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.”

Cricket Fans Want More Awaiting The Launch of the Indian Cricket League Across The American Continent

Ft. Lauderdale / FL, USA – 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 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.

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’.”

Chennai Superstars defeated Kolkata Tigers by six runs in a Twenty20 match of the Indian Cricket League in Panchkula on Saturday.

Put into bat, the Superstars set a target for 141 and restricted Kolkata Tigers to 134 for seven.

The Superstars lost two quick wickets with the scoreboard reading 13. Iklak Ahmed removed Ian Harvey (3) and C Hemanth Kumar (5) before Law (33) and Arnold (38) took control and put on a 76-run stand.

R Sathish (23) and S V Sarvanan (22) scored some quick runs at the end, setting the opponents a target of 141.

The Tigers started the chase badly with Lance Klusener (0) and D L Maddy (8) falling to Shabeer Ahmed.

Shabeer, Harvey and T Kumaran took two wickets each. The Tigers, who required 19 runs in the final over, ended their innings on 134/7.

For Tigers, captain Craig Macmillan (25) and promising talent Abhishek Jhunjhuwala (30) were among the run getters.

Ahmed was declared man-of-the-match, giving away just 22 runs in four overs. The superstars earned two points from the win.