A couple of weeks back I expressed the view that the Indian Cricket League (ICL), a multi-million dollar brainchild of Zee Telefilms Ltd, should be viewed in a sporting spirit rather than hatred. The idea has received universal applause from the cricket wizards of both India and Pakistan.
A couple of weeks back I expressed the view that the Indian Cricket League (ICL), a multi-million dollar brainchild of Zee Telefilms Ltd, should be viewed in a sporting spirit rather than hatred. The idea has received universal applause from the cricket wizards of both India and Pakistan. They have criticised the two cricket boards for showing contempt for the event. The galaxy of these former cricketers and officials who understand the game more than the present day cricket administrators opine that ‘the ICL’s intentions are aimed at giving a boost to cricket and provide a platform to players who do not get a chance to play for their respective national teams’. Though the ICL invited former as well as current players from all over the world, only the Asian cricket boards, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have vehemently opposed the tournament. They have adopted a rather rash attitude towards the event announcing life ban on players who joined the ICL.
The ICL management headed by the former captain Kapil Dev plans to make the league a six-team contest extended over a period of three years and are seeking contracts from prominent players for the same. The amount of fee that they are offering to the players is so huge that one can only dream of it. The offers being so lucrative, they claim to have signed seven international stars and 44 Indian first class cricketers apart from seniors like Dinesh Mongia and Deep Dasgupta so far. Former Test captains Brian Lara and Inzamam ul Haq lead the ICL list followed by Pakistan’s Mohammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq and Imran Farhat and South Africa’s Lance Klusner and Nicky Boje. New Zealander Chris Harris has also joined the ICL while his colleagues Chris Cairns and Nathan Astle are thinking of doing so. During his recent visit to UK, Kapil Dev is reported to have offered the contract to six county players including Mohammad Akram of Pakistan.
While the ICL is continuing its efforts to rope in more and more players, the (BCCI) is creating all sorts of road blocks in the way of this tournament. Both the parties are pitched against each other like the archrivals. To start with, the BCCI refused to lend grounds for the staging of this tournament. Since the ICL is dishing out money like peanuts, the Indian Railways, which owns 50 grounds, thought it to be a golden opportunity to grab the wealth. They have offered their grounds to the ICL. The threat to impose ban on players joining the ICL was the next step. Its latest action is to stage a parallel tournament called the ‘Professional Cricket League’ with the competing teams to include current Indian stars like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, besides a combination of upcoming domestic players and international stars. Sunil Gavaskar is being approached to neutralize the charisma of Kapil Dev. With the ICL having sued the BCCI in the court of law, a legal battle ensues between the two rivals. As an interim measure the Delhi High Court has barred the government institutions from sacking players aligned with the ICL while the BCCI and the federal government have been asked to submit their replies to the ICL suit by October 5. The court’s remarks that, ‘why should players have swords hanging over their heads?’ are quite pertinent in this regard.
Coming to the PCB’s attitude in this respect, those at the helm of affairs did not use their wisdom but blindly followed the Indian approach. PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf joined hands with the BCCI chief Sharad Pawar and announced drastic measures against players even without consulting the ad hoc committee. As a result we have lost four important players with some more thinking of following them. Although Shoaib Akhtar’s threat of joining the ICL compelled the PCB to bow down and suspend his punishment of Rs 300,000, it is learnt that the ICL continues to focus on him and his bowling attack partner Mohammad Asif. The four stars having already abandoned the board, it will be a dooms day for Pakistan’s cricket if these two also joined the ICL. The PCB is already striving to get back Mohammad Yousuf, without whom the Pakistan team stands nowhere.
While the cricket boards of India and Pakistan are opposing the ICL, the cricket world at large is fully or partially in favour of this venture. The New Zealand Cricketers Association has strongly spoken in favour of the ICL, also suggesting to the ICC to accommodate the league on the lines of county cricket. Michael Atherton adds in this respect. ‘I do not think the ICL presents any threat to cricket. Its very objective that the cricketers every where received a fairer deal is the very reason why the ICL presents little threat to the stability of the game’. Former captain Javed Miandad has advised the PCB to recognize the ICL before it escalates to the magnitude of Kerry Packers World Series thirty years ago. My contemporary Arif Abbasi, a former chief executive of the PCB, has also expressed the view that players from Pakistan go all over the world to play county, league and regional cricket. Stopping those who are not part of the Pakistan team may result in serious consequences. My friend IS Bindra, a former president of the BCCI, has also advised his board to recognize the ICL.
My view about this storming episode is that such issues can only be solved by compromise and not by confrontation. I remember how we tackled the Kerry Packer problem. During my first stint with the PCB (1978-81) it was found that the top players who had joined the ‘Kerry Packer Circus’ were banned by the board. The first step we took was to lift the ban. The Indian team was scheduled to visit Pakistan and without stalwarts like Mushtaq Muhammad, Asif Iqbal, Majid Khan, Zaheer Abbas and Imran Khan, we were sure to suffer unbearable humiliation. The next step then was to request Kerry Packer to relieve our players for the Indian series. We found Kerry Packer to be highly cooperative. In a positive response he obliged us by sparing the super stars to play against India and to the delight of cricket lovers, we won the series. On our initiative the ICC followed suit and had a similar compromise with him. I propose the BCCI and PCB should jointly have a compromise with the ICL suggesting them to stage its Twenty20 matches in a way not to clash with our international commitments. I am sure ‘the live and let live formula’ will work and defuse all the tension that prevails.
By Col (r) Rafi Nasim; Daily Times; Friday, Aug 31st, 2007.
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