Okay, I have just done a quick web search on the ICL, and it seems that, as pointed out by Seamer, the ICL
is a Twenty-20 competition, being organised and led by Dean Jones working for Chandra. So apologies to Seamer and humble-pie for me. However, I still think there is not much to be alarmed about. In
Jones' own words: Quote:
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Originally Posted by Cricinfo [Jones] said, the tournament would be another option for international players who could not get an English county contract [...] Jones said the group was not out to compete with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). "We won't be playing matches at the same time they will be," Jones said. "We'll carefully schedule our matches and the times we are playing".
"We're not trying to be a competitor to the BCCI - far from it. If India saw a couple of young lads playing really well in our tournament and they needed them for an Indian A tour or even the India team, we'd welcome the BCCI with open arms and say 'you can have him'. That's what it's all about." |
Seems harmless enough to me. Jones, who alongwith Kapil Dev, Kiran More and Tony Greig will be running this show, further
clarified:
Quote:
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He said the new competition will be particularly attractive to overseas players no longer able to get a county contract in England because of greater restrictions on non-English players in the domestic competition.
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And what about Chandra's own motivation, apart from seeing a good business opportunity and making some money?
Here is the man behing the ICL:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Subhash Chandra, Zee's owner "It troubles me that the country with more than a billion cricket fans and a million cricket enthusiasts fairs so poorly at the international stage. A new approach must be taken for the sports to grow and prosper in the years ahead" |
Seems he is still interested in international cricket - and why wouldn't he be? Cricket support in India revolves around the Indian team; a smart businessman can use that support and start a regional competition, but only a fantasist would believe that he could replace the support that Team India has with some regional domestic competition. And Chandra's no fantasist, or a fool.
In his words:
Quote:
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Chandra said that his Indian Cricket League will be complementary to the official competitions run by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) [...] The BCCI will be free to draw from his league's talent pool, he [Chandra] said. The league will begin with matches in the shorter Twenty20 format and then move to a one-day format. The effort is reminiscent of Australian media baron Kerry Packer's rebel World Cricket Series, which he launched in 1977 after being denied the rights to televise cricket matches in his country.
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