Players those should have been given a chance.......

Badrinath, joginder sharma, yousuf pathan, parthiv patel are some of the payers those should be readily given a chance to play and give them exposure to international level. Maybe send them to play County. The BCCI has got so much money, I don't understadn why they don't to anything for these players.

Now can any one tell what has happened to Ashish Nehra and Balaji. Anyones guess, they eighter lost the passion of playing cricket or they were not given the support from their respective states or the BCCI. Well Nehra one day did mention about this.

So the BCCI as to carefully plan whom they want and when and how they are going to take care of these players

Introducing Praveen Kumar ..........

I saw him first in the challenger trophy. After watching him play my bet was always on him to make in to the team. His inswingers are amazing. Once he gets his line and control over his in-swingers right he can be very deadly pacer. The first tow matches clearly showed that he is already deadly against the domestic players and in the domestic conditions. He will be very much tested if he is given a chance in the playing 11 versus Pakistan. His temperament and his head will be surely tested.

Taking it to the next level

For the last two seasons Praveen Kumar has given an impression of being someone cut out for legendary status in domestic cricket : mightily impressive but lacking that something to make it to the highest level.

He's lacked speed while bowling his canny medium-pacers, and control while hitting robustly. He has often thrown his wicket away after scoring a quick 20 and sometimes tended to look innocuous after three-four testing overs, given his limited pace. Yet over the last two seasons, he has shown enough intent, ferocity and persistence to not be ignored. He is probably the only bowler in India who consistently swings the ball both ways, something that has helped him maintain a degree of hostility at an average pace of around 125kmph. With his batting he has been a handy hitter both down the order and as a surprise opener.

In Uttar Pradesh's championship-winning season in 2005-06, when Kumar first came to prominence, he was easily the player of the year: 41 wickets and 386 runs, four five-fors, one 10-for, and three half-centuries. He was Mohammad Kaif's go-to man: whenever UP were in trouble, they could just turn to Kumar and sure enough, something would happen.

The immediate reward was a place in the last year's Challenger Series, where he bowled 19 overs for 142 runs, and fared ordinarily with the bat too. In the season that followed, although UP's performance took a plunge, Kumar managed to finish at No. 8 on the wicket-takers' list. The disappointing season was followed with a good news: a place in the India A team for a triangular series in Kenya.

Like a man in hurry, in the first match in Kenya he followed up a three-wicket haul with an unbeaten 27-ball 57. In the few matches that he played for India A, he was at times spectacular and never below consistent. A place in this year's Challenger was a well-deserved break and he responded with his tried and tested early-impact policy. The first ball of the tournament was a vicious in-dipper, which left the batsman unbalanced and on the ground, trying to escape an lbw, but leaving the stumps exposed. In the second game, he hit Munaf Patel over extra cover for four, again off the first ball. It was followed by a six later in the over, and a five-for later in the match. Not for him the gentle loosener with the ball or the cautious sighter with the bat.

It will be impossible to get the statistics, but given his propensity to take swipes at the first balls, he might end up with the most first-ball boundaries. It was a habit that first came to notice during the Ranji final two years ago. A flat wicket had set the stage for a saunter-your-way-to-a-first-innings-lead match. In a move that surprised all, Kumar walked out to open and slashed the first ball over the slips for four and although he scored only 48 - in even time - he had left the Bengal bowlers demoralised.

The aggression, the early starts and the ability to bowl long hostile spells have helped him use his limited ability and become one of the most valuable players in domestic cricket. But there is a huge leap from domestic cricket to international cricket, a gap as wide as the one between Ranadeb Bose and Mohammad Asif.

The quality of opposition he has faced so far is a long way off international standards - this season even the Challenger Trophy does not feature many India players. In domestic cricket, he has managed to bully his way through, but he is going to an arena where he is more likely to be bullied. Does he have another level that he can raise his game to? He might end up getting only a chance or two, but that is something that shouldn't worry him: he is used to explosive starts.

It’s upto Sehwag to do some killing……..

With Rahul gone Sehwag would surely be the person on whom all the eyes would be stuck upon. With his ok ok performance in the challenger trophy he showed that even though his few techniques may not be good but he has got the best timing in the world. Sehwag has been proudly become a Dad. So everyone would be really looking at this new dad and see if his new child has got him any good luck. But for now sehwag has to perform or else his end is not so far. But still it showed he has not worked on his feet movement. We know that old habits don’t change easily. But then e few months back sehwa was playing the same way. Looks like he hasn’t learned still. But he has to or ealse there are many ready to grab the opening position. It is clearly utthappa vs gambhir vs sehwag for the time being. With sachin and saurav still in the ranks they have to really pick themselves up and play out of their skin.

Sehwag has good track against paikstanis. Maybe this could have turned the tables for him. Whatever it maybe he has got perform

What can Rahul do now………

One or two years back even Saurav Gaunguly also was omitted from the team. It was speculated around the media that his time was over. And the selectors were searching for new blood. But what happened. He clearly showed the selectors his nerve and came back to the team with a bang. This really cleared one point. Perform well and you are in the team. You are not performing and you wont be there in the team even if you are a captain or a former captain. Performance is given more importance than age.

So even Rahul has got a chance to prove himself. If he still has the fire he has to play domestic matches and show the selectors something. But his inner fire is finished it will clearly show in the domestic matches. So what the selectors has done is very right. And the selectors are rightly not saying everyting to the media. But if some1 has got a cricketing mind it is clearly understable. With Rahul given a break, Sehwag has to be called in. So Rahul CHAK DE and show the selectors you’ve got the killer instinct still left in you.

What does Rahul Dravid’s omission from the team really mean……।

Rahul has been left out of the first two ODIs for Pakistan. Now Sehwag has been given a chance. Pravin kumar makes his debut. But what’s with Dravids’ case. It’s simple. Everyone knows he is not in this best form currently. There is no point in playing him with Pakistan. He is got a very poor form. He has to get it back as soon as possible. And if you ask the cricket undits the best possible way to get back your form is to play domestic cricket and show that you still are eager to perform at the international level. So what the selectors did I right. Rightly omitting Dravid from the team. So that he an give more thought on his batting and improve the areas where he is getting wrong. And once he corrects them Dravid is in again.

Now there is a lot of speculation that Dravid is being omitted because the selectors are slowly trying to get the seniors out of the team and searching for the youth. Mind you TEAM INDIA does not have a coach. If the team only has youngsters it wont be able to well for a long time without the seniors in the longer version of the match. They won the 20-20 because of the captaincy of Dhoni and the cameos that were played by everyone. But in the 50 50 format it would be difficult without Sachin, Saurav and Rahul. Sachin and saurav are the best opening pair in the world and Rahul is the best batsman at no.3. The selectors have tried all the combinations. They tried dhoni, utthappa, gambhir, karthik. But everyone failed. Because a batsman playing at that position is required to play long innings.

What should be done is to give the youngsters a place in the test squad so that they get the version of playing long innings in an innings.

Now Rahul not in this best form has given many youngsters a chance to sneak in the team. Badrinanth, Suresh Raina, parthiv patel and a quite few are in a good touch but the selectors are looking for someone who can fit in the dravids’ shoes because surely he has aged and has to retire if he continues with this form.

Shoaib malik today mentioned that omission of Dravid will be making his and his team effort easy. But what he does not know is that Rahul has got great grit and guts to make a comeback. And if he is successful in getting his touch back he would surely be very dangerous in the test matches versus Pakistan and Australia.

Sehwag replaces Dravid for first two one-dayers

Rahul Dravid and Dinesh Karthik have been left out of the Indian squad for the first two one-dayers against Pakistan. Virender Sehwag makes a comeback, as does Gautam Gambhir, who recently recovered from a groin strain, while Uttar Pradesh allrounder Praveen Kumar is the only new face. The series kicks off on November 5, with the first ODI in Guwahati.

Niranjan Shah, the BCCI sercretary, annoucing the squad and said the 15 were picked in consultation with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian captain, who couldn't be present at the selection committee meeting, which took place at Motera in Ahmedabad where the Challenger Trophy is being played.

Dravid missed out on the final one-dayer against Australia in Mumbai recently and there has been speculation about his spot being under threat. Dilip Vengsarkar, the chairman of the selection committee, said Dravid was "rested". "We decided to give him a break. He's a great player and he will be back soon." Vengsarkar insisted the squad had been only been picked for the first two ODIs, thereby clarifying that Dravid would be considered for the matches ahead.

But Vengsarkar said Dravid, whose position has become uncertain for the first time in a decade, needs to prove his form and fitness. "Fitness and fielding have become very important in the one-day game so he will have to show it playing for his state [Karnataka].

Karthik, despite his fine Test form, has struggled in his last ten one-dayers, averaging 19.33 with a highest score of 44 not out. He replaced Dravid for the final ODI against Australia in Mumbai but ended the game with a duck.

Sehwag returns to the squad after a five-month break. He cracked a fiery 75 in the Challenger Trophy match today and played a part in India's recent triumph in the ICC World Twenty20. "He has been among runs recently and even today he showed he was in good form," Vengsarkar said. The squad now has five openers, including Gambhir, taking his spot ahead of S Badrinath, who had replaced him for the final leg of the Australia series Vengsarkar did not say what position Sehwag would bat at.

Kumar has been one of the most consistent bowling allrounders in the domestic circuit in the past few years. He ended with 30 wickets in seven Ranji Trophy games last season, which placed him eighth on the run-charts, and backed it up with some handy cameos as well. "Kumar gives us an [all-round] option. He has also played a crucial role for India A recently. Badrinath was brought in for Gambhir earlier, but he'll get his chances, too," Vengsarkar said.

Kumar was picked for the allrounder's slot ahead of Joginder Sharma, who was part of India's winning team at the ICC World Twenty20. Vengsarkar said Kumar was preferred considering current form.

Squad for first two one-dayersSachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik.

Technorati Profile

Cash bonanza awaits Indian selectors

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has moved within one step of professionalising the national selection panel with its finance committee clearing a proposal to pay the selectors, so far honorary, a match fee beginning from Pakistan's tour of India in November.

Under the proposal, which is expected to be ratified by the BCCI's working committee, each of the five selectors will receive a match fee of Rs 50,000 (US$ 1262) per Test in addition to a daily allowance of Rs 15,000, taking their total earning from a Test to Rs 125,000 (US$ 3156). For one-day matches, the fee will be Rs 65,000 (US$ 1641). Niranjan Shah, the board secretary, told Cricinfo that the new system was likely to be implemented as early as next month.

Currently, the selectors, who attend Tests and one-dayers at home, are paid only a daily allowance. Only one selector accompanies the team on tours.

Reforming the selection committee, which is chosen on a zonal basis, has been a long-pending issue before the BCCI. John Wright, India's first professional coach, had singled out the selection process as one of the weakest aspects of Indian cricket.

While the zonal system is expected to stay, making the selectors professional is seen as the first step towards accountability. It remains to be seen, though, if the board will abandon its policy of nominating selectors and invite applications from suitable candidates when the terms of some of the members of the existing committee, headed by Dilip Vengsarkar, expires.

Indian selectors delay Test-captaincy decision

India's national selectors have deferred the appointment of a Test captain, which was scheduled to happen during the selection committee meeting in Ahmedabad on Saturday. The focus of the meeting will now be on the squad for the first two ODIs of the series against Pakistan beginning on November 5.

Bhupinder Singh, the North Zone selector, said that the selection panel wanted to observe Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captaincy for a while longer before taking a decision on the Test captaincy.

"We had originally decided to watch Dhoni for 12 games and it's only five games now so we will have to wait," Bhupinder told Cricinfo. He, without confirming, indicated that the announcement could happen at the next selection meeting on November 8 in Mohali, when the squad for the rest of the ODI series against Pakistan would be announced.

Dhoni, who led India to the World Twenty20 title in his first assignment as captain, was one of two chief contenders for the Test captaincy along with Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar's was also widely tipped for the job after two earlier stints during which he led India in 25 Tests.

Four questions for India's selectors

The Challenger Series may provide the Indian national selectors with an idea of the bench strength available to them, but the October 27 meeting to pick the national side for the first two one-dayers against Pakistan is likely to focus on players who aren't in Ahmedabad. Cricinfo looks at the four key questions the selectors will need to answer

Tendulkar is widely tipped for the Test captaincy, and his experience in the job may give him the edge © Getty Images

The big three
Phasing out Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid is expected to be the moot point, and the selectors need to decide what direction to take. The clamour for youth has turned louder, especially after the World Twenty20 win in South Africa, and the selectors realise that giving in will allow them to groom a young and athletic side for the future.

The most logical option seems to be to play two of the three per game, resting the third on a rotation basis, but it's a move that's unlikely to be approved unanimously. Leaving Sachin Tendulkar out may be too thorny an issue for the selectors to handle; his scintillating one-day form - he has averaged 47.55 since June this year, with eight half-centuries - also works in his favour, as does the fact that he's tipped to be offered the Test captaincy.

Sourav Ganguly, averaging 40.12, with six fifties, since June, doesn't have similar leeway but his bowling, some selectors feel, adds an extra dimension to the side. However, the one whose spot is most under threat is Dravid, who has struggled in his last ten ODIs, with an average of 8.88.

Dravid has reached double figures on just three occasions, and missed out on the final one-dayer against Australia in Mumbai, where he was replaced by Dinesh Karthik. With promising middle-order batsmen like S Badrinath and Rohit Sharma pushing for slots, the selectors, it is understood, are inclined to "rest" Dravid, for the opening two matches at least.

The Test captaincy
The other big announcement concerns the Test captaincy, though the selectors may decide to wait a bit longer. When the moment arrives it's widely expected to be a two-horse race featuring Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Tendulkar. A two-captain policy, one for Tests and the other for the shorter formats, is unprecedented in India but the chances of Tendulkar being given another shot at the job, one that he last held in 2000, look increasingly likely at the moment.

With a big home series against Pakistan and an equally important away assignment in Australia coming up, the selectors might decide to offer the reins to the most experienced hand in Indian cricket. Tendulkar's Test captaincy record, spread over two terms, is a woeful one - he has won just four of 25 Tests - but the respect he commands from the entire side, and his talismanic value, would work in his favour. The selectors have three other options in front of them - India's winning-est captain, Sourav Ganguly, legspinner Anil Kumble, and middle-order batsman VVS Laxman - but these seem to be candidates only on paper.

With Harbhajan Singh back in the frame, Powar and Chawla may not be automatic picks © AFP

Opening gambit
If Tendulkar and Ganguly keep their places, as is expected, it would be interesting to see which other opening options are considered. A few cracking cameos in the World Twenty20 gave Virender Sehwag an opening, but he faces stiff competition from his Delhi team-mate Gautam Gambhir. Sehwag was dropped from the one-day squad midway through the series against Australia but Gambhir staked a claim with a match-winning knock in the one-off Twenty20. Robin Uthappa is the other opener in the fray but his ability to adjust to the middle order, and to up the ante when the field is spread out, should win him a place in any case.

How to spin?
The England tour saw the emergence of Ramesh Powar and Piyush Chawla as India's new spin-combination but a lot has changed since. Both are fighting for spots with a couple of experienced hands, Harbhajan Singh and Murali Kartik, who have brought themselves back into the picture. Harbhajan has used the Twenty20 format to resurrect his one-day career while Kartik, varying his pace and length, turned in one fine spell after another against Australia.

Chawla, a revelation in the one-dayers in England, has recently returned from injury, but it will be surprising if the selectors recall him straightaway. Powar was India's best bowler in the ODI series against England but insipid in the first three games against Australia. He might need to do more, with both ball and fitness, to regain his berth. A few months ago the Indian spin cupboard appeared bare; suddenly, it seems, the selectors are spoilt for choice.

Words can’t hurt me anymore, says Murali

MUTTIAH Muralitharan believes his brush with the devastating Boxing Day tsunami has imbued him with a sense of focus and purpose that no level of Australian crowd jeering will disrupt.

Muralitharan had left the coastal city of Galle barely 20 minutes before the deadly wave struck in 2004. Over the ensuing years, the Sri Lankan spinner has used his star power in his homeland to attract money for the construction of 1000 homes in tsunami-affected areas, securing him a place in the hearts of his countrymen that wickets alone could never have achieved.

The experience, Muralitharan says, reinforced his priorities in life. And on the eve of his first Test tour of Australia in 12 years, Muralitharan is adamant his quest for 1000 Test wickets will not be affected by the taunts and boos of Australian spectators.

“You never know what is the next thing that will happen in life,” Muralitharan said. “In 20 minutes, anything could have happened, we could have been injured or taken back to the sea. So that’s the luck. Life goes on. Someday you might not wake up. That’s the way it is. So you keep on doing what you love.

“I am not too worried about the crowds. It will be the same as before. [Former Sri Lankan coach] Tom [Moody] told me that they only do it to try and distract you. It’s almost 13 years since I played a Test series in Australia, so I am looking forward to the challenge.”

Muralitharan is set to arrive in Australia today with 700 Test wickets to his name, just eight fewer than world-record holder Shane Warne. The Sri Lankan spinner would love nothing more than to claim the Australian’s record on this most hostile of soils, but is under no illusions as to the difficulty of the task, irrespective of the changes to the Australian batting line-up in the wake of the retirements of Justin Langer and Damien Martyn.

“They’ve got another 10 people lining up to take the spots of Langer and Martyn,” Muralitharan said. “They’ve still got the best batsman in the world in Ricky Ponting, and they’ve got [Matthew] Hayden and [Michael] Clarke. The batting line-up appears very strong.

“Still, Australia is the toughest team to beat. They are a very good side, and they are No.1 in the world. Their playing style won’t change, the attitude won’t change. Everything will be the same. You never know if I’ll make [Warne’s record] or not. Eight wickets are a lot of wickets in two Test matches.”

Meanwhile, Muralitharan said the Sri Lankans bore no ill-will towards the Australians over the farcical World Cup final earlier this year. The Sri Lankans were forced to bat in near darkness towards the end of their innings, eliminating whatever faint hope they had of claiming victory.

“It was a shame, but the thing is Australia played better than us,” Muralitharan said. “Gilly’s was one of the best innings that I have seen.

“We can’t complain, because it’s gone. They are the champions. I don’t bother about complaining, because we had a good World Cup. We were the second best team. I will endorse that, because we played much better than the others. And Australia played better than everyone. We had a chance in the final, but Gilly took it away from us.”

 Kingston: Canadian pathologist Michael Pollanen told the inquest into the death of Bob Woolmer that he couldn’t determine the cause of death of the Pakistan cricket coach who died during the World Cup in March.

Pollanen testified that Woolmer wasn’t strangled, as police initially suggested.

“If the hyoid bone [in the neck] was broken, it would be a good evidence of injury to the neck,” he said. “It was not broken in this case.”

Jamaican Government pathologist Ere Sheshiah had said Woolmer died of manual strangulation - a conclusion that rocked the cricket world as Jamaican authorities said they were treating his death as murder.

The former 58-year-old former England international was found unconscious in his room at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on March 18, a day after Pakistan made a shock exit from the cricket World Cup, losing to minnows Ireland.

Aussies need to learn nuances of T20 cricket: Ponting

Australian captain Ricky Ponting on Monday confessed that his team did not take Twenty20 cricket seriously and needed to learn the nuances of the game to lift its modest international record in the shortest format.

“I don’t think there was any need for it to be taken ultra-seriously before the World Cup. The games that were played before World Cup were almost played as exhibition-type matches — to promote the other forms of the game,” Ponting said on returning home from India.

“I think that was the way it was used by most boards around the world, but now it’s pretty clear and apparent to us that we’ll be playing a lot more. When there’s a World Cup event in any form of the game, you want to make sure you understand the game well and you play the game well,” he was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press.

“Our international record’s not great, we’ve probably only got a 50-50 win-loss record and that’s something we’re going to improve on over the next couple of years,” he added.

Ponting admitted his team was still being educated in the nuances of the game. “We probably learnt a little bit through the World Cup about the format of the game. Going there we were all pretty new to it, pretty inexperienced in Twenty20 cricket,” he said.

The Australian captain said with the Indians winning the Twenty20 World Cup and talks of star-studded Twenty20 Leagues the game was sure to get further popular in the sub-continent.

“There’s no doubt the popularity of the game in the part of the world we’ve just been is amazing. With India having won the World Cup, the game is going to be massive over there.

“There’s a fair bit of talk about other Twenty20 leagues starting in India, so there’s a fair bit happening with that form of the game,” he said.

ICL vs IPL, leagues apart

Ever since the launch of IPL last week by BCCI one wonders if the latter was just a knee jerk reaction to ICL or was conceived for the benefit of the game. Indian Cricket League's (ICL) goal is create enthusiasm amongst the budding cricketers, carry that enthusiasm and momentum in the Sachins’ of tomorrow and give the domestic cricketers a chance to showcase their talent. On the other hand IPL's launch last seemed to be a "me too" by bureaucrats who have dominated the game more than the game itself.

Apparently the BCCI league had been conceptualized about 10 years ago but had recently been finalized. I think I can assume with reasonable comfort that ICL's announcement early part of this year expedited IPL by good couple of years.

BCCI top honcho believed just a couple of months ago that a Twenty20 league format (referring to ICL) would serve no good to the game of cricket. And it is rather ironic that a league was launched by the same governing body just a few months later in the same format.

Ever since the launch of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) BCCI mocked at the league commenting from time to time that who would watch a bunch of retired cricketers. On IPL launch in Delhi last week, all I saw was great cricketers who were either retired or on the verge of retiring from the game.

ICC refuses to recognize Indian Cricket League, we all know why. It's interest is to promote its own agenda in the world rather than promoting the game it represents. ICC would never disappoint the richest cricketing board in the world; rather going forward when BCCI current head Mr. Pawar becomes its chief will turn into Indian Cricket Council. It is rather appalling that an incompetent man will represent the council. A man who is on a mission, a mission to progress his personal agenda and solidify BCCI’s monopoly over the game in India.

I see Indian Cricket League emerging as a successful business organization, not ridiculed with bureaucracy and corruption like its counterpart, operating as a autonomous organization, investing in building the cricketing infrastructure and take advantage of its media arm to reach out to all cricket loving fans in India and abroad.

ICL - Taking cricket to a higher league

The goal of Indian Cricket League (ICL) is to promote and foster the best of the talent in the country. ICL will work to create a highly competitive domestic environment, giving the talented an equal opportunity and ensure that cricket provides superior entertainment, value and service against its sporting peers. And in the process creating a fun and friendly atmosphere for our player and fans. Indian Cricket League (ICL) kick starts with ten teams representing the ten major metropolitan cities in India. The teams have been divided into four regions namely North Region, East region, South region and West Region.

North Region

* Delhi Dolphins

* Chandigarh Rockers

* Jaipur Royals

East Region

* Kolkatta Tigers

* Lucknow Lions

South Region

* Bangaluru Beavers

* Chennai Kings

* Hyderabad Minars

West Region

* Mumbai Diamonds

* Ahmedabad Eagles

Indian Cricket League 2008 season

The inaugural season for the Indian Cricket League will begin in October 2008 with 10 teams. The first tournament will be organized on a double round-robin basis in which each team will be playing the opposite team on home and away basis. The top four teams will reach the semi-finals and the final be played between the top teams. There will be a total of 48 matches for the entire season.

No request from PCB for T20 tie: BCCI

The BCCI on Wednesday declined that it has received any request from the Pakistan Cricket Board to accommodate a one-off Twenty20 international during the series against the arch-rivals starting next month.

“Where’s the question? We have not received any request from the PCB on the issue,” BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah said.

News reports from Pakistan have said that the PCB wanted the one-off T20 tie to raise funds for former coach Bob Woolmer’s dream project — a cricket academy in South Africa.

The BCCI has always maintained that it would be difficult to accommodate the T20 tie because of the tight schedule of the Indian team.

On the proposed Indian Premier League, Shah said that the first meeting of IPL Governing Council will be held tomorrow.

“Lalit Modi (match commissioner and chairman of the league) will give the latest details about the IPL during the meeting,” Shah said.

Indian Premier League Contracts Worst In Professional Sport, Says New Zealand Cricket Players’

The BCCI-run Indian Premier League’s contracts have been dubbed as “the worst contracts in professional sport” by the head of the New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association.

Heath Mills, the association’s manager, said Scott Styris had signed the deal but he was unsure if skipper Daniel Vettori had already committed.

Mills said the IPL and New Zealand Cricket (NZC) had pressurised the players to accept the lucrative three-year deals or the offers would be withdrawn.

“We recommended they didn’t sign the contract put in front of them and I’m not sure Daniel has signed,” Mills was quoted as saying to the Dominion Post.

“The contracts put in front of the players are the worst contract I’ve seen in professional sport. Players around the world have been signing it and they have no idea what they are signing away. It does not stipulate the rights they are giving away to Indian cricket. I’m concerned our guys signing it will put them in breach of their NZC contracts.

“I don’t think it is a very good contract at all. It is a one and a half page document. Our contracts are 100 pages long and people are very aware of their obligations and restrictions.”

Free hit rule will kill bowlers, fears Ranatunga

Colombo, Oct. 5 (PTI): Cricket is a game where the dice is heavily loaded in favour of the batsmen and the new ‘Free Hit’ rule would just kills the bowlers, fears former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga.

Ranatunga feels the new rule would leave the bowlers at the mercy of the batsmen and that’s just not good for the game.

“(The new ICC) rules seem to be fine but I am not a big fan of the free hit rule. It will just kill the bowlers,” Ranatunga was quoted as saying by ‘The Island’ newspaper.

The ‘Free Hit’ rule was applied in the Twenty20 World Cup and it made its ODI debut during the India-Australia match in Bangalore.

The rule states that after the bowlers had overstepped, front foot or back foot, the next ball would be a free hit where the batsman can be dismissed only by run out.

Sri Lanka’s lone World Cup winning captain also dismissed the notion that it was meant to please the crowd and said ODIs already offer a plenty of entertainment for the spectators.

“So why do you want to cripple the bowlers further?” he asked.

Chak de India: Hockey vs cricket

SEPTEMBER 2007 will definitely go down in the history of Indian sports as an important month that gave India dual achievements of clinching Hockey Asia Cup and T20 Cricket World Cup. As we keep tab on the sports news, it is well known that the young turks of Indian cricket team did a fantastic job and brought home the first T20 World Cup.

The hangover of winning the T20 World Cup is still alive although we have slowly started feeling the pinch of being defeated after a great win. Australia has already shown our team the taste of defeat in the 2nd one day match of the Future Cup played at Kochi. We appreciate rain god for saving our team in Bangalore from probably being 2-0 down in the series.

The basic difference between the two teams is that Indian cricket team is filled with cricketing heroes whereas the Australian Cricket team is filled with performers, star performers, and super star performers. Statistically Australians always looked better even in the T20 game. The sheer luck in the game of cricket turned the tide against them.

Murphy’s Law holds true in all forms of the game and in life experiences. Even though one does everything right, if things have to go wrong these would go wrong in spite of all the precautions. That’s what happened with the teams against whom India launched its crusade to win the T20 World Cup.

However, no doubt about our lads who sparkled with their heroic performances to carry on the winning trail till they achieved the World Cup. Bravo! It was indeed a remarkable feat to achieve. The young Indians went on to defeat the rampaging England, South Africa, Australia and Pakistan convincingly.

While in 7th Men’s Hockey Asian Cup, the Indian hockey team showed superior performance right from the beginning of the tournament. Indian hockey team did not lose even a single match in the tournament and defeated the strongest team of the tournament; once in the league match and second time in the final. India defeated South Korea 7-2 in the final, which is one of the biggest margins in a final from the yardsticks of present day hockey matches.

We scored total 56 goals and gave away just 5 goals in 7 matches that we played. We also scored 20 goals in a match against Sri Lanka and did not give away a single goal. This equaled the biggest margin of victory in Asia Cup record.

We remained the lone team to keep our tally clean by not losing any matches among the 11 teams, and topped the tough six team pool B. This is a rare all win record in the pool stage. This was definitely a marvelous performance by our hockey players considering the fact that our neighbour Pakistan was not able get through even the semi finals of the tournament.

In both the cases we were not very confident of our team’s performance in the beginning. It all started with the heroic performance of our players in the middle of the tournaments. In cricket, if it was Yuvraj Singh, Dhoni, Gambhir, and Uthappa, then it was Baljit Singh (goalkeeper) and his men in the hockey team.

While Baljit Singh displayed the brilliant feat of stopping the goals from the opponents’ team, and others went on onslaught of scoring goals mercilessly. Both the teams deserve high degree of praise and accolades, because both have brought glory to the nation and kept the pride of the game.

Actually hockey team deserves little better treatment and higher praise than cricket because hockey is our national game. But, do we treat both games equally in India and do we have any special attachment for our national game? Let us look at a few of the events that unfolded after hockey team and cricket team won the respective Asia Cup and T20 World Cup.

Indian cricket team received Rs 2 crores as a tournament prize after winning the T20 World Cup. BCCI, the governing body of Indian cricket announced Rs 8 crores for winning the final. BCCI even gave away Rs 4 crores for reaching the final and Rs 1 crore for Yuvraj Singh alone. Players received cash awards up to Rs. 21 lakhs from the state governments to which they belong.

Funniest! Uthappa received Rs. 3 lakh from government of Kerala, just for the reason that his mother is from Kerala. Players received apartments worth Rs.25 lakhs from Sahara. A new award, ’Jharkhand Ratna’ honour is being introduced for the first time and will be presented to Dhoni for making the state proud, on the 7th foundation day celebration of the state on November 15 at Ranchi.

News channels ran special news bulletin, editions and highlights throughout the night. Special news editions, cover stories and posters were covered in almost all the newspapers for the next two days. There was heroes’ welcome for the team on their arrival in Mumbai.

They were graciously received from the airport and given a gala welcome by the Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Deputy CM R R Patil and their Cabinet colleagues. There was 30 km long victory procession organized that lasted over five hours. I think even the erstwhile kings of the country might have envied this Maharaja’s treatment.

And what was the reward of winning Asia Cup team? Individual greeting message was sent by our Honorable President. For the news channels and papers, it was just a sports news item and featured in the sports section. No special mention in electronic media or print media about the team or players.

IHF had announced an incentive for the team where they would receive Rs 1000 for every goal scored and lose Rs 2000 for every goal conceded. What a lucrative incentive! The state governments did not even send a congratulatory note to the respective players of the state; forget about the honour and prize.

Most of us will definitely feel differently about the treatment of the players of these two legendry games of India. However, one wonders, if this is the status of Indian cricket in the minds of government, people and media, then why not make it the national game of the country? Why is this diplomacy about keeping hockey the national game when the Indian masses are more concerned about cricket? True to the sense that hockey has always kept Indian tri-colour proud with its marvelous past of winning continuous Olympic and Asiad Gold medals. But this cannot be forgotten that those were the days when the legendry players like Major Dhyan Chand were in the hockey team.

World cannot forget his magic hockey stick, which was misunderstood to have a magnet embedded and was changed few times in a game in Germany. The trend of winning World Cup, Olympic, and Asiad medals continued till 1980 and we had some of the finest payers of the game on our side.

But the golden era of hockey could not stretch and downward trend was noticed thereafter. However, there has been less effort and more politics in resurrecting the past glory of the Indian hockey.

Subsequently, the Cricket World Cup of 1983, made dramatic shift of interest of Indian people, government and media toward the game. The dark horse of the game, India’s cricket team defeated mighty West Indies to bring home the solitary cricket world cup.

Hockey took a backseat and even good efforts and good show by the hockey players did not enthuse media to cover them more and bring them back to be the hero in the hearts of the Indian public. Surprisingly even the government remembered hockey team only during the time of World Cup, Olympic, and Asiad.

Recognition, incentives and facilities went on declining for the hockey players and today it is nowhere close to the cricket players. Now, a great performance by the hockey team has been overshadowed by the cricket T20 world cup.

We understand that because of the corporate funding and advertiser’s money cricket is becoming richer everyday and at no point of time hockey can compare to cricket on the popularity index in India, especially with the young generation.

But, we should not forget hockey is the game world learnt from us and we are now distancing ourselves from the game. It is time that the corporates, media and Indian Hockey Federation take care of the future of hockey and its players and the government should come forward openly to promote it as the country’s favourite game.

Incentives, prizes and support should be made lucrative so that people crave to become a hockey players rather than joining the mad rush of becoming cricket players. I personally do not feel that Indian hockey has lost its fan following. Indians by heart are attached to hockey; otherwise “Chak De” would have not been applauded so much.

Thanks to Badshah Khan who truly understood the spirit of Indian hockey and acted with so much of passion. The promise that Indian hockey players have shown recently reflects that the revival of hockey in India is not a dream. It is going to be a reality. I surely hope so!

Pakistan Skipper Shoaib Malik Joins Indian Premier League

Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik along with fellow batsman Younus Khan and fast bowler Mohammad Asif have joined the official Indian Premier League (IPL).

New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Brendon McCullum is also the IPL’s latest signing.

“Malik, Khan, Asif and McCullum signed up with the IPL, taking the number of international cricketers to 29,” BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi was quoted as saying to espnstar.com.

South African all-rounder Shaun Pollock, New Zealand paceman Jacob Oram and Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar have also agreed to play in the league.

Three Pakistan players join Indian board’s new league

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik and team mates Younis Khan and Mohammad Asif have signed up for the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL), organisers said on Thursday.

New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Brendon McCullum has also joined, taking to 29 the number of foreign players who have committed to the lucrative Twenty20 event which starts in April.

The 44-day tournament will feature eight franchises, the IPL said in a statement, with each squad containing 16 players.

The $3 million (1.46 million pound) IPL was launched by the Indian cricket board in September, with support from other national boards to counter an unofficial version planned next month.

Those already signed up include international captains Graeme Smith of South Africa and Mahela Jayawardene of Sri Lanka and Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf.

Rival cricket leagues do battle in India

NEW DELHI - India’s new-found fascination for Twenty20 cricket has turned into a tug-of-war as money, power and court battles overshadow the country’s most popular sport. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is determined to be the sole crusader of the lucrative crowd-pulling Twenty20 format in cricket-mad India despite its secretary Niranjan Shah earlier describing Twenty20 as a “waste of time.”

This apparent change of heart had nothing to do with Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s young Team India winning the inaugural Twenty20 world championships in South Africa in September, an event Indian officials once strongly opposed.

It had everything to do with the unveiling in May of the unofficial multi-million-dollar so-called rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL), bankrolled by the country’s largest media group, Zee Telefilms.A rattled BCCI banned cricketers signing up to the ICL from representing the country, forcing the rebel body to file an ongoing case challenging the BCCI’s monopoly over the sport.

The BCCI also drew up its own three-million-dollar Indian Premier League (IPL) with the blessing of the International Cricket Council and supported by boards around the world.And so began a game of oneupmanship, lapped up greedily by the media and showing no signs of abating with no apparent concern for the effects it could have on players, their international commitments and the sport in India.

The Zee-backed ICL presented India’s only World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev as its chief executive, while the BCCI’s IPL paraded the country’s other legend, Sunil Gavaskar, and popular commentator Ravi Shastri as members of its governing council.At the moment the IPL is seemingly winning the battle in terms of getting star players to sign up.

It says it has on board Test captains Graeme Smith of South Africa, Daniel Vettori of New Zealand, Shoaib Malik of Pakistan and the entire Team India.The IPL also persuaded ICL’s main draw, Pakistani star batsman Mohammad Yousuf, to break his contract with the rebel league and sign up with the official body, prompting the ICL to serve legal papers on the player.

The best the ICL has managed so far are retired international stars, headed by West Indian great Brian Lara and Pakistan’s Inzamam-ul-Haq, along with a slew of domestic has-beens.Both leagues — despite obvious deep pockets — have found it easier to sign up big names than finalise start dates and other details of the events they plan to stage.

The only real concrete fact is that both leagues will feature Twenty20 matches between franchised teams made up of international players and young promising Indians.The ICL may begin in November and the BCCI is looking to start the IPL in April next year, although like much in this saga, nothing is certain.

The beleaguered Asia Cup limited-overs tournament, already put off twice before and now scheduled to be held in Pakistan in April-May, faces an uncertain future if the IPL is held at the same time and there are concerns the players may end up playing too much cricket.Unsurprisingly, not everyone is impressed at the potential impact the leagues could have on cricket.

“If the proto-typical young cricketer is happy signing up for IPL franchises and making his money there, is he going to bother playing five-day cricket?”, veteran columnist Ashok Malik said.Cricinfo, the game’s leading website, said: “Money could make Twenty20 the most lucrative form of cricket any aspiring cricketer wants to play.

“So what that would do to cricket skills and talent pools for longer versions of the game is anyone’s guess.“Also, it could change the way we look at cricket. Teams based on regional affiliations will be replaced by teams based on commerce, players playing not for local pride but for top dollar.

“That’s how football has grown in the last 20 years — and not everyone’s happy with the shape it’s in today.”

BCCI's Response

The BCCI refused to recognise ICL as a cricket league, and criticised Kiran More and Kapil Dev for joining ICL.Kapil Dev's association with ICL was seen as conflict of interest as he is the current chairman of National Cricket Academy, a BCCI owned cricket facility. As of August 21, 2007 Kapil Dev has been sacked from his NCA post. Subhash Chandra had earlier stated that the ICL will go ahead regardless of the BCCI stance. The International Cricket Council gave a statement through its chief executive, Malcom Speed, that ICC won't recognize ICL unless BCCI recognizes it. ICC looks at ICL as an issue to be sorted out by BCCI.

Faced with the threat of young players joining the ICL, the BCCI jacked up prize money for winners, runner-up and losing semi-finalists across all tournaments. An average domestic cricketer can hope to make around Rs 35,000 per match day from the season of 2007-08: more than double the Rs 16,000 they got in 2005-06. The BCCI has also planned to do away with honorary selectors, who will be paid from September 2008 onwards.

BCCI has started its own international Twenty20 league, with the help of Australian, England & South Africa boards. The league, which will start in October 2008, is called the Champions Twenty20 cricket. The league model is said to be a revolutionary one, on the model of NFL, MLB in USA.

ICL takes BCCI to court

In August 2007, ICL filed a petition against BCCI in the Delhi High Court accusing that BCCI is threatening and intimidating them as well as other state organsiations not affiliated to it and asked the court to stop BCCI from interfering with its attempts to sign up players for its tournaments. It also petitions that the BCCI stop trying to "out-hire" many cricket stadiums in India that are owned by the state governments, in anti-competitive, anti-market behaviour to stop the ICL from using them to play matches.

On August 27, 2007, the Delhi High Court ruled in favor of ICL. In its ruling, the Delhi High Court has said that players should not suffer in the battle between corporate giants. The court has issued notice to all corporate sponsors, the state cricket associations & the BCCI against terminating contracts of players joining the league.

The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) of India has asked its Director-General of Investigation to do an initial investigation into BCCI's action against players who have joined ICL. The investigation was based on media reports of BCCI giving an open statement that it will ban players who will join ICL. It was also reported in the media that all state associations, under BCCI, have removed cricket players from contracts.

Support for the league

ICL has received support from unexpected quarters. There was a fear that lack of infrastructure, like the cricket stadiums, might limit the success of the operation of the league. But, support from various government bodies has boosted the league. It was reported that camps will be held at Mayajaal in Chennai, which is a private resort with good cricket facilities. Indian Railways chief Lalu Prasad has shown his backing by opening all the cricket stadiums controlled by the Indian Railways to the league. Terming ICL as a “good initiative”, Mr. Lalu Prasad has given a statement saying that the BCCI and ICL should, each, come up with a cricket team and play against each other to show who's the best. The state government of West Bengal has also agreed to rent its cricket grounds, notably the Eden Gardens, to the league and anybody else.

Future of ICL

It has often been said that the ICL is a challenge and/or a rival to the BCCI. Furthermore, due to the corruption-free and professional nature of ICL, it is much more efficient with its money and resources than the BCCI. It is said that the ICL could overtake the BCCI in terms of revenue or influence within 5-10 years. Just as the ATP took over the ITF in tennis 35 years ago.

In a poll conducted by a leading online cricket website 68.9% of those voted said ICL will do better than BCCI in the coming years, 14.9% said they will work together with ICL having a supportive role, while 16.2% expressed concern that ICL will be a failure.

Cricketers as officials and players for ICL

ICL has planned to involve many former cricket players to run the league. Since one of the criticisms against the traditional cricketing system, run by BCCI under ICC, is that some crucial official postions are not occupied by cricketers, ICL seems to address this.

Former cricket players as officials (Alphabetical Order)

Executive Board

• Dean Jones (Aus)
• Kapil Dev (Ind)
• Kiran More (Ind)
• Tony Greig (Eng)

Coaches

• Madan Lal (Ind)
• Sandeep Patil (Ind)

Talent Scouts

• Balwinder Sandhu (Ind)
• Bharath Reddy (Ind)
• Pranab Roy (Ind)
• Rajesh Chauhan (Ind)
• Shishir Hattangadi (Ind)

Mentors

• Erapalli Prasanna (Ind)

Signed up cricket players

ICL, in its quest to sign up about 90 players before the official start of the league in October 2007, has so far signed up many upcoming, current & former cricket players from India, Pakistan, South Africa, etc. There are rumors that other popular current & former players have been approached by the ICL.

Confirmed players (Alphabetical Order)

Australia (1)

• Damien Martyn

England (1)

• Darren Maddy

India (47)

• Abbas Ali
• Abhijit Shetye
• Abhishek Jhunjhunwala
• Alfred Absolem
• Ali Murtaza
• Ambati Rayudu
• Anirudh Singh
• Avinash Yadav
• Dakshinamoorthy Kumaran
• Deep Dasgupta
• Devendran
• Devishetty Vinay Kumar
• Dheeraj Jadhav
• Dinesh Mongia
• Ganapathi Vignesh
• Hariesh J
• Hemang Badani
• Hemanth Kumar
• Ibrihim Khalil
• Indhrasekhar Reddy
• Ishan Malhatra
• Jai Prakash Yadav
• Karthik Reddy
• Lallu Prasad Yadav
• Manish Sharma
• Mohammad Ibrahim
• Monish Mishra
• Rajesh Sharma
• Ranjeet Khirid
• Raviraj Patil
• Reetinder Sodhi
• Robin Morris
• Rohan Gavaskar
• Sachin Talpade
• Sarabjit Singh
• Satish R
• Shashank Nag
• Shalabh Srivastava
• Shibsagar Singh
• Shreyas Khanolkar
• Sridharan Sriram
• Stuart Binny
• Subhojit Paul
• Subhomoy Das
• Sumit Kalia
• Taduri Prakash Sudhindra
• Thirunavakarasu Kumaran
• Yashpal Singh

New Zealand (4)

• Chris Cairns
• Chris Harris
• Hamish Marshall
• Nathan Astle

Pakistan (4)

• Abdul Razzaq
• Azhar Mahmood
• Imran Farhat
• Inzamam-Ul-Haq

South Africa (2)

• Lance Klusener
• Nicky Boje

West Indies (1)

• Brian Lara

Players rumoured to have been approached (Alphabetical Order)

Australia

• Adam Gilchrist
• Justin Langer

Bangladesh

• Mohammad Rafique

England

• Mark Butcher

Ireland

• Boyd Rankin
• Niall O'Brien

New Zealand

• Shane Bond

Pakistan

• Asim Kamal
• Mohammad Asif
• Shoaib Akhtar

South Africa

• Shaun Pollock

Sri Lanka

• Chaminda Vaas
• Marvan Atapattu
• Nuwan Zoysa
• Russel Arnold
• Sanath Jayasuriya
• Upul Chandana

Players who left ICL

In October 2007, Mohammad Yousuf joined Indian Premier League just few days after canceling his contract with ICL.

Reasons for creation

Several factors have played a role in formulation of a cricket league which may run in parallel to the current official Indian cricket control body, BCCI.

The "Inverted Pyramid" cricket structure

There is wide disparity in facilities enjoyed by the national team and the several regional ones. This makes the regional players far from finished products when they get a chance to represent the country, hence preventing a huge country like India to have adequate bench strength when key players get injured or retire. Also, the regional cricket boards depend on the BCCI for hand-me-downs in terms of funds for infrastructure and grassroots development. The players who make it to the top have strong backing from sports management firms and also can afford top notch personal trainers, physiotherapists and technical consultants, hardly the preserve of the average-joe Ranji player.

India's poor performance in recent years

Essel group has sought to capitalise on the disappointment of Indian cricket fans with the poor performance of their cricket team in the World cup and the South African tour prior to that. Indian team's failure in World Cup has led to lower earnings to Cricket broadcasters, advertisers, cricket sponsors and travel & tour operators. These defeats also caused massive disappointment to India's millions of fanatical cricket fans.

The question of 'why can't a nation of 1 billion with millions of cricket players produce even a reasonably competent team' has been hotly debated across newspapers and news channels. One of the answers which has gained wide acceptance is that the BCCI, the cricket control body of India, has failed miserably in its job and needs a major overhaul in its working and organisation. Millions of Indian fans who hero-worshipped their cricket team are finding BCCI, with its image already mired with scandals, favouritism and political influence an easy target to blame for this debacle.

Zee Telefilms desire to create sports content

The league could help the country develop talent, as well as provide lucrative sports programming for Essel Group for Zee Telefilms, which lost out on the rights to broadcast all BCCI-sanctioned cricket matches in India until 2011.

In fact Essel Group had launched Zee Sports earlier with the anticipation of bagging the BCCI telecast rights in 2006. This was followed by Zee acquiring 50 percent in TEN Sports in November 2006 for Rs. 257 crore (Rs. 2.57 billion). This gave the company a few international cricket rights — West Indies, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. But these five-year rights were at their end.

Cricket played in India generates Rs. 1,000 crore (Rs. 10 billion) in advertising and subscription revenue and Subhash Chandra has been acutely aware of his company missing out on the lucrative cricket pie.

During his battle with BCCI and ESPN Star Sports for the five-year telecast rights in August-September 2004 in the Bombay High Court, Chandra was present every day for the hearings. Despite Zee bidding the highest at $307 million, BCCI and its then president Jagmohan Dalmiya denied him the rights.

The pain of denial has been with Chandra since 2000 when the ICC World Cup rights were sold to NewsCorp’s Global Cricket Corporation (GCC) for $550 million despite Zee bidding the highest at $650 million citing Zee's insufficient sports marketing experience.

In August 2005, Zee again emerged forerunner with a pitch of over $340 million while ESPN Star Sports, the other principal contender, is believed to have offered around $325 million. BCCI took the stance that Zee was not qualified as a specialist broadcaster and refused to consider Zee’s proposal. The matter expectedly went to court and Doordarshan emerged the beneficiary.

Chandra then tried the political route too and supported Sharad Pawar’s candidature as BCCI president against Dalmiya. Pawar emerged victorious but not Chandra. In the last round of bidding in February, last year, it was Nimbus who bagged BCCI’s telecast rights till 2011 for $613 million with Zee trailing at $513 million.

Since there was a Zee-Nimbus alliance before the bidding, media pundits thought Nimbus’ bid was a Zee front. But Nimbus chose to go its own way and launched its own sports network – Neo Sports.

2007 season

The inaugural season for the Indian Cricket League was scheduled to begin in October 2007 but later shifted to 2nd week of November with six club teams.

• Six teams of private clubs
• Each team will have a paid mentor, media manager, psychologist, physiotherapist
• US$ 1 million for the winning club team
• Twenty20 format
• Ombudsman will look into grievances of players

League structure

Each team will be coached by a former India player and will comprise four international, two Indian and eight budding domestic players. Essel Group is also planning to set up cricket academies all over the country. BCCI has been assured that it is free to draw from ICL's talent pool. The league will be functional by July-August 2007 and will start with Twenty20 format matches in the run-up to the Twenty20 World Cup in September 2007.

Only professional, paid and accountable people have been hired to run the ICL. There will be no "honorary-positions" such as unpaid selectors. Former international cricketers including Kapil Dev, Tony Greig, Dean Jones and Kiran More have been hired as board members of the Indian Cricket League. The board positions will be paid positions.

Indian Cricket League

The Indian Cricket League (ICL) is a proposed private cricket league that will run parallel to the existing cricket league managed by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The format of ICL will be Twenty20.

History

Zee Telefilms (part of Subhash Chandra promoted Essel Group) bid for the telecast rights of the biggest international cricket event - 2000 World Cup. Although the highest bid, it was unsuccessful. Subhash Chandra again bid for telecast rights again in 2004 and ended up in an inconclusive court battle. Last March, he bid again for the 2006-10 rights and once again lost. His response: the ICL. “They denied us the cricket content,” says Himanshu Mody, business head of ICL and Zee’s sports channels. “So, we had to create our own content”. On Zee Telefilms announced that it would be partner with infrastructure major IL&FS to create a new ambitious cricket league, Indian Cricket League (ICL). This league will have a prize money of $ 1 million for the winner. ICL was set up with a Rs. 100 crore (Rs. 1 billion) corpus, and would initially comprise six teams to be expanded to 16 in three years. This will make ICL the richest professional league in the country with an annual prize of $1 million (Rs. 4.4 crore). ICL has already signed a number of major players but is yet to reveal their names. On July 24th, some great international names cropped up such as Brian Lara. The ICL has confirmed that Brian Lara and Inzaman-Ul-Haq has signed up and will be joining the league. However, the Pakistan Cricket Board warned its players to stay away from the league. Imran Farhat though chose to opt out of his Pakistan Central contract to sign with the Indian Cricket League. Former captain of the Pakistan Cricket Team Javed Miandad said he is not able to understand why PCB is not allowing its players to play in the league and even threatened players with a lifetime ban.

Indian Premier League

History

The Indian Premier League, created by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and sanctioned by the International Cricket Council, is a Twenty20 competition. It was announced after the BCCI declined permission to allow BCCI-contracted players to play in the Indian Cricket League.

The league is scheduled to start in April 2008 and will last for 44 days, involving 59 matches. The prize money for the league will be around Rs 13 crore (US $3million).

Each team would have a pool of 16 players, of whom 4 would be international and four from the Under-19 level or from the catchment area where the team is based.

The governing council consists of Sunil Gavaskar, MAK Pataudi and Ravi Shastri, Rajiv Shukla, Chirayu Amin, Inderjit Singh Bindra and Arun Jaitley.

Although it is going to be a franchise-system, some foreign players have already been contracted by the BCCI to play in the IPL.

Format

• 8 teams
• 16 players in a team

Confirmed Players:

Australia

• Justin Langer
• Glenn McGrath
• Shane Warne

India

• Rahul Dravid
• Sourav Ganguly
• Anil Kumble
• Sachin Tendulkar

Pakistan

• Inzamam ul Haq
• Mohammad Yousuf
• Shoaib Malik
• Shoaib Akhtar
• Muhammad Asif
• Shahid Afridi
• Younis Khan

South Africa

• Graeme Smith
• Ashwell Prince
• AB de Villiers
• Herschelle Gibbs
• Albie Morkel
• Shaun Pollock

Sri Lanka

• Dilhara Fernando
• Sanath Jayasuriya
• Mahela Jayawardene
• Farveez Maharoof
• Lasith Malinga
• Muttiah Muralitharan
• Kumar Sangakkara
• Chaminda Vaas
• Nuwan Zoysa

New Zealand

• Stephen Fleming
• Scott Styris
• Daniel Vettori
• Jacob Oram
• Brendon McCullum

West Indies

• Shivnarine Chanderpaul

ICL to begin on November 30

The inaugural tournament of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) - the ICL 20 20 Indian Championship - will be held between November 30 and December 16 at the Tau Devi Lal Cricket Stadium in Panchkula, Chandigarh.

The announcement was made at the ICL's executive board meeting in Chennai. The tournament will consist of 20 Twenty20 matches, and will culminate with the final on December 16, preceded by the playoff matches for 3rd/4th and 5th/6th place.

"The ICL 20 20 Indian Championship will be held as promised, later next month at Chandigarh. We are working hard to deliver a very exciting tournament for the Indian viewers," Kapil Dev, the chairman of the ICL's executive board, said. "I am confident that the public in this country will witness for the first time a fully professionally run and organised extravaganza of cricket."

The ICL, launched by the Essel Group, has signed players such as Brian Lara, Imran Farhat, Abdul Razzaq, Lance Klusener, Nicky Boje, Damien Martyn, Deep Dasgupta and Dinesh Mongia. Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam-ul-Haq joined as well, but opted out ahead of Pakistan's home series against South Africa.

The dates for the tournament clash with India's home Test series against Pakistan.

Their can not be any cricket without Fans!!!!

The game-whatever game it is-is surely central to this process. But today each game is part of of a huge structure that includes thousands and thousands of people who neither play nor cheer for their players. Cricket may have begun more simply, as recreation, mostly for those who participated , with spectators being an afterthought, but that is history. Fans and their devotion have been the primary cause of this evolution, and an entire industry has ben created because of them.

The recently conducted ICC T20 WORLD CUP is a clear example that shows how a tournament should be conducted and the game cannot be a hit without the fans. Even the home crowd plays an important part in cheering up their own home land heroes.

The BCCI authorites should take into account this aspect of the game where they should see that Cricket is reach to every corner of the country and in a true spirit.

Another important dimension of Cricket and way it increases the interest of the Fans!!!

Even in this age of television, radio plays an important role in this phenomenon. Radio broadcast help draw fans to their teams, and hold them. Radios go with us everywhere and permit us to absorb what is being broadcast while still allowing the mind to place that action within the larger context of our lives. The game becomes intervowen with ourselves, a transformation that does not occur when watching the same game on television. The radio announcer is part of this chemistry of inclusion. As his personality imprints on the scene he is creating, a bonding is fostered between the announcer and the listener and, in turn, with the team.

What this does for the fan becomes a major part of his or her investment and goes a long way toward solidifying a relationship that can last for years. For some the relationship is more casual,the means to a pleasant diversion. But for others, it is profound. The fans start thinking their team to be nothing but an extension of themselves. "Team success is personal success, and team failure is personal failure".

Cricket - Where fans should come first!!!!!

It is the fans who prove their devotion in bad times that we venerate. And the very best fans in sports, the ones held up as the model, are those who have suffered the longest without being rewarded with a championship. Sometimes the closer the team gets to that ultimate glory, the higher the praise.

What a shame it was when the Team India lost to Sri Lanka in semis of the 1996 world cup. It clearly showed how less our heroes tried. And not to forget what happened during the 2003 World cup. We lost the first match to the Aussies without even trying.
And the fan got so angry. We are not asking to defeat the Aussies in every match but atleast show us the fight.

Look at the Bangladeshies. Their team occasionally defeats much bigger teams compared to them. Their team gets the right support every time and now.

Really great fans don't even give up when their teams do.

The craze for Cricket in India is greater than any other country is maybe because the Team India is capable of showing some great fighting which really lifts the spirits of the fans. It was a miracle when they won the T20 world cup or when they defeated the Aussies in one of their matches.

That is how cricket should be played.

The popularity of Cricket depends on big one thing:The Fans!!!!!

Sport or specifically speaking Cricket resembles no other business. That is in the way it interacts with its fans.

In business terms, fans are the costumers of sports. But what customers!!! Surely every car manufacturer in the world would want customers so devoted they continued to purchase automobiles that ran well only ocassionally. Oh, to operate a restaurent that is always popular even though the meals are edible only half the time, or to be the prominent doctor who cures patients only now and then.

This is exactly what sports or cricket fans ask of their teams: occasionally success; satisfaction every few tries. That is, we want our team to fight hard on the field. We all want pure fun. And want every Cricketer to play according to his capability or atleast try hard. Fans spend their money on games-easily a few thousand rupees to take their family , pay for parking , buy tickets and food; often many thousands for season tickets alone- and ask only that their team try hard. Success, or winning , is always the goal, but it is not crucial to ensure the support of true fans.

This is different from business where everyone wants guarantees. They are the elements of love, the kind of love that exists among the members of the family. Asking the TEAM INDIA to keep winning every match and every tournament is simply boorish; winning at any cost, the antithesis of sportsmanship.