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Lara, Dev and many others are already on the field. A ball by ball update of Chandra’s Indian Cricket League...

“Had I got those TV rights I was prepared to withdraw from the scene and leave the running of cricket to the board. I will take no steps now to help anyone. It’s every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost.”

These words had marked the launch of the World Cricket Series, a parallel form of cricket in Australia, in the 70s. An angry and manipulated Kerry Packer had roared in front of the official board, promising to change the face of cricket – come what may. Packer was an Australian media baron who was repeatedly refused cricket rights for his network.

Back home, history is repeating itself. And there are not many dissimilarities but for the fact that the home grown media mogul, Subhash Chandra has chosen not to announce the war as vehemently as Packer. Instead, Chandra is quietly making his way forward, picking up names that – once on the field –would shine like stars.

The recent addition to his pack is former West Indian Captain Brian Lara. Chandra already has one of the biggest names of Indian Cricket – Kapil Dev with him and a host of have beens like Tony Greig, Kiran More, Madan Lal, Balwinder Sandhu, Sandip Patel and Dean Jones among others. But, the entry of Lara has upped the equity of Indian Cricket League (ICL) like how. Since the announcement, there is a palpable buzz and anticipation around Chandra’s ICL. What’s more, with Lara on its side, the breakaway ICL is making waves, even internationally now. The rumour mill is abuzz with names like Australian Shane Warne, Pakistani Inzamam-ul Haq and many others who have agreed to bat for Chandra. However, talking to 4Ps B&M, Ashish Kaul, Executive Vice President, Essel Group clarifies, “The last player that we have signed is Lara and the other names are just rumours. We are in the process of putting together the Twenty20 team and expect to hit the fields by the end of this year.”

In true Packer style, Chandra also plans to invest in infrastructure like sports academy, stadiums, R&D cells to search and develop young talent. But the going for Chandra is far from being easy. Right from creating controversies over the league’s name, to barring players who are going the ICL way, BCCI is trying every trick in the trade to stop Chandra and ICL. “It’s normal for BCCI to react in this way. Guess, some people need to react to be heard,” says sports commentator, Gautam Bhimani. The controversies surrounding ICL are so many that some senior players who were contacted by 4Ps B&M declined to even whisper in its favour, for fear of inviting BCCI’s wrath. But unfriendly pitch aside, Chandra is undeterred.

What’s of significance is the impact of ICL on the future of Indian cricket. ICL seems to be the right answer to the allegedly unprofessionally run BCCI. However, the other point of view is not very optimistic. In today’s times, when a viewer has many options and tournaments are in plenty, whether ICL will get takers is not sure. “It will give a new meaning to domestic cricket. But whether it takes off or not, only time will tell. We don’t know if it is only great exhibition as the entry of Lara signifies or it will be a serious ‘country playing against country’,” opines Bhimani. Packer introduced new concepts to cricket like day/night matches, marketing and big moolah which have become the backbone of cricket today. Look out for Chandra’s unique brand of innovations to the game!

Edit bureau: Surabhi Agarwal

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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