Feb 16 2009
Why Target ICL?
Well one thing that has been going on in my mind for days altogether is the there have been retirements all over the world owing to the introduction of leagues like the IPL and the ICL. It has been a common gesture from all over the world to blame the ICL for the retirements of their players. And much of the blame is being taken by the ICL rather than IPL who have been equally responsible for such actions by players. Very rarely is the IPL being blamed for the same. How can such blame and partiality be accepted by anyone?
And no one blames themselves for the debacle that they have been going on post IPL and ICL. If one would ask me, I would blame it completely on the IPL rather than the ICL. For, most of the boards over the world have banned their players from their national commitments once they were found to have signed deals with ICL and no action has been taken from the same boards against players who have signed contracts for IPL. And not to mention, both the IPL as well as the ICL have agreed to release the players for their national duties.
I wonder as to what on earth made the cricketing boards all over the world ban the players from participating in the ICL and give a no-objection-certificate for the players who are willing to participate in the IPL, which came after the ICL was launched. There is some reason for the BCCI to do the same. For, they will have to share the revenue that is generated from cricket which the greedy BCCI doesn’t want to. And similar to the ICL, the BCCI is not shedding its money on the teams. Rather, every team in the IPL has its sponorer. If not for greed, even the BCCIs decision regarding ICL cannot be supported.
Forget about the BCCI, but I wonder what has made the rest of the cricket boards to follow suit? Do the other cricket boards fear of losing support from the richest cricket board in the world? Else are they being funded by the BCCI owing to the condition that they ban all players who opt for the ICL and have a different plan towards players who play in the IPL? Of course, for no one would like to have a spat with the cash rich BCCI. Else, why would the players not make an issue for the bomb blasts in Indian cities when they show reluctance in touring Pakistan? Guilty guilty guilty…..we saw what you did
Yes, I thought BCCI went over the board on the issue related to ICL. They should have left it alone. It is an unofficial tournament involving players without compromising on their national duties. So, ICL is something like street cricket or club-level cricket. What is BCCI or any other boards have to worry about?
In fact, if I am not wrong, the Twenty20 club format was first introduced by ICL even before IPL. BCCI treated Kapil Dev like a criminal for being part of ICL. Really bad.