NEW DELHI: For all the hype around the country’s first big league of domestic cricket, Essel Group’s Indian Cricket League (ICL), it’s the ongoing India-Pakistan Test series that remains the big draw among television viewers.

A like-to-like comparison of TAM Peoplemeter’s TV ratings of the simultaneously-on ICL matches and the second India-Pakistan Test shows that the number of people watching India-Pakistan was about five times higher than those watching ICL on the opening day of the league. And the gap only widened on Day Two.

Zee officials, however, insisted that the ICL ratings are “remarkable”. Said Essel group executive V-P Ashish Kaul, “Of course, we can’t compare with an India-Pakistan match that’s the Sholay of cricket, but still our ratings are very encouraging. The ICL ratings are the highest ever for any domestic cricket ever played in the country. In the past, domestic cricket viewing has scored almost zero TRPs. We expect our ratings to triple towards the end of the tournament.”

As per data released by TAM Peoplemeter System, among the target group of four-years-plus viewers across all-India cable and satellite households, the first two days of the ICL tournament saw Zee Sports deliver a TRP of well under 1.

The first ICL match played on November 30, for example, delivered a rating of 0.32. In comparison, on the same day, the same target group delivered a rating of 1.81 on DD1 for the India-Pakistan Test match, that’s about five-and-half times more than what ICL’s opening match posted on Zee Sports. Neo Sports, set back by low connectivity, generated an average TRP of 0.87 two-and-half times more than that of ICL that day.

Essel Group’s Mr Kaul said the ICL has done well when compared to domestic cricket viewership. “What the ICL has done is narrowed the gap between international and domestic cricket viewing audiences,” he said. Citing examples of domestic tournaments such as Challenger Cup and Ranji Super League which, Mr Kaul said, typically average ratings at least 30-40% lower than ICL.

On December 1, which was the second day of the India-Pakistan Test, DD1 posted a TRP of 2.04, with Neo Sports putting up 0.94 on the board. In stark contrast, the two ICL matches played on the same day posted ratings as low as 0.09 and 0.22 on Zee Sports.

Having connectivity of only about half that of overall cable & household households, Zee Sports is also not available on direct-to-home (DTH) platform Tata Sky which has a subscriber base of about 1.5 million.

Essel Group’s decision to telecast the first 30 minutes of the matches across the Zee bouquet too doesn’t seem to have done resulted in higher ratings. On both days, TRPs on Zee channels such as Zee Business, Zee Café, Zee News, Zee Music and regional Zee channels were negligible.

Zee Business and Zee Café delivered zero ratings on the second day of the tournament. ICL matches on flagship channel Zee TV, on both the first two days, also posted ratings of under 1.

Meanwhile, Zee group said that having sold ICL’s international broadcast rights to three global distributors, Astro PPV, Derana and Gateway, ICL’s showing would only get better. “Zee Sports connectivity has improved significantly over the past one month,” Mr Kaul said.

Craig Macmillan led from the front and blasted an unbeaten 31-ball blitzkrieg of 58 to guide Kolkata Tigers to a four-wicket win over Delhi Jets in the Indian Cricket League Twenty20 match in Panchkula on Saturday.

The win also kept alive the Kolkata outfit’s hopes of making it to the semifinals.

Though McMillan set the stadium alight with his splendid strokeplay — hitting five fours and four sixes in his entertaining knock — teammate Lance Klusener was adjudged Man of the Match for his 3-16 and run-a-ball 27.

Chasing a target of 150, Macmillan and Klusener took charge when the chips were down with the team reeling at 62 for five.

Requiring 52 runs in the last five overs, Macmillan snatched the match away from the Jets when he scored 24, including three sixes, of an Abbas Ali over. They weaved a partnership of 85 runs before Klusener got out at 27.

In the end, the Tigers reached the target with seven balls to spare. They now have four points from three matches.

Barring Deep Dasgupta (32), the top order of the Tigers including opener Darren Maddy (4), SG Das (1) and Rohan Gavaskar (1) failed to click but they still went on to win.

Earlier, Klusener took three wickets giving away just 16 runs, scalping the dangerous-looking Moneesh Mishra, who scored brilliant 61 of just 46 balls that had three fours and as many sixes in it.

Electing to bat first, Delhi Jets lost opener Taufeeq Umar (6) early and barring Moneesh and skipper Marvan Atapattu (36), their batting did not live upto the expectation and they managed 149 for seven in 20 overs.

CHANDIGARH: Tejinder Pal ‘TP’ Singh was among the probables for the 2007 World Cup. His next appearance on a cricket field was at the Indian Cricket League here.

In a short span, he had taken the decision to give up his dream of representing the country and placed his faith in a competition that assured him playing opportunities, if not an India cap.

The case of TP is a sad reflection on the state of affairs in Indian cricket. He did not lose out for want of talent. He had the potential since he was making his presence felt by playing for Railways, a team that has struggled for recognition.

“It was a hard decision but I am so happy I took it. I knew for sure that the ICL would give me a platform to show my talent. My dream was always to compete in the company of international cricketers and the ICL has given me that opportunity,” said TP, who was contacted by former Test stumpers Kiran More and Bharat Reddy to sign up.

Highest run-getter

TP was the highest run-getter for India ‘A’ when it toured Australia for a four-nation series involving the development squads. India ‘A’ won the series and TP aggregated 430 runs.

“I was motivated to play for the country but I had to struggle for recognition despite performing,” said the all-rounder, whose electrifying fielding has been the talk of the ICL.

It was the desire of recognition that drove G. Vignesh, a promising seamer from Chennai, to give up a secure job and take the plunge.

Having made his debut for Tamil Nadu in 2003-04, he had played only eight first-class matches. Frustration had grown and so had anger at being denied. His family backed him and Vignesh chose to sign up with the ICL.

“I came to ICL for better exposure. I know here I would get to play more matches if I perform than I would have got with Tamil Nadu. I wanted to learn from the foreign greats. I wanted to interact with professional trainers. I am happy I have succeeded to a large extent,” said the soft-spoken Vignesh.

Learning process

It has been a pleasant learning process for the Tamil Nadu cricketer. “I have learnt the importance of staying together as a team and how to smile in tough times. How to set team’s goals and not individual marks. Discipline and focus have been the greatest gains for us from watching the foreign players from close,” Vignesh added.

Former Test batsman and India under-19 coach Pravin Amre would rave about an Assam youngster, Abu Nacheem. “Quality medium-pacer,” was how Amre rated Nacheem. But the young fast bowler, after seven tours with the India under-19 team, grew disillusioned with the system.

“Opportunities were hard to come despite honest efforts. Maybe I needed to perform better (at under-19) but I needed a stage to show my talent, to show what I am made of. The ICL has given me that. I am playing with some international players and learning. And I have no regrets,” said Nacheem.

As Kapil Dev observed the other day, “We are concentrating on providing facilities and a secure future to those who believe they had the talent and were not given the breaks. The ICL is about giving opportunities.”

Chasing a modest target of 125, Chandigarh Lions surrendered meekly handing a 43-run win victory to Kolkata Tigers in the fifth match of the Indian Cricket League’s Twenty20 tournament in Panchkula on Sunday night.

The Lions collapsed like a pack of cards and were bundled out for 81 in 17.3 overs.

They kept losing wickets at regular intervals, with their top order batsmen, including Hamish Marshall (7), Sarabjit Singh (8), Chetan Sharma (0) and skipper former New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns (7) failing to make an impact.

Englishman Darren Maddy wrecked the Lions’ innings by claiming four scalps, including that of opener Imran Farhat (23) and was declared Man of the Match. The Tigers also showed some brilliance in the field effecting three run outs.

Electing to bat first, the Tigers were bowled out for 124 in 19.3 overs. Openers Maddy (19) and Lance Klusener (12) did not make much of an impact while Abhishek Jhunjhuwala (11) and SG Das (0) also did not have luck going their way.

Tigers’ skipper Craig Mcmillan was looking in good form but was run out by some exceptional fielding by TP Singh. Rajesh Sharma took three wickets for the Lions while the team’s Kiwi import Daryl Tuffey took two.

Both teams have two points each from the two matches they have played so far.

Score card:

Kolkata Tigers:
Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-42, 3-42, 4-50, 5-82, 6-83, 7-108, 8-110, 9-115, 10-124

Bowling:  A Hall 4-0-37-1, D Tuffey 4-1-8-2, A Uniyal 4-0-16-0, RS Sodhi 1-0-5-0, Rajesh Sharma 3.3-0-23-3, TP Singh 3-0-22-1

Chandigarh Lions:
Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-38, 3-39, 4-51, 5-63, 6-65,7-70, 8-73, 9-81, 10-81

Bowling: M Hayward 3-0-14-1, Eklak Ahmid 4-0-26-1, M Diwakar 2-0-7-0, L Klusener 4-0-18-1, D Maddy 2.3-0-6-4, U Chandana 2-0-8-0

Paymasters of the breakaway Indian Cricket League say they expect to run at a loss for the first two years of their initial three-year £48 million innovation, but are bullish when asked if they will pull the plug should the project fail.

The ICL, which began on Friday, features a number of county players among the six teams, including Chris Read, Paul Nixon, Darren Maddy and Vikram Solanki.

Yesterday, in two matches at Panchkula, Maddy scored just eight as Kolkata Tigers lost to Chennai Superstars by six runs, while captain Brian Lara made a golden duck and Solanki only five as Mumbai Champs lost to Hyderabad Heroes. The tournament is not yet rocking cricket as Kerry Packer’s World Series did in the Seventies, but it is causing a stir.

“I would not call it a ‘loss’, it’s an investment,” said Himanshu Modi, business head of the ICL for parent company Essel Group. “Efforts are fully behind it to make sure it works and I don’t see a reason why it cannot work, in one shape or form, even if we have to change course.”

Plans are already afoot for a second ICL in March as well as extending to eight teams and building grounds and infrastructure in all participating cities.

The Essel Group, who conceived the ICL after their Zee network failed to land the broadcast rights for India’s home matches, have signed 85 Indian players, 30 internationals, fitness trainers and a world-class production crew, not to mention ground leasing and building costs.

Against an aggressive rival in the shape of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, who have turned the global cricket establishment against ICL and banned participating Indian players from domestic cricket for three years, ICL is surviving.

The BCCI have attempted to undermine ICL with their own, grander Indian Premier League to be played over six weeks from mid-April. Modi believes this to be unworkable because of the international cricket schedule.

Modi, a namesake of his BCCI adversary Lalit Modi, has been with Essel for eight years after taking a Masters degree in finance at Strathclyde University.

“The ICL is here forever - why only three years?” said Kapil Dev, the figurehead of the tournament. “We don’t want to spoil a youngster’s life by giving them a job for three years and after that say, ‘Goodbye’.”