Indian Cricket League gains Momentum

ICL is said to be in talks with English County stars and in an advanced stage of negotiations with some Sri Lankan and Pakistani cricketers. The league has already roped in big ticket names like, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Brian Lara. Those from the home turf likely to get on board include, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Mongia, Rohan Gavaskar, besides a slew of international players who will not only play for the league, but will act as ambassadors for the newly formed body.

Very interesting!

Also a very interesting comparison of ICL with Bombay Pentagular in the editorial of TOI.

Wonderful developments even if only half of it is true. Have waited so long for this. Might even get excited about Indian cricket in the future. Thanks Chandan.

ICL will in all likelyhood be a flop show. Cicket stocks are down. Sponsors are not going to invest deadpan in tournaments where India stars will not be seen in action. It's a fifferent thing Subhashchandra can himself be a sponsor with his group companies like Zee TV Network and Essel Group and can also be the producer-broadcaster.

The likes of Lara, Warne, McGrath etc are probably going to swing things in empty stands as was the case in Champions Trophy involving non-India matches. Non-starrers or India flops like Gavaskar JR., Raina, Dinesh Mongia or Vinod Kambli or anyone else don't draw in the crowds. If that were so, than Ranji matches would have been full house draws. People these days don't even have time for main team's matches now, so who is going to spend time watching ICL 20-20s?

BCCI has nothing to lose sleep over yet, unless ICL actually does the unthinkable and gest spectators and huge sponsors. Getting Sponsors still isn't an issue for someone as well connected as Subhashchandra with his media partners and tie-ups. Getting viewers to watch and promote unofficial matches in an atmosphere where even official matches have lost viewership will be next to impossible.

Lets wait and watch and not get too excited yet.

ICL is not meant for full houses though. It is for television and I think it'll be a huge success on television, initially. Then the success will depend on how they take things from thereon.

ICL is already making an impression. The sponsors/TV networks (Zee / Neo) are putting the squeeeze on BCCI since they can see other options now. The success of ICL to me is to be measured by what it does to Indian Cricket at the end of the day. The revolution is under way. Obviously from ICL's perspective they would want to come out with something financially profitable for Zee which they will IMO. I reckon that atleast 10 of the top 30 Indian players will end up with ICL once the cheque book is opened and they can also sense that BCCI is being cornered meaning that some of the BCCI threats are just that.

There is a lot of Cricket action to be played outside the Cricket grounds in India shortly.

Allan Donald's take on Greg Chappell, Indian senior player attitudes etc.

here

I doubt Nimbus see other options in the ICL.

quote:

Originally posted by doremi:
I doubt Nimbus see other options in the ICL.

No they don't. ICL is exclusively Zee's but sponsors see ICL as another option. What ICL potentially does is to give a chip for Nimbus Star Sports etc. to bargain pricing with BCCI. Surely BCCI cannot alienate any more networks.

BCCI working committee to meet on June 12

Among other things the Working Committee is expected to ratify the decision taken by the Coach Selection Committee on June 4 at Bangalore though BCCI chief administrative officer Prof Ratnakar Shetty said the agenda for the meeting has not yet been fixed.

This would be the first meeting of the Working Committee since it last met in Mumbai in April to review the dismal Indian performance in the World Cup.

Oh, so can BCCI tell us what decisions that were taken in the April meeting, have been followed in these two months, apart from scrapping the central contract of players and putting a cap on their endorsements, therby attempting to clip their wings?

Or hang on! Has even that decision been put to practice fully?

Contracts to be discussed on June 11

of course they would spend a few lakhs (crores?) on 5-star accomodation, food, drinks, allowances, travel, etc

what more do you want them to do?

quote:

Originally posted by The One:
of course they would spend a few lakhs (crores?) on 5-star accomodation, food, drinks, allowances, travel, etc

what more do you want them to do?

Look pretty in front of the camera?

From what I have seen of the BCCI nothing can make them look presentable. Most of them could only pass off for Bihari politicans of the yester years, at best.

Hear that Kapil Dev is getting the boot from BCCI for his involvement with ICL. Expected response. Will only intensify the turf war and drag BCCI further on to a slippery slope.

Trouble for ICL??

ICL runs into copyright bouncer

No big deal. Just a hiccup with the naming.

Yuvraj Singh summoned by the court.

Perhaps she criticised on the fitness or may be just a good old cat fight

Thanks Sharad Pawar for playing the politician to the hilt. Making populist announcements after the WC debacle and biding time till people moved on and putting the promises back in th closet like so many of your pre-election promises. So in the end since your election we have no CEO, no trasnparency, no paid professional selectors, no BCCI website amd nothing about improving cricket quality and infrastructure save increasing and organizing more one dayers to make more money.

Post WC disaster, there is still no change in Ranji and domestic cricket structure, no sign of more India under-19 and India 'A' tours, no sign of venues being made sporting, no permanent cooaching staff for junior teams, no cut down on meaningless matches, no schedule that will let seniors play domestic games or prepare for overseas tours better, no media managers, no craxckdown on selfish seniors, and now that the people have moved on, the cap on excessive player endorsements announced to play to the gallery is also all set to be scrapped.

Trust a bloody politician of making moves to project that things are being donw only so nothing gets done in the end. Thanks Indian Cricket for the wonderful memories. But it looks like then utter ruin is just going to set in much sooner than expected since I don't see Pawar relinquishing control for a long time in the future now.

After all the clamour for getting ex-cricketers to get involved in the administration, we end up with big shots like Gavaskar, Shastri and Vengasarkar who seem to be working to get results on the opposite side and only adding further to the murkier backdoor games instead of helping clean things up. The recent team selections and the ridiculous game of coach selection only seems to sugegst that ex-players are only in it for power and self. What can the fans hope for then in the end?

Even a smaller board like Sri Lanka organizes more 'A' tours and has a coaching and training staff for junior teams in place. So what is preventing the BCCI on doing the same. And whyd espite seniors flopping consistantly is there no action taken to prevent the lethargy crept in? Why isn't a sports psychologist hired to look into motivation issues of such players?

Ford declines and BCCI is back to the drawing board.

Meanwhile the senior mafia who piled on the numbers in BD are now focussing on things that really matter. One of them pitches in on the last day of the fitness/coaching camp. The rest have other excuses. However when it comes to the really important stuff ie. the contact / sponsorship negotiations with BCCI they have all turned up and are making their pitch.

Wonderful stuff !

Meant contract above not contact.

And for those who were wondering about "the Crocodile's soft belly being cut open and the rotten guts spilling out after the WC". This is it guys.

quote:

Originally posted by Josh C:
And for those who were wondering about "the Crocodile's soft belly being cut open and the rotten guts spilling out after the WC". This is it guys.

I think I can also live with being called a sadist, fair weather friend and a negative thinking person, too friend. If there is a power failure and I see darkness all around, I merely say it is dark. Switching on an inverter or a generator and pretending there is no darkness is no solution.

I have finally learnt not to take such comments too seriously and ignore them. Better some folks learn the value of their abusive words when things come to a pass in reality.

Just ignore those kind of calls meant to drerogate you. People making up those are learning the truth the hard way. That should be enough for you buddy.

You and me are willing to take the blindfolds of our eyes and stare hard at the possibilities that may possibily manifest. We should continue doing that and not mind people who may think so otherwise.

Now we can expect the same of everything in England. We can expect to see Sehwag back as an opener despite having done nothing to merit a place in the test side, Sachin's overseas form escaping questions, Dhoni in as a keeper over Karthick and Bhajji back in again over Powar till the s h i t hits the fan before it is too long. Lets see, now that the BCCI is arrogantly smug that things have become 'normal.'

Another greedy, outdated, big ego wrecking Indian Cricket.

Not sunny days anymore

Another BCCI pearler.

No coach and now no admin or media manager for the UK tour.

Here