ICL (Indian Cricket League) seem to be moving ahead at fast pace. After finalizing contract with 44 cricketers (minimum number needed to hold the tournament), they have also figured out the location for training camp. Now next big challenge ahead will be to finalize the tournament schedule, and to figure out good class grounds for the tournament.
Whereas, ICL has done a lot of ground work in last couple of months, BCCI seem to be still struggling with same old agendas - internal politics. As Pawar is set to become ICC vice president next year, BCCI needs to find a replacement for him. So, as usual all the BCCI members will be trying to fit their equations right, rather than worrying about Cricket and Team India.
Can ICL really emerge as a successful league? Though only time can best answer this question, but there are a number factors in favor of ICL.
Twenty Twenty Era: ICL has planned a twenty-twenty tournament. As far as the spectator’s interest in Cricket is concerned, currently One Day Cricket is the most popular form of this Game. But twenty-twenty is fast emerging as a great competitor to one day cricket. In today’s fast world, not many people can afford to spend nine long hours for a single game of cricket. How many people really watch the entire (One day) Cricket Match on TV? Most people whom I know, prefer to watch first fifteen and last ten overs of an inning (this is where the thrill is). The fact that finally BCCI has also accepted Twenty Twenty version of the game (after initially refusing to do so), proves the importance of a shorter version of Cricket. As India has so far not hosted (or participated) in any major Twenty-twenty event, the ICL tournament can be a turning point for Indian spectators. BCCI currently does not seem to have any solid plan (in form of Indian Cricket team calendar) of offering a comparable thrill to the viewers.
More Freedom to support a Winner: How many people really like to support a habitual looser? The pain of being forced to support a unprofessional, politics ridden, careless looser is best known to the supporters of Indian Cricket team. But having born in to this country (India) they do not have any escape from the pain. They are cursed to support their team, and crib about the lack of spirit in the team. ICL can probably offer a relief to the Cricket viewers. Since the league will form different teams without any regional basis, spectators will have more freedom to choose their stars and to bet on them. If supporters of a team realize that their starts are focusing more on individual records and advertising contracts (than on team victory), they can probably dump these start and start supporting another team (there is a great chance that before you dumping such stars, ICL will dump them).
Fair Competition: Monopoly is an evil. Do you remember the state of automobile industry in India at the time when Maruti and Bajaj were the only players in Market? After the auto-mobile market opened up, and new players came in, both Maruti and Bajaj suffered a big blow. But this was for good of the consumers. Finally, Maruti and Bajaj had to put more efforts on quality and innovation (which really seem to be paying off as these two companies are doing good again). Probably BCCI will suffer the same fate and will have to face a “Do or Die” situation soon. And of-course it will be for the GOOD of Cricket (both the players and spectators). There are dozens of players who have suffered (and have been suffering) because of dictatorship in BCCI. They have been denied fair selection process for decades, but now they have an alternative in form of ICL. I still remember the last few days of Kapil Dev (as part of Indian Cricket Team). The treatment he got (at hand of erstwhile captain Azhar and BCCI) was really humiliating (despite being in best form of his career at that time). But till recently he had no choice but to work for BCCI (if he wanted to work for Cricket). Now doors have opened up for him and for likes. Next time BCCI might think twice before throwing Saurav Ganguly out of the team (and it also might have to think about continuing Ajit Agarkar).
BCCI’s suicide attempt: The way BCCI has attempted on ICL initiation can prove suicidal. BCCI has refused to accept the presence of ICL without any reasonable ground. ICL has always repeated their claims (even if they did not really mean it) that they are not competitors to BCCI and their presence will only help the domestic cricketers (both in terms of money and in terms of opportunity to play against international stars). Instead of recognizing ICL, or throwing them out in a diplomatic manner, BCCI took a blunt step by banning all the cricketers who join ICL. This tactics has fired back, as a big pool of cricketers has already moved to ICL, and will not be available for next season. To add to the BCCI’s problems, the anti-Pawar factions within BCCI might soon start to oppose BCCI’s decisions (regarding ICL). This will make the things even dirtier within BCCI.
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4th September, 2007
Recent bargain by Shoaib Akhtar against PCB is an example of what the fair competition can do to a market … There are many who believe that Cricket is just a game and not a commodity (to be sold in market), I feel sorry for them.
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