kadambari Murali in the Hindustan Times, says the league has plans to expand even if negotiations with the ICC fail.
He says they aren't panicking over what will happen if things don't work out next week either. “We have no problem. We have plans to increase our cricketing days, a strategy that involves more teams from more countries, there have been players, state units and player associations that have shown interest — after all, the IPL only serves a limited number of foreign players.”
So is a parallel world cricket body on the cards? There's another serious pause and a final, interesting answer. "People are willing to join. If forced to, but only if forced to, we'll spread our wings."
October 1, 2008
The ICL fights on
Posted on 10/01/2008 in Indian Cricket League
Rohit Mahajan, in Outlook, writes the ICL has defied predictions of an early demise and, has instead, expanded into a potent force that could seriously affect the dynamics of world cricket.
Conventional wisdom suggested its demise was imminent; the mighty BCCI, after all, had decreed that the rebel league must die, banning players who joined it and threatening and tempting the rest with its massive funds.
Yet the ICL showed it's very much alive and kicking when it named the ninth team in its league—the Dhaka Warriors, comprising 13 top Bangladesh players. The reduction of ban on Sri Lankan players was still more significant, showing active dissent outside India. These developments vindicated the Essel Group, owner of the ICL, which was mocked for spending lavishly in a battle it was bound to lose to the mighty BCCI.
September 29, 2008
What next for the ICL?
Posted on 09/29/2008 in Indian Cricket League
S.Martin, in Dreamcricket.com, draws some comparisons between the Packer circus and the ICL, and discusses some of the preparations for the league’s upcoming season
Another leaf that Packer's World Series Cricket overturned after its second season was that it bridged the differences between 'banned' players and their boards. Each realized that they were interdependent on one another. Players returned to donning their national colours and ended up retiring as some of the most talented and famous cricketers of their day. They may have played their hearts out at the World Series but at the end of the day, it's their national contributions that make them what they are today.
Ditto with the ICL - Will Sri Lanka's stand set the ball rolling for other boards to follow? What will the talks between Subhash Chandra and David Morgan reveal? Above all, will the players get what they rightfully deserve? A chance to be treated as equals and rightfully vie for a spot in their coveted 'national teams'.
September 28, 2008
'It's a horrible thing for anyone to go through'
Posted on 09/28/2008 in Indian Cricket League
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Lou Vincent's experience with depression is now behind him
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Lou Vincent, the former New Zealand batsman, in an interview with Gulf News, speaks about his experience with depression and how he overcame it.
For me, it was a combination of events both on and off the field. I guess it's hereditary as well. It took time to realise something wasn't right and I finally realised it was time to quit cricket and move on. Every now and then we come across people in our lives who are suffering from some sort of stress. It's a horrible thing for anyone to go through. I'm on top of it at the moment ... It's important to write down some goals. The world we live in has so many things thrown at us and I think, if you've got goals, you can overcome that.
September 24, 2008
Bloodaxe insists 'it was not my show'
Posted on 09/24/2008 in English cricket
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Mark Ramprakash doing what he does best ... scoring runs
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| Mark Ramprakash uses his column in the Daily Telegraph to speak honestly about Surrey’s dire season … and gets his excuses in early.
We lost Mark Butcher early on and I was asked to stand in as captain. Right from the very beginning I said I was happy to carry out the orders on the field but I was conscious that I was a stand-in captain and that it was not my show. Policy and selection was still down to the coach and Mark Butcher.
He also touches on rumours that he might be heading to India this winter.
Times have changed and the winter now provides other opportunities in the form of Twenty20 cricket in India. I was contacted by the Indian Cricket League at one point and asked if I would be interested in joining an England team they were thinking of setting up.
I’ve heard nothing since and I have not received any offers from the Indian Premier League. There is a lot of competition for places because every overseas cricketer now wants to play in the IPL and would relish the challenge of being involved. But at the moment a trip to Disneyland is my only overseas posting this winter.
September 21, 2008
No logic in witch-hunt against ICL
Posted on 09/21/2008 in Indian Cricket League
Neither logic nor common sense have anything to do with BCCI’s campaign against ICL, writes Suveen K Sinha in the Business Standard. He says Sri Lanka Cricket's recent step to lift the bans on ICL players would have come as a jolt to the Indian board.
In the process, they [Sri Lanka Cricket] have also stood up for logic and common sense, neither of which has anything to do with BCCI’s campaign against ICL. The Indian board’s Indian Premier League and ICL are played on exactly the same format. ICL was the first to offer dozens of cricketers, who had reconciled to the humdrum and wilderness of domestic cricket, the opportunity to earn a decent livelihood and be part of a properly televised event. The fact that many of them took the opportunity is no reason to ban them. After all, BCCI had not offered them any better alternative.
BCCI’s lack of opposition to the Stanford 20/20 jamboree, which promises to make individual players richer by up to a million dollars, betrays the deep-seated lack of clarity in the Indian board. Stanford is an oil billionaire who has spotted opportunity in 20/20 cricket; Subhash Chandra, who is behind ICL, made his money in media and packaging. What are the criteria on the basis of which ICL is anathema and Stanford is not? Both ICL and Stanford’s tournament, just as BCCI’s own IPL, are about the game of cricket.
In the DNA, Ayaz Memon says Arjuna Ranatunga has fired a salvo that could gather momentum in the days to come, and more national boards could reconsider their stance on ICL players.
Deep impact on standard and stature
Posted on 09/21/2008 in Indian Cricket League
The loss of 13 Bangladesh players to the ICL might seem a small crack in the cricket world given the country's struggles to field a competitive side, but Dylan Cleaver in New Zealand's Herald on Sunday feels its impact is closer to that of a fault-line suddenly opening up in the middle of Lord's.
The IPL, concocted by the BCCI to eliminate the ICL, has done a magnificent job of lining the pockets of the privileged few but has done even more to deepen the division between the contracted haves and the have nots.
September 15, 2008
It's county cricket v ICL
Posted on 09/15/2008 in Indian Cricket League
With most players on seven-month contracts, Steve James in the Telegraph believes the counties must ditch their efforts to control players all year round. He believes the introduction of year-long contracts might not be enough to hold back cricketers from the lure of tournaments like the unofficial ICL.
The simple reason the counties want their players on twelve-month contracts is control. They do not want them signing up for so-called 'rebel' tournaments like the Indian Cricket League. They're not really sure what they're going to do with them all winter, but they want them only doing things of which they approve. They want them on extended contracts, but they do not want to pay them much more.
ICL welcomes Bangladesh players
Posted on 09/15/2008 in Indian Cricket League
Six cricketers from Bangladesh have joined the Indian Cricket League (ICL) and I think there is a message in it for the cricketing world, says Sandeep Patil in his column on cricketnext.com.
At the ICL we have always maintained that the intention has been to help needy cricketers, those cricketers who have not been given a proper stage for them to showcase their talent. We have never tried to prove any point to the International Cricket Council or the Board of Control for Cricket in India but have only extended a helping hand to cricketers in need.
Patil, who coaches the Mumbai Champs in the ICL, said it's high time the ICC and the BCCI took notice of it.
We lauded the Indian Premier League when it did well in its inaugural edition. After all, the IPL was also cricket but we have never sought any reactions from the IPL or the BCCI or the ICC. History, however, will document the fact that the IPL was born out of the immensely successful ICL. The initiative of launching this form of entertainment in cricket will always be credited to the ICL.
Also, do read our new ICL blog: Alternate Reality - Hemang Badani's diary.
April 9, 2008
Emburey on the ICL World Series
Posted on 04/09/2008 in Indian Cricket League
Patrick Kidd chats with John Emburey, one of the ICL coaches, about "the ICL World Series...a triangular tournament between the pick of the players from the eight ICL franchises".
"The lack of practice facilities has been the big problem," Emburey added. "The BCCI have made it very difficult for us to play at anything other than municipal grounds and the practice facilities have been shared between the teams, but hopefully this will improve."
The ICL staged its first Twenty20 tournament before Christmas, taking some of the wind out of the IPL, which is backed by the Indian board. Emburey said that crowds for the matches, played at only three grounds, have been "mixed but excellent at the games in Hyderabad with up to 20,000 watching". The former England off spinner added that the TV viewing figures for the ICL, helped by the partnership between Zee and Ten Sports, have been impressive. "There have been more people watching the ICL on TV than were watching the India v South Africa Test series," he said.
Read the full story at The Times' Line and Length.
March 14, 2008
Badshahs give ICL something to 'jeer' about
Posted on 03/14/2008 in Indian Cricket League
Sitting at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula, Rahut Bhatia notices that there's a distinct buzz around the small ground. But why, after two days of cricket bereft of any emotional attachment, is the crowd noisier?
Read on at Rediff.com to find out.
March 13, 2008
'ICL is misunderstood'
Posted on 03/13/2008 in Indian Cricket League
Brian Lara hit a patch of poor form during the inaugural ICL tournament in 2007 and is missing the current tournament because of an injured wrist. Anand Vasu, of the Hindustan Times, spoke to Lara on the ICL, players having more options than just playing for their country, and India v Australia.
Drawing away from the monopoly the boards had over their players? If you ask a New Zealand cricketer what his financial terms are with his country you'll realise that the IPL and ICL are good avenues. Stanford was not under the WICB in its first year but since it has come under the official umbrella. Let's see what happens in India with the leagues. Equally let's see what the boards do in countries like New Zealand. I've played Test matches in New Zealand where there are two men and a dog watching while next door there are 60,000 people watching a Rugby game. So the NZC have to get their act together and make sure they keep their cricketers. You can't blame a young man for going out there and seeking to make a living for himself and his family.
March 6, 2008
Emburey: ICL and IPL can co-exist
Posted on 03/06/2008 in Indian Premier League
John Emburey, the former England and Middlesex offspinner, has been appointed coach by one of the ICL franchises. Patrick Kidd finds out more in today's Times:
Emburey has signed a three-year contract with the Ahmedabad Rockets, who will be captained by Damien Martyn, the former Australia batsman, and include Murray Goodwin, the Sussex and Zimbabwe batsman, Wavell Hinds, of Derbyshire and West Indies, and Jason Gillespie, the former Australia fast bowler, who is due to play for Glamorgan.
Speaking to The Times from Chandigarh yesterday, Emburey said that he was relying on his core of senior players to lift the inexperienced young Indians in his team and added that there was no reason why the league could not coexist with the official Indian Premier League (IPL), which is backed by the Indian board.
“The competition between the two will be good for the game,” Emburey said. “People have been surprised how much financial impact the ICL can have. There are lots of companies out there interested in sponsoring it.”
March 2, 2008
No shame! Bond with the rebels
Posted on 03/02/2008 in Indian Cricket League
Shane Bond, who joined the Indian Cricket League, doesn't know why he is being treated like a rebel. Read Anand Vasu's interview with Bond in the Hindustan Times.
"The disappointing thing is that the NZC initially said I could come and play in the ICL if it did not clash with international cricket," said Bond. "Then they wanted me to renege on the contract which was very good. I acted on good faith and now I'm being called a rebel and being banned."
December 14, 2007
From obscurity to stardom
Posted on 12/14/2007 in Indian Cricket League
In the Hindu Vijay Lokapally writes on a promising seamer from Bijni, a sleepy village in Bongaigaon in Assam.
Youngest among three children, having lost his father at three, [Sujay] Tarafdar symbolises the story of a young sportsman from remote corners, striving for recognition and opportunity despite possessing talent. His love for cricket grew from reading exploits of his heroes in newspapers and sometimes watching them on television.
November 30, 2007
Officially or unofficially, Twenty20 is now huge
Posted on 11/30/2007 in Indian Cricket League
Writing in The Times, Shane Warne flags that Twenty20 will hit India, the game’s largest market, in a big way over the months ahead. The ICL starts today, although Warne has joined the official IPL – “there are lots of capital letters in those sentences” he admits - but Pandora’s Box has been opened, and Warne does not approve of the possible action against those playing in the ICL.
Both leagues give wonderful opportunities to professional cricketers and I think it is right that players should have the freedom to play in whichever of them they wish to. Although the ICL is yet to be given official blessing, I hope that players are not penalised or banned from other competitions.
Cricketers have to earn a living and the bills do not stop coming through the letterbox at the end of a season. It is wrong that honest men … with good reputations may be punished for simply accepting very good offers to ply their trade. The ICL has been described as a breakaway and a rebel league, yet comparisons to World Series Cricket in the late-Seventies do not stand up.
It will be interesting to see how the ICL works, whether the crowds give their support and how the facilities stand up. But, however popular it proves, I cannot imagine a big split in the game.
November 15, 2007
ICL launch falls flat
Posted on 11/15/2007 in Indian Cricket League
Simon Briggs writing in The Daily Telegraph reports that the launch of the Indian Cricket League was not the slick affair that had been expected and it raised concerns about what is to come.
The competence of the ICL was immediately put in doubt as their first statement left off the names of the six team captains - Law, Brian Lara, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Craig McMillan, Chris Cairns and Marvan Atapattu.
As the ICL have held up Lara and Inzamam as their star attractions since the project was first unveiled, this embarrassing omission suggested that the tournament, due to start on Nov 30 at a ground near Chandigarh in northern India, is unlikely to proceed without a few hitches.
November 14, 2007
Rebel league a real threat to ICC
Posted on 11/14/2007 in Indian Cricket League
John Inverdale, writing in The Daily Telegraph, says that the Indian Cricket League has restored the word “rebel” to the cricket world after a 30-year absence. And he thinks that the ICL might have a chance of succeeding.
Bit by bit, one or two well-known players are signing up for the league, and while, as things stand, it doesn't have the international game quaking in its boots, at the same time it is firing a warning shot across the International Cricket Council's bows, and they ignore it at their peril.
Inverdale makes the point that other wealthy individuals will be looking on with more than passing interest and the game’s bosses cannot rest on their laurels.
This after all, is a sport that contrived, despite all the business acumen that has come into cricket in recent years, to organise possibly the least impressive World Cup ever staged. It's almost impossible to imagine - actually it is impossible to imagine - a football World Cup bombing in Brazil, or a Rugby World Cup failing in New Zealand. Well the ICC took cricket's equivalent to the West Indies and made it a laughing stock.
The ICL could turn out to be a complete catastrophe, with the rug pulled from under its feet by a unified front from all the main Test-playing countries. It could equally, in a cricket-mad nation, be setting the standard for taking the sport to a new level.
November 12, 2007
Indian rebels look doomed to failure
Posted on 11/12/2007 in Indian Cricket League
Scyld Berry writing in The Daily Telegraph is of the opinion that the Indian Cricket League is set to fail, and much of the blame lies with Kapil Dev whose “great sense of timing has deserted him”.
Around 50 cricketers are milling around Chennai this weekend wondering what, if anything, is going to happen. ICL's signings include some great has-beens … but the majority are young Indian players whom nobody has heard of, and who have signed away their careers in official cricket after being promised 20 to 40 lakh rupees (£25,000-£50,000) for a three-year contract.
They have got one ground to play on, at Panchkula outside Chandigarh. What the teams are, and when they will play, has not yet been displayed on the website of the Indian Cricket League. Only one thing is certain: the terrible timing of this breakaway tournament.
October 23, 2007
India's cash cow waits to be milked
Posted on 10/23/2007 in Indian Cricket League
The nascent Indian Cricket League, and the opportunities presented by the Twenty20 format, have attracted the attentions of the authoritative international affairs magazine, The Economist, which explores how the game could be changed for good by the shortest version yet played.
The short format is more spectacular. It encourages batsmen to hit the ball out of the ground for a six, which spectators love. At the halfway mark, the Twenty20 tournament in South Africa averaged eight sixes per three-hour game. By comparison, a series of five test-matches between England and Australia in 2005, rated the most exciting in a 130-year rivalry, averaged less than two sixes a day.
September 2, 2007
Not a game watched by fools
Posted on 09/02/2007 in Indian Cricket League
Anand Vasu, writing in Tehelka, an Indian weekly magazine, isn't very optimistic about the Indian Cricket League's future. He thinks creating artificial rivalries isn't going to keep the fans hooked.
Randomly slotting international cricketers into teams does not work, because cricket fans have always been loyal to their teams. Whether it is India vs Pakistan, Lancashire vs Yorkshire, Delhi vs Bombay, Dadar Union vs CCI, even Greater Kailash II Main Road vs I Main Road, there’s something at stake for the fan. When you create artificial rivalries you kill this sense of identity.
He also questions the quality of talent the ICL has managed to attract so far.
It may seem as if the ICL has drawn a lot of cricketers away from the mainstream but they have little to show for quality. They’ve assembled a motley crew of havebeens, might-have-beens and wannabes. Yet, Kapil will have us believe the nation will sit up and watch this lot ... Just who will watch Shalabh Srivastava bowl to Shashank Nag when Ricky Ponting is hooking Zaheer Khan or Yuvraj Singh is clobbering Mohammad Asif?
August 23, 2007
The odds on BCCI and ICL
Posted on 08/23/2007 in Indian Cricket League
The BCCI-ICL face-off continues and who will emerge the winner among two is a favourite question with comment and leader writers.
Aminah Sheikh works out the numbers in the Business Standard
The advantage for ICL players is that the amount in the contract is a guaranteed sum, as opposed to BCCI fees, which require that players be in the team for the match in question.
Therefore, factors like being dropped from the team and injuries could impact the fees of players affiliated to the BCCI. The prize money, however, at Rs 4.2 crore is the same for both sides, though the BCCI revised it yesterday.
The editorial in the Hindu draws a parallel between the Packer affair and ICL.
The Australian media mogul felt spurned by the Australian cricket administrators when he bid for international broadcast rights. The current Indian cricket administration has inherited the problem from its predecessor, which refused Zee’s offer, sowing the seeds of the ICL.
Meanwhile in the Daily Times MU Haq, a life member of the Pakistan board and a former president of the Karachi Cricket Association, wonders why the PCB imposed life bans on its players who joined the ICL.
In a Packer-like situation, the BCCI and the ICL will in all probability kiss and make up sooner or later and lifting of bans on Indian players will be a part of the deal. What would be the status of Pakistan players then?
The ban on players is all the more unjustified as the ICL playing programme does not interfere with Pakistan’s domestic cricket schedule and contracted players will be released for national duty in the event of a clash in dates. So why the fuss. If our players are allowed to play county and league cricket in the UK, why the embargo on the ICL?
Also read Osman Samiuddin's piece on Pakistan and the fallout of the ICl signings on cricinfo.com
July 27, 2007
Talking about a revolution
Posted on 07/27/2007 in Indian Cricket League
While the bosses at the Indian Cricket League (ICL) reiterate that it isn't a breakaway league, majority of the world's cricketers who do not have faith in the ICC to administer the game effectively may just pounce at the first opportunity that comes their way. Neil Manthorp compares this scenario with that of a tabloid sub-editor in Australia who masterminded a cunning method to break himself away from his organisation, despite accepting a couple of pay rises.
He had tried resigning before but, being a gentle sort of fellow who hated confrontation, he had been easily dissuaded by the sports editor. He had even been given a couple of pay rises but that, of course, wasn't the point. There was only one way he was ever going to leave. He had to get himself sacked.
Read the full piece in Supercricket.
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