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BCCI bombs ICL
with its IPL! |
September 14, 2007
The BCCI
has finally flexed its muscles in a big way to
take on the ripples created by the Essel Group's
Indian Cricket League. In a function held
yesterday in Delhi, the BCCI has officially
launched two professional leagues. The Indian
Premier League and the Champions Twenty20 League
are going to be the two plans that will get into
implementation by the BCCI with the co-operation
of the Boards of Australia, England and South
Africa. Yesterday's function was attended by
Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble,
Rahul Dravid, Glenn McGrath and Stephen Fleming
along with the top cricket officials including
the ICC President Ray Mali and the BCCI
President Sharad Pawar.
The prize
money for the inaugural Champions Twenty20
League to be played in October 2008 is said to
be at a staggering 5 million US Dollars. The
prize money for the Indian Premier League itself
is 3 million US Dollars which is thrice the
money that the Indian Cricket League had
announced! This bomb from the BCCI is all set to
make the ICL and its contracted players eat the
dust as the two leagues launched by the BCCI
have official status and the support from the
International Cricket Council.
The
Champions Twenty20 League tournament which will
be featuring eight teams with the top two teams
of the respective Twenty20 Domestic
Championships in Australia, England and South
Africa along with India competing against each
other. The Indian Twenty20 Championship which is
called as the IPL is going to be played by 8
teams with each team having the provision to
have 16 players in its squad. This tournament
will start in April 2008. While there is an urge
to have atleast four junior players in each
side, there is also the boosting of two to three
international stars per each side. A total of 59
matches are to be played in 44 days for the
Indian Premier League with matches played both
home and away.
The Indian Cricket
League had failed to rope in Shane Warne and
Glenn McGrath but it hasn't taken a huge effort
for the BCCI to lure these legendary cricketers
to feature in the Indian Premier League. Former
New Zealand Skipper Stephen Fleming has also
joined the IPL. The players of the IPL will be
traded, drafted and even sold by 'Franchises'
that own the eight teams just like how it is
done in the NBA and the football leagues in
Europe. A 'Franchise' will pay the BCCI a fee
which in turn gets them the access to a revenue
share out of the tournament.
BCCI Vice-President
Lalit Modi has been named as the Convenor of the
Indian Premier League. The IPL will be run by a
seven-member council that includes former Indian
Skippers Sunil Gavaskar, Tiger Pataudi and Ravi
Shastri along with cricket administrators Rajiv
Shukla, ISS Bindra, Chirayu Amin and Arun
Jaitley, the BJP Politician.
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