CRICKET: New Indian 'Rebel' League

[ZIDANE]

It has been in the pipeline for quite a while but everything has started to be finalised now and they are beginning to unveil the various 'big name stars' they said they would get.

Pakistan trio Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf and Abdul Razzaq head a list of stars joining the rebel Indian league.

Former South Africa players, Lance Klusener and Nicky Boje, Indian batsman Dinesh Mongia and Pakistan opener Imran Farhat have have also signed contracts.

Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka will ban participants from their national teams.

Inzamam, 37, quit the Test captaincy abd one-day internationals after the World Cup but had been expected to continue playing as a batsman.

He and his countrymen join former West Indies captain Brian Lara in becoming high-profile participants in the rebel league, which will initially feature Twenty20 matches played over two months over the next three years.

Australian duo Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne have also been linked with this year's competition, which begins in October. The ICL paraded 44 Indian first-class cricketers at Monday's media conference.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/other_international/pakistan/6955180.stm

It seems they have taken many cricketer's from the main Indian league and got a few international stars to join in. Quite a pull even if they are either retired/ending their career's and on the fringes of their respective national team.

Admittedly, I don't know much about the cricket leagues there but hasn't this all come about from media & TV problems? Do you think this is a good thing and agree with it all or will there be problems stemming from this?

 

[Desert Eagle]

There is so much money in cricket in the sub-continent thatsomething like this was bound to happen. Why should the national cricket boards be the only ones toprofit off the huge demand. It will get interesting if current stars in those teams decide to join the league.

 

[Melbourne Red]

I've no doubt that there will soon be an ever-increasing trickle of quality Test cricketers who end their careers prematurely to cash in on this circus, but that's the least of our worries.

If this stuff is successful, it'll carry on where ODI cricket left-off by further shortening the cricket-watching public's attention spans and continuing to undermine Test cricket.

If nothing else, it'll contribute to the inevitable mainstreamisation of 20/20 cricket.

Or it could be a complete fecking flop.

 

[ZIDANE]

There is so much money in cricket in the sub-continent thatsomething like this was bound to happen. Why should the national cricket boards be the only ones toprofit off the huge demand. It will get interesting if current stars in those teams decide to join the league.

Yes I think the whole financial issues are much of the reason it is happening and the reported sums that are being handed out in wages has increased compared to that of the previous league.

The majority of the players seem to be either retired or their future prospects in international cricket not looking so good. However, there is one big exception to me in that M.Yousuf has signed up, to me he is still a current star. I think they will attract more and more as the league goes on, especially if they are handing out the money rumoured.

I have never really thought of the prospect of talented foreigners in these leagues, I've always thought the English county system was the only one that did this.

I've no doubt that there will soon be an ever-increasing trickle of quality Test cricketers who end their careers prematurely to cash in on this circus, but that's the least of our worries.

If this stuff is successful, it'll carry on where ODI cricket left-off by further shortening the cricket-watching public's attention spans and continuing to undermine Test cricket.

If nothing else, it'll contribute to the inevitable mainstreamisation of 20/20 cricket.

Or it could be a complete fecking flop.

This could be so, the last two Ashes apart nobody really seems enthused about a test series anymore. We are already going to have the Twenty20 World Cup in the next month or so.

 

[Desert Eagle]

This game has just started

Jayaditya Gupta

August 20, 2007



The Sharad Pawar-led BCCI has some tough decisions ahead of it © AFP
After more than four months of acting coy, the Indian Cricket League (ICL) has made as bold a statement as possible, parading the 48 Indian cricketers and naming the six overseas players who will form the backbone of its inaugural season. It is as much a statement of intent as a challenge to the Indian board, with which it has been shadow-boxing since the gauntlet was first thrown in April.

The matter is now out in the open; the ICL is an entity the BCCI - nor, indeed, the ICC, which is yet to take a clear stand - cannot wish away. It is faced with a situation it must deal with, and swiftly. It must size up the pros and cons of its current hard line with one eye on the longer term, something it is not always adept at doing. Conventional wisdom says it will not shift from that stand yet this may be the time for some unconventional thinking.

At stake is not just the future of 48 Indian cricketers, though that is weighty enough; an entire domestic season could be held hostage to the simmering feud. Four top Ranji sides - Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Hyderabad - have each lost at least half a dozen players, some of whom have the potential to go beyond domestic cricket. More will join the new league, because it still needs another 40-odd players to make up the numbers. If all these players are subsequently unable to play domestic cricket in India, the effect could be crippling.

And that will be the BCCI's greatest challenge: Playing out its role as the custodian of all Indian cricket and ignoring its more natural instinct to protect a smaller piece of turf, precisely the attitude that has given the ICL enough fertile ground to sow the seeds of secession.

If you want one reason why the ICL exists today, here it is: The BCCI is a monopolistic institution that has not modernised and has, till very recently, focused its attentions on international cricket. The public was obsessed with the identity of stars who would or wouldn't, had or hadn't signed up with the league. However, not a thought was spared for those who keep the wheels of Indian cricket moving - the journeymen first-class players, the umpires, the scorers, the faceless people who perform thankless tasks so that, every season, a Karthik or a Sreesanth or a Chawla comes along.

There is no evidence at hand that the ICL will address the problems of these people. It is, after all, a stated commercial venture. But it has entered a vacuum created by the board's inability - unwillingness, even - to see cricket in terms of a sport to be nurtured and see it instead as a cash cow to be milked. This fight, stripped of all ideological posturing, may be about TV ratings and the advertising revenue they bring in but the ICL is likely to tap into the feelings of insecurity and neglect among those who live in the shadows, feelings that prompted the likes of Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, 24, one of the architects of Bengal's road to the Ranji final last season, to sign up and sign away his India cap.

All this invests in the ICL a greater responsibility to safeguard the future of those who have, as Kapil Dev emotionally put it, had the courage to take their own decisions. If the BCCI remains truculent and slaps the ban it has threatened, the ICL must ensure that the players - not exactly the cream of India but honest practitioners of the game - are not left in limbo. In other words, the Zee group, the ICL's parent company, must not pull the rug from under its feet if the whole venture stops making business sense.

Much of that, in turn, will depend on the quality of cricket the ICL will offer, and the jury is out on that. Suffice to say that few of the players named today are Twenty20 experts; most have made their name in longer versions of the game and some, like Inzamam-ul Haq, are patently unsuited to the whirlwind pace of cricket's newest avatar. The problem can be partially offset, though, by smart packaging, for which the presence on board of Tony Greig and Dean Jones will come in handy.

Yet if the ICL has to establish its credibility - and at the moment the meter reading is set to zero - it can only do so with credible cricket. In many ways the easy bit is over. It is one thing to sign up players, quite another to motivate them when they joined for the money. What will they play for: Pride? Nationality? Regional affiliation?

Today was a day when Indian cricket could have celebrated the emergence, in keeping with trends in other spheres, of a money-spinning league promising more opportunities for its players. Instead there is concern over how it will impact the game in India. The problem is largely of the BCCI's own making; so, too, can be the solution.

 

[ZIDANE]

Well I skimmed through that, for now, and it seems look like things are a bit of a mess at the moment. The ICC will need to look at this for sure, at the moment they have split nearly 50 players from the domestic season and made their own league.

What is also interesting with this breakaway league is the fact that anybody involved is forced out of their respective places in the international scene.

It looks like the Pakistan players will not play for their country again with the coach coming out appealing to M.Yousuf to reverse his decision. There is also another instance where the chairmen of India's national cricket academy has been sacked due to his involvement with the proposed league.

A cricket board spokesman said: "We have expelled Kapil Dev and all players and officials who are with the ICL."

Where will this leave the Indian players hoping to reach the international team? Even if they keep in the official domestic league their may well be a performance drop with a mix of the talented players in both leagues.

 

[Sultan]

Why should the national cricket boards be the only ones toprofit off the huge demand. It will get interesting if current stars in those teams decide to join the league.

At least some of the money is reinvested back into cricket by the national boards - I don't see breakaway leagues doing same, as these are basically business deals, mostly sponsored by TV companies and industry.

Personally I hope common sense prevails for the sake of "proper cricket" and circus cricket does not take off.

 

[Spoony]

At least some of the money is reinvested back into cricket by the national boards - I don't see breakaway leagues doing same, as these are basically business deals, mostly sponsored by TV companies and industry.

Personally I hope common sense prevails for the sake of "proper cricket" and circus cricket does not take off.

i agree. Can't the ICC do anything about it?

 

[Sultan]

i agree. Can't the ICC do anything about it?

I can't see what they can do really...

Who are the cricket stadiums owned by in India, anybody?

 

[crappycraperson]

Not really.

They are offering loads of money. That's why the likes of Lara, Warne, Astle and others have taken notice. Subcontinental boards can bar their players but overseas player can't considering they can't offer the same amount of money to their players.
And this concept is not that different to club football. If this league does take off, eventually in 5-6 years they will have to develop their own academies.

The major drawback is further basterdisation of the game in the form of 20-20

 

[Salvation]

The only way this can work is if it is done in the 20/20 format. I have a feeling this will fall on its backside. As crappy mentioned it is a mock up (a poor one) of a football league but cricket is a much more tedious sport than football and it could well lead to the saturation of the game in the sub-continent, especially if it clashes with matches held alongside the sub-continent's national teams eventually drawing a steady decline in the market

 

[ZIDANE]

Miandad urges Pakistan board to recognise ICL
August 23, 2007

Javed Miandad wants the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to recognise the Indian Cricket League (ICL) before it escalates into the magnitude of Kerry Packer's parallel World Series 30 years ago. "I don't think this policy of banning players is going to work practically," Miandad was quoted as saying by the Indian Express. "Since the ICL is not something which the governments have objected to, I think any player can go to court and challenge any ban on him to play in and for his country.

"The International Cricket Council and its member boards need to take the ICL seriously. Because it has the potential like the Kerry Packer series to snowball into something big."

Miandad, who played in the Packer series and appeared in 124 Tests for Pakistan, said the ICL could serve as a flashpoint between international players and the ICC and its member boards. "For sometime now the players have been complaining of excessive cricket and not enough wages. The ICL offers them an alternative."

Meanwhile, in India, former captains, Ajit Wadekar and Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, have criticised the Indian board for banning players participating in the ICL.

"The board has been harsh on the ICL," Wadekar told Reuters. "The ICL's intention seems to be to give a boost to domestic cricket and provide a platform for players who do not get a chance to play for India." He also felt that withdrawing the pensions of former players who have aligned with the ICL was unfair as the players had earned the benefits for services they rendered earlier.

"I don't think you can ban players as long as they fulfil their commitments to the board," Pataudi too told Reuters. "If there is a clash of commitments, then of course it is a different matter entirely."

Full Article - Cricinfo

 

[ZIDANE]

A counter measure?

BCCI plans international Twenty20 league
August 24, 2007

The Board of Control for Cricket in India is on the verge of forming a two-tier cricket league that will involve domestic leagues in four countries and an international league. It's believed to be along the lines of professional football, with clubs being able to hire players from wherever they like to play in a Twenty20 format. Cricket Australia is believed to be involved in the process and the International Management Group (IMG), the event manager, is putting it all together.

IMG is set to meet with officials of four cricket boards - India, Australia, South Africa and England - next week in Singapore, to finalise the details. According to the deal, details of which first appeared in Hindustan Times, there will be domestic leagues in these countries, where the cricket economy can support such a structure. Players from other countries, including Pakistan and Sri Lanka, will be able to take part in any of these leagues.

Further, the top sides from each of the four leagues, likely to be called Professional Cricket Leagues, will then take part in a Champions Cricket League, similar to the Champions League in football.

If this plan does work, it would be a severe blow to the fledgling Indian Cricket League, which has targeted the same sector - format, players, audience - but has the disadvantage of not being recognised by the BCCI, with whom it is effectively in hostile competition.

Lalit Modi, from the BCCI, and James Sutherland, from Cricket Australia, are believed to be spearheading this venture, and have been planning it for several months.

Officials from IMG recently met Sharad Pawar, the Indian board president, and made a presentation. But it was not put before the working committee of the board - which is the body that will make a final decision on the matter - to ensure it stayed under wraps till the deal was through.

A Cricket Australia spokesperson, when contacted, did not deny the possibility of such a league but refused to confirm any developments. "All I can tell you is that Cricket Australia is not in a position to make a comment at this stage. We are regularly approached by all sorts of people who have exciting ideas. We're always keen to look at these ideas and see what's possible," he said. "Until we have ink on a contract we don't believe in making public statements. On this issue it would be more appropriate if you spoke to the BCCI."

It has been learned, however, that plans for this league have been on for a while now, and this is not a reaction to the formation and launch of the Indian Cricket League. The idea is that each of the countries staging the Professional Cricket League will hold auctions for team franchises. Corporates can buy a team and then staff it with 15-20 players, although it is expected that there will be a cap on the limit a player can be bought or sold for. What this will mean is that there will be more employment for cricketers, an opportunity for domestic cricketers to earn more. This will also result in the creation of related jobs - coaches, administration, scorers and other peripheral roles associated with the running of any tournament.

Cricinfo

 

[ZIDANE]

Update: ICC's stance

ICC will not back Indian league

The International Cricket Council will not back the breakaway Indian Cricket League until it is approved by the country's cricket administration.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India, which runs the sport in India, does not support the new league.

And it has threatened to ban any player signing up for the Twenty20 tournament from representing the national team.

"BCCI is the only body recognised by the ICC to run official cricket in India," said ICC chief Malcolm Speed.

"We have not got any application from the ICL for recognition yet, but we already have a five-step process to decide on such issues."

The ICC needs to know if the series is being run for the development of the game, who are the players involved and if they are contracted to their parent bodies, when and where the series is to be played and if anti-corruption measures have been put in place.

"In the last stage we ask applicants if the member board of the country had approved it. If the answer is no, we would not give it our recognition," added Speed.

The breakaway league, bankrolled by media baron Subhash Chandra, plans to hold Twenty20 tournaments between city teams for the next three years.

Former Test captains Brian Lara of the West Indies and Inzamam-ul-Haq of Pakistan are among the star names the ICL says have signed up for the series so far.

No member of the Indian team touring England has been linked with the ICL, which plans to hold the inaugural event later this year, but 44 Indian first-class cricketers are reported to have signed up.

The ICL has filed a legal challenge against the official body in a Delhi court, saying the BCCI was a private body and could not have monopoly over running cricket in India.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/other_international/india/6966699.stm