ICL vs IPL: Clash of cricket titans
The jury is still out on whether the ICL can survive the competition, but as of now the Boses at the Essel owned Zee group are going all out to sell the ICL product.
The Essel Group’s Indian Cricket League or the ICL flaunting its big names — Brian Lara, Chris Cairns, Marvan Atapattu and Inzamam-ul-Haq are in India gearing up for the kick off on Friday the 30th of November.
Lara’s delayed arrival had raised speculation that he may be pulling out.
But the former West Indian captain says he always intended to keep his commitment even though this league is totally unofficial and does not have the backing of the ICC.
“The ICC is trying to encourage new countries like China and America to play cricket. I am disappointed it is not supporting a league where so many international stars are participating,” said Brian Lara.
The main difference between the ICL and the soon to be launched IPL or Indian Premier League is clearly the star power.
The IPL has already signed on 50 of the top current players in the world. But most cricketers believe that there will still be a place for the ICL.
It is a safe haven for recently retired players and those who are on the fringes of domestic cricket in India.
“Cricketers have been brave to defy their national boards in seeking this opportunity to play in the ICL,” said Chris Cairns.
However, the biggest difference between the official IPL and the unofficial ICL is sponsorship.
While the IPL hopes to raise a 1000 crores from TV rights, the Essel group backed ICL still does not have any sponsors. It has only got partners for drinks, uniforms and travel. But maybe that is to be expected for a new venture.
“Essel group has truckloads of money,” said Navjot Sidhu, NDTV’s cricket expert.
So, the ICL is the definite underdog, but they have promised slick coverage, great action and more importantly a platform for players to earn more money.
The BCCI Board definitely lacks creativity. Why didn’t they plan for a Domestic 20:20 season before the ICL announced it? They do know that the professionalism shown by ICL will definitely turn the attention of the indian cricket lovers away from BCCI.
Previously they announced that BCCI had banned all players in contact with ICL to play for BCCI in the future. But now they had made an offer to Brian Lara to play for IPL.
This shows that BCCI does not care about improving the cricket skills of indian youngsters. Rather they only care about maintaining their image and look greater than ICL.
Also people from BCCI said that ICL is created only with business mind and not with improving the cricketing standards. Let me ask one question to those guys. Is BCCI running only to improve the quality of cricket in India and not to earn money?
Anyway these spoofs will never prevent young cricket lovers like me to turn our attention away from ICL. We always prefer to support and encourage ICL who CAME UP FIRST with a great idea to improve the cricket quality in India.
Comment by Pio Venantius Fernando — November 29, 2007 @ 7:28 am
[…] Read entire post at Indian Cricket League - ICL […]
Pingback by The cricket knowledgebase » Blog Archive » ICL vs IPL: Clash of cricket titans — December 24, 2007 @ 2:09 pm
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Comment by uvcasez figbh — March 15, 2008 @ 11:12 am
I hate BCCI .. BCCI is acting as if they have bought Cricket and are larger than the game itself .. People have to fight against it .. political leaders and media has to play role in making the BCCI realise that it is just a private body .. which is entrusted with the duty of seeing the wellfare of cricket .. Lalit Modi is the worst guy of all ..
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Just yesterday lalit modi said akhtar can play ..even PCB had declared that akhtar can play for IPL .. now he says that akhtar cannot play .. what rubbish .. Throw him out !!
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