Whitney admitted that he was an aggressive bowler and had toned down a lot after hanging his boots from the sport. He gives viewers of the ICL more reasons to get glued to their television sets and it is almost impossible to imagine the telecast in the absence of his presence.
What can be done in order to improve ICL in future?
Thursday, December 27, 2007
DIARY
Whitney admitted that he was an aggressive bowler and had toned down a lot after hanging his boots from the sport. He gives viewers of the ICL more reasons to get glued to their television sets and it is almost impossible to imagine the telecast in the absence of his presence.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Nights at the circus
Subhash Chandra, the head of the Zee group, the league's backers, and Kapil Dev declared the inaugural edition a success as they unveiled plans for the future, but their smiling faces hid uncertainty. For the moment the matter of whether the public would recognise the ICL had been dispelled, but one question remains: did those people throng to the ground to witness a sporting spectacle, or was it the other delights on offer that sucked them in?
The verdict from Panchkula has been no different to those from other parts of the world when it comes to the carnival atmosphere of Twenty20. "Entertainment" was the most popular response if you asked young and old on Sunday for the reason for their attendance at the final. For his part, Kapil has no problems with that. "Sport to me is entertainment and I'll let the public decide what is good for them," he said. Then, in what seemed like an aside, but was delivered in seriousness, he added, "If the crowd would like horse-jumping or a dog show, we'll get them."
Of course, definitions of entertainment vary. For die-hard cricket fans the sight of Chris Cairns blasting sixes over the stands was a dream come true. For others it was the glitter, the dancing girls, the music. Young girls, not quite impressed with the ICL's line-up of players, came in to watch the final nevertheless, to experience something different. For them it was all about the festive spirit.
Shrieks, whistles and horns swept the stadium every time a performer stepped on to the stage. Tanushree Dutta, a former Miss India, now a Bollywood starlet, had the crowd's eyeballs glued to the big screen and stage during the final. On the preceding days, Bollywood beauties Kareena Kapoor, Malaika Arora Khan, and Yana Gupta, and popular singers Kailash Kher and Sukhwinder had performed before completely full to near-vacant stands.
If anything can grapple with the might of cricket in India, it is Bollywood. No wonder, then, that some in the BCCI took umbrage recently at Shahrukh Khan's turning up at Twenty20 games and ODIs, in what they saw as an attempt to promote his films using the cricket. The ICL, backed by Chandra's clout in Bollywood, brought the cast of the forthcoming Sunday - Ajay Devgan, Irrfan Khan, and Ayesha Takia - in for the final. Those three together may not have been able to match the star value of Khan, the reigning emperor of the Hindi movie industry, but Chandra understood that something was better than nothing.
The other stars who stole the show were the cheerleaders, referred to here as "dancing girls", none of them Indian. At the end of the evening, amid the Chennai Superstars' victory celebrations, one bunch of the girls happened to pass through the ground, moving to the other end. The crowd, which had been allowed inside the ring to mingle with the players, turned eagerly to the young women as they walked nervously past, in single file. Fortunately, there were bouncers on hand to see the girls across safe. The atmosphere had something of a college festival or a carnival about it.
It wasn't just the young who had been lured by the glitter and the razzmatazz. Families formed a big chunk of the crowd that braved the numbing cold to watch the Superstars put it across the Chandigarh Lions for the million-dollar prize.
Disappointingly for the organisers, though, by and large, except on the opening and closing days, the turnouts were sparse. Even if a fair number of the league games were played over weekends, and there were stars like Brian Lara, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Chris Cairns on view, the masses didn't pour in. Reportedly, most of those who did turn up were pass-holders from the Haryana Urban Development Authority, which rented the ground to the ICL, and friends and relatives of the various sponsors and organisers.
There may have been a yawning gap between what was on offer in Panchkula and the international Twenty20 experience, but those who did turn up seemed to enjoy themselves. Will they be back for another edition? Chances are, they will. As long as the entertainment is dished out, the actual cricket will not matter much. The curtains have just gone up on the ICL show.
Teams
Their captain Chris Cairns - one of the most exhilarating cricketers of the 90s will look to lead from the front and pass on his proficiency to the talented young players in the team. The Kiwi all-rounder held the record for the maximum sixes in Test cricket for a long time, which clearly indicates the extent of his capability
Former India batsman Dinesh Mongia, one of the star batsmen of the team will help his team with his familiarity of the local conditions. New Zealand batsman Hamish Marshall will look to give his team the early impetus alongside former Pakistan opener Imran Farhat. The Lions have a couple of resourceful all-rounders in their team - South African Andrew Hall and Reetinder Singh Sodhi.
Kiwi fast bowler Daryll Tuffey will spearhead the bowling attack alongside Love Ablish and Gaurav Gupta. Hall, Cairns and Sodhi are also more than capable of sharing the new ball. Former India fast bowler Balwinder Singh Sandhu, who played a vital role for the national team during the 1983 World Cup triumph, will coach the Chandigarh Lions.
Law will be ably supported by another T20 adept Aussie superstar Ian Harvey. The all-rounder was an integral component of the Australian teams which won the World Cup in 1999 and 2003. Harvey has reaped affluent success in England’s domestic T20 tournament, with both bat and ball.
The Superstars will also have in their outfit three solid left-handed batsmen in the middle order – Sri Lankan veteran Russel Arnold, former Indian batsmen Sridharan Sriram and Hemang Badani.
English wicket-keeper and Chris Read will feature as a useful lower-order batsman alongside all-rounder R Satish. Pakistan’s Shabbir Ahmed, former Indian bowler Thiru Kumaran and Jesurj will formulate the fast bowling attack.
He will be competently supported by Pakistan opener Taufiq Umar, South African veteran Dale Benkenstein and Irish batsman Niall O'Brien. The Jets will be coached by former India all-rounder and national coach Madan Lal.
Yashpal Singh and Abbas Ali, two of the most prolific run-getters in the domestic circuit will put on view their talent in a superior stage, the new face of Indian cricket, the ICL. England old hand and wicket-keeper batsman Paul Nixon will bring his Twenty20 expertise into the team and will be supported by former India all-rounder JP Yadav to strengthen the lower-middle order.
Abhishek T and Shalabh Srivastav will share the new ball and will be supported by the spin duo of Abishek Sharma and Abhinav Bali.
The Heroes will be led by Pakistan living legend Inzamam-ul-Haq and coached by former Pakistan wicket-keeper batsman Moin Khan. They will also have in their regime versatile all-rounders of the caliber of Abdul Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood. Both Pakistani players are well known for their big hitting and abilities to swing the new ball.
One of the finest outfielders of the contemporary era, Chris Harris, will add more potency to the Heroes outfit. Harris has played some match-winning knocks for New Zealand over the years and his 'dibbly dobby' seamers can never be underestimated.
Nicky Boje, a fine left-arm orthodox bowler and belligerent lower-order batsman is another crucial member of the team that will vie to capture the inaugural ICL Twenty20 championship.
Talented young batsmen Ambati Rayudu and Anirudh Singh will add more firepower to the batting. Stuart Binny, son of former India all-rounder Roger Binny, will hope that the ICL is the perfect launching pad to exhibit his skills. Kaushik Reddy and Alfred Absolam will partner with Razzaq and Mahmood to comprise of the fast bowling attack.
T20 specialist and opening batsman Darren Maddy will open the batting and will have alongside him former India opener Deep Dasgupta. The Kolkata Tigers possess one of the biggest draws of the league – 1999 World Cup hero Lance Klusener, whose abilities the cricketing fraternity is very aware of. ‘Zulu’ is capable of single handedly taking the Kolkata Tigers to sensation.
The Tigers also have in their ranks former Sri Lanka all-rounder and leg spinner Upul Chandana, former India batsman Rohan Gavaskar and talented middle-order batsman Abishek JhunJhunwala. Ireland Boyd Rankin will lead the pace attack and will be supported by Abu Nacheem, Sayed Ahmed and Sujoy Tarafder.
The Champs also have in their lineup New Zealand great Nathan Astle, who is one of the Black Caps’ most successful batsman of all-time, especially in the shorter version of the game. They also have the destructive English opening batsman Vikram Solanki and South African all-rounder Johan van der Wath in their star studded assemble.
Prolific run-scorers like Robin Morris and Dheeraj Jadhav are also an integral component of the Champs team. Jadhav has in the past come desperately close to representing the national team on a few occasions. Rakesh Patel, Anupam Sanklecha and South Africa’s Nantie Hayward will comprise of the pace battery.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
ICL CALENDER 2008
February '08 50 overs tournament for Indian Players alone
February-March '08Triangular Series:Indian Players Vs Rest of Asia Vs Rest of the World
March-April '08T20 Grand Championship8 ICL teams battle it out in stadiums around the world
September-October '08Invitational CupCricket Clubs abroad will be invited to play against the best of ICL
November-December '08ICl Indian Tournament8 ICL teams play a tournament in India
Monday, December 17, 2007
INTERVIEWS
I think we have been lucky. The weather has been chilly at night and we have had rains but luckily when there aren’t any matches. We have had a few hiccups here and there but overall it has been a very successful event so far. I think everyone has been blown away by the quality of cricket, the size of the event, the bollywood entertainment along with it, some wonderful matches, some big hitting and the standard of television production.
Are you of the belief that 20:20 is the future of the sport?
I believe that the format will definitely surpass the others. We are going to have to coach the players differently. 20:20 is attracting new spectators to the sport. It is bringing women and children into the action. The ratings have gone through the roof. Our ratings have been most impressive as well. Especially, if you throw a musical performance in the middle of two matches, like we have been doing, there is all the more reason for the spectators to thoroughly enjoy themselves.
Could you tell us a little more about the role of the talent scouts in the ICL and the plans the league has pertaining the academy?
The best time to coach children is when they are between the ages of 13 to 16. Once they go past that age, it becomes difficult to coach them. The idea is to groom the young talent and give them the best possible facilities. We want to produce the best young cricketers in the country and believe that nurturing them in the grass root level will help the cause.
Structure of ICL
STRUCTURE OF ICL
- 6 teams to start with expansion to 16 teams by the third year
- Teams to represent the entire geography of the nation
- Start with the Twenty20 format and progress to the 50 over format
- Each team would have a dedicated support staff consisting of trainers, physiotherapist, dietician and a media manager
There will initially be six teams taking part in a league format that leads up to semi finals and finals. By the third year, the ICL promises to increase to 16 teams that comprehensively represent all of India. The matches will be held in both ODI as well as 20:20 format with all the teams playing home and away.
Each team will also have first and second division sides so as to maximize talent utilization. These teams will be regularly sent to international cricket playing nations so that psychologically they are well prepared to take on the world of cricket. The ICL will be run by an Executive Board which will comprise of the top names of Indian and international cricket, and have the final say in all matters of the league and be responsible for running it.
There will also be a Rules Committee and an umpires/match referees panel made up of internationally reputed names. Each ICL team will comprise a mixture of International and Indian budding cricketers. There will also be a mentor attached to each team who will function as the coach and main motivator for the individual team. This is most likely to be an ex-Indian cricketer from that particular region. There will also be physiotherapist, trainers and dieticians attached to each team to ensure fitness regimen.
About ICL
The ICL would be run by a set of professionals with policies benchmarked against the best sports organizations globally. The executive board and other officials in ICL have a proven track record of managing sport especially cricket. Processes have been set in place to ensure transparency and high effectiveness.
The ICL is keen to invite partners to move ahead in its goal. This document provides a description of the ICL and the various commercial opportunities and benefits associated with it. ICL looks forward to your partnership in propelling India as a global cricketing and sporting power.