A New season of “Bravehearts”. Taking stock at the beginning of it.

There may have been more than thousand experiments that would have made a common man go “WOW” and then were dead within no time. But there are some real good ones that see the light of the day and then go on to make a difference in the life of thousands. Indian Cricket League, which started as an experiment, or as an alternative to the mainstream cricket in India, has now made it long enough to see the light of a second season. For once this is a proof enough for the popularity of this so called rebel league.

 

Since the last time a ball was bowled in the ICL, there have been a lot of changes in the cricket fraternity in general and people’s attitude towards ICL in particular. T20 cricket has taken over from other forms of cricket so much so that the poor ODI format has suffered like anything. A lot of national teams have practically let their players represent T20 leagues than appear for national duty. This says a lot about what the global fraternity thinks of the game’s latest format. ICL which until a quarter back was deemed only for players who do not want to play anything apart from ICL (because they won’t be allowed to by the ICC), is now in quite a better stage.

 

The Arjuna Ranatunga led BCCSL has now changed its stance towards the ICL players and will allow them to play in their domestic league. Though this applies only to a handful of Sri Lankan’s playing in the ICL, it actually is as important as Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon. And that this decision of BCCSL may not have pleased their counterparts in the BCCI, it certainly comes as a huge boost for the team led by the Haryana Hurricane, our own Kapil paaji.

 

With IPL having paved the path for marketing trends in T20 cricket, I am sure ICL will not be far behind. With more prize money this year and three cricket grounds with them, the league is sure to go places, or rather more places than it went last time around.

 

And yes, as I write this awaiting the first ball of season two, one thing is for sure. Ambati Rayudu and Ibrahim Khaleel are now known to ten times the number people that knew them before the first ball of the last season was bowled. Indeed a great achievement for someone who dared to go against the BCCI. As the fresh season begins, I sincerely hope good things happen to the ICL and my favourite team Hyderabad Heroes repeats history to lend a smile to the faces of the locals who have been dejected by the much hyped “Deccan Chargers”.

 

The final stats from ICL and IPL

Monday, 2nd June 2008 (it was supposed to be 1^st June but the whole thing ended close to morning), saw the end of an amazingly well fought match between the Rajasthan Royals and the Chennai Superkings marking the end of Indian Premier League. The whole of India must have been glued to their TV sets to watch the epic end. Since then I have read hoards of articles and heard unending talk shows as to what IPL meant to India and its role in blossoming India’s future in cricket. Most of them forget one thing. There would not have been any IPL if the ICL was not born. I personally think IPL owes a lot, and more to Mr. Chandra.

 

There have been comparisons between the two leagues and the IPL has won hands down in all. Be it the TRP’s, or revenues for the teams, crowd support, star appeal or just the way the tournament has been conducted. The IPL has overtaken the ICL in all those departments. But if you are someone who likes to know how cricket is benefited overall, read on.

 

Thanks to the maximum 4 rule of IPL, the Indian players got a chance to play in the tourney. Unknown faces from across the country showcased their skills on a very large platform. There were in all 86 Indian players who were given an opportunity to be a part of the teams. These players had never represented the country. I am not counting the ones who had. Of these 86 players a huge bunch of which I don’t have a count of only warmed the benches. But, there were 12 players who got the opportunity and also made it count. The players who changed their destinies with IPL were: Ravindra Jadeja, Manpreet Gony, Swapnil Asnodkar, Yusuf Pathan, Abhishek Nayar, Amit Mishra, Siddharth Trivedi, Shikhar Dhawan, Yo Mahesh, Ashok Dinda, Dhaval Kulkarni and Pragyan Ojha.

 

Of these only Pragyan Ohja was the lone player who got selected in the Indian team. Yes, Yousuf did get selected, but that was on the cards even before the IPL, and also that he had represented the country in T20 World Cup. So for me the numbers that are important are 86, 12 and 1, Number of players who were in, the ones who performed and the one who made it to the national side in that order.

 

The ICL on the other hand was a neglected baby compared to the IPL. But then they were not far behind in the numbers that matter. Yes, they had less Ad revenues, leave alone ads they had less revenues overall. But the ICL offered a platform to 79 young cricketers of this country who would have not seen a crowd more than 500 in their life had it not been for the ICL. They all performed out of their skins to ensure they were noticed. The ultimate reward was a blue uniform for 16 of them. Though the uniform did not carry the BCCI logo, it would certainly have been a matter of great pride for the following 16: Rajagopal Satish, Abbas Ali, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Abu Nacheem, Ali Murtaza, Ambati Rayudu, Ganapathi Vignesh, Ibrahim Khaleel, Love Ablish, Ravi Raj Patil, Rohan Gavaskar, Stuart Binny, Syed Mohammed, T. Sudhindra, TP. Singh and V. Sarvanan. The only player in the team who had previously known how it feels like in the blue uniform was Thiru Kumaran.

 

Whatever happens next. Whether IPL becomes the only form of cricket, killing Test and Onedayers, or whether everyone in the world has their own league. The facts are in front of you. I am someone who watches and admires Test cricket and I will continue to do so. But if these formats can produce 5 players every year who can bat for 4 hours without getting out, and 5 players who can bowl 20 overs in a day with steadiness, rest assured I will be the happiest cricket fan on the planet.

 

ICL Vs IPL… What stands out??

 

Beloved son against the neglected (rebel!) one…this sounds like an apt description of the two newest babies of the grand old religion, which about half the world follows. Cricket has always been a game that has been very receptive to change though not immediately. The T20 version of cricket suddenly saw a burst of leagues in various parts of the world to counter arguably the most popular game that the world have ever seen… Soccer.

 

While the Alan Stanford backed Stanford T20 has grasped attention of the cricket crazy islands south of America, the ICL and IPL have born much to the amusement of the a billion people back home. The Stanford league has definitely helped the revival of cricket in the West Indies. The dying state of cricket stadiums with empty stands during test matches seems long gone. With black bats and white balls flying around the ground in front of huge screens, it is for sure that the T20 is here to stay.

 

Though the lucky facet of the windies is that the authorities that run the show have backed the league. The same though has not been the case in India. While Mr. Chandra has done a great job ensuring the much-ignored lot in India, the Ranji Players, gets what they deserve, it has not been taken well by the ever bullying, powerful BCCI. The birth of IPL to counter the ICL has been enough evidence of the same. But who will stand out eventually in the eyes of the common man? This is the question, which can be debated for hours together.

 

For once the ICL has more brand credibility than the IPL in my eyes. With two T20 tourneys, one 50 over tourney under their belt and the ICL World T20 awaiting its first ball as I write this, the ICL has proved that even when the strongest of them are against you, with will to succeed and honesty towards the game, you can achieve the impossible.

 

The last T20 tourney held in Panchkula and Hyderabad has drawn more than decent crowds and people have connected to the ever-popular never hyped cricketers from the domestic foray of cricket. If the scenes at the Lal Bahadur Shashtri Stadium when the Heroes won against the Badshahs are anything to go by, the ICL has arrived in India and no Modi-Pawar-Shah trio can uproot it.

 

Technically speaking, there has been a tremendous improvement in the standard of the game since ICL was launched. While the inexperience of the organizers was there to be seen in the first tournament the cricket was also of a mediocre quality. But come the second tournament everything just changed drastically. The grounds and the pitches looked far better. The quality of cricket being played also looked improved. So much so that the All Test Star Studded Lahore team was comprehensively beaten 2-0 in the finals by a pack of rebel youngsters from Hyderabad who would certainly have found it hard to stamp authority of any sorts on the Indian cricket scene had it not been for the ICL. Not even in his wildest dreams would Alfred ‘Freddie’ Absolom have imagined picking up 7 wickets in four overs to technically create a world record in the latest form of cricket. And for someone like Ibraheem Khaleel, it was just a dream to wear India colors. The dream has come true with him being selected in the ICL-India side. Though not backed the BCCI and the ICC, the Indian colors will still be a matter of great pride for the gloveman from Hyderabad.

 

Where does this leave the IPL though? Much has been talked, printed and telecasted about this favorite child of the BCCI even before it is born. Huge money has been spun over even before the first ball is bowled. The teams have franchisees with all their glaz-ma-traaz making me think that cricket can very well take a back seat. With decent number of stars in the IPL known for their off the field heroics, the tourney looks more like a great bollywood tamasha than a cricket tournament. No… I am not anti-IPL. But somehow apart from the great adverts nothing interests me. Will I cheer for Andrew “Troublemaker” Symonds when he plays for Hyderabad??? I’d better cheer Ibraheem Khaleel.

 

The end though looks very pleasing. I think this is pure imagination but I see the Indian selection committee choosing the Indian Test Team and they are fighting among each other to take players from the ICL as if they were players from the states they belong to. I think I am sleeping but then please…. I beg you… Please don’t wake me up…. God Bless Cricket

 

IPL: Show of Brand India or Boon for Cricket??

 

The juggernaut has started rolling. Soon you would see the Hyderabadis cheering for Aussies, the Delhites Cheering for Indians and the Mumbaikars cheering for Sri Lankans. Well this is not a dream. Welcome to the latest money spinner in sports. The Indian Premier League seems to be here to stay.

 

When Subhash Chandra, the visionary behind ICL (Indian Cricket League) the breakthrough cricket, would have thought about incepting something that was anti BCCI (!) as thought about by the BCCI themselves, not even in his wildest dreams would he have seen a 19 year old Delhi lad who was learning to bowl quick against the GOOD batsmen of the world, contracted for a whopping $950000. As the telecom users thanked Reliance Infocomm in 2003 for lowering the overall market prices in spite of them not having great services themselves, the cricket fraternity of the country should felicitate Mr. Chandra for having pioneered a revolution in cricket where the money goes to its deserving creator, The Players. Though ICL itself was not an out and out success, it at least made sure that the poor Ranji Trophy player who used to earn 5000 to 10000 per match and had to struggle to keep the ends meeting after his playing days, had a scope to make enough money to support him for life.

 

Everyone would agree that there is money in cricket. And when there is an opportunity to earn and that too legally, why not take it. I mean, if someone does not take a money making opportunity we will label him a fool instantly!! So that is one way the whole ICL, IPL story sounds pleasant. The lower rung cricketers are getting opportunities to look up and choose which, 5 years down the like seemed impossible. “If you want to play cricket, don’t take any panga with the BCCI” was the mantra every coach used to teach his wards apart from the customary batting stance and the bowling action.

 

So if IPL is giving opportunity to people and paying for the same why is there a hue and cry about how it can harm the game? Well personally, as someone who is a devotee of the game, I think they are not entirely wrong.

When Kerry Packer rolled out his then infamous and now historically famous World Series, the first thing happened was the clash between the authorities of cricket and his company. While BCCI has taken due care to please the akas of the cricket world, the ICC, there will be scope for spats and clashes. The bitterness will start the day when an IPL tournament clashes with the schedule of an international tour for the contracted player. Though the player will give his country the priority, there may be instances when the whole scenario turns bad because of the non-cricketing franchisees. Yes, the boards may understand the game and so do the players, but none of the franchisees do. So after paying hefty sums to buy the teams and the players, if absenteeism hurts them in the pocket, they will for sure react to it at cricket’s loss.

 

Apart from that, there also rises the question of whether or not the people prefer to watch such a cricket. Again, that seems to be of less importance because even if the crowds don’t gather at the venues, they will for sure want to see a good 20-20 match from the comforts of their lounges without paying anything. And that sounds like music to an advertiser. TV revenues have already broken the roof and now are heading skywards. So more money in store…

 

What then happens to the poor old Ranji trophy??? Now that is where the real problem is. Why would an Ishant Sharma play for Delhi at a meagre 1 lakh when he is getting 100 times more for playing for IPL? Though both Ranji Trophy and IPL have a common parent, I am sure the treatment would be very different. And this is the long term problem. Today we may enjoy the attention of the world, become famous as cricketers and retire with large sums of money. What will happen to the next generation who have been playing the Ranji Trophy without any serious competition, because all the good domestic players have already gone to the IPL? If Lalit Modi has an answer to this, then I think IPL will stay. If not the future does not look too good for the INDIAN NATIONAL CRICKET TEAM, though it looks great for the current cricket teams.