Due to all the hoopla surrounding the BCCI/ICL/IPL controversy, I decided to check out the ICL games. I paid $10 to watch the games on the internet via Willow TV. I can tell you with great relief and confidence that the entire ICL set up and the games are no greater than the club games that I tend to dabble with in a place like Toronto. The ICL teams have age-old pensioners, losers, and very ordinary cricketers egged on in an artificial surroundings by big sounding names in the commentary team and coaching line-ups who are probably there more to ogle and flirt with the belly dancers from bollywood and the money that comes with it. The commentary team including tape recordings of Tony Greig and Dean Jones (I was reminded of a cricket video game that I used to play that had Richie Benaud’s background commentary that repeated itself), big time flirts like Mike Whitney and money grabbers like Barry Richards and Pat Symcox.
Now to the games themselves, boy were they ordinary! I was briefly impressed by a couple of Indian players like Abbas Ali, Thiru Kumaran, Mishra and S T Binny but only for fleeting moments. The imports clearly came for the money, yeah, there were big sixes by the likes of Cairns, Kemp et al but that’s not unusual for club cricket. My point of this is that I simply saw no reason why BCCI even feels threatened by this set up. I say that they should just let go, not ban these players (please don’t expect me to believe that somehow Thiru Kumaran is going to make it to an Indian lineup suddenly), and just plain ignore the whole set up. ICL is going to fold up and die a natural death once IPL takes over. There is simply no competition. As Bharath quoted sometime back, what was Lara thinking???
The ICl trivialities aside, I can’t wait for the test matches to begin once again. Hoping for a great beginning in Chennai and wishing for the weather to play good sport through the game. We need an uninterrupted supply of test cricket, something that has been rareity in Chennai these days!
Cheers,
Srikanth
i3j3Cricket :: A blog for fans of Indian cricket... 
Sure ICL is no better than club cricket. It is full of ‘age-old pensioners, losers,…’. And BCCI need feel threatened by this… Then why, pray why BCCI is banning ICL players. And arm-twisting other boards (they are good at that), so that they don’t allow their players to play in ICL?? The reason is simple. Without these checks and blocks, ICL can attract top talents. The same players whom we’ll see in IPL could have been in the other side.
So BCCI has every reasons to feel threatened. After all it’s a matter of some billion dollers…!!
You paid to watch that shit !!!!
Its free on MSN Videos :))
mate
U certainly need to check out my site, i had given a free link to watch the icl matches for free
And Yes if you wanna pay and watch the IPL then send me a cheque and i’ll give you the free link from my site 😉
And BTW, did u bother to see the finals!!!
did u track the performance of Stuart Binny and Ambati Rayudu in this tournament,
these 2 players are young and are certainly very compentent to represent Team India which at this moment is very deplated and injury hurt
I understand that ICL is made of some “retired” international stars and Indian Team dropouts but you certainly cant dismiss the entire setup because of these, there are certain young stars too who have the talent to play at international levels….and yes the crowd loved the ICL Twenty20 too, i was there at the grounds and lemme tell you . the atmosphere for the final between Lahore & Hyderabad looked more like an India – Pak Encounter….more than 30,000 people rooted for both the teams
ICL….gave birth to a jingoistic idea in the brains of Mr Lalit Modi to start a Copied venture & call it IPL.
So my dear blogger and cricket fan…ICL is not a farce after all …its a movement started by Ex Cricketers….and yes the crowds have responded – they love it……
U call IPL AN ORIGINAL IDEA…..
Mate……brush up the knowledge levels….
ICL was formulated way before the Twenty20World Cup even started and did u remember what Hon. Niranjan Shah of the BCCI had commented 3 months prior to the T20 World Cup ” What is Twenty20??” Give me Money and i will create Ten10 or better Five5 overs Matches”
This was the attitude of the BCCI, and when Zee alongwith Kapil decided to create a Twenty20 league with Indian & international stars & call it ICL , Mr Niranjan Shah & Mr Lalit Modi didnt even take notice —Ohhh !!!! Why!!!!
India wins the T20 World Cup….This format earns huge revenue for the ICC, India as a Cricketing Nation is introduced to this format…
ICL is announced where players will get more moolah….immediately players from the hyderabad ranji squad like Khaleel & Rayudu – sign up leaving hyderabad a weak side in the Ranji Tournament…..BCCI wakes up…..Lalit Modi gets a dream ….creates a copied version – IPL – uses his media links and friends circle – SRK, Vijay Mallaya, Mukesh Ambani & tells them to invest in this league and since BCCI is the strongest financial cricket board in the world – rest of the world follow the BCCI and agree for IPL and regard ICL as rebel just because some players ditched their state teams to get more money and fame……
Wow….BCCI first cant increse the viewership for the domestic games and when another corporate starts a systematic league & attracts the players with better money…BCCI wake up from the slumber and create a response called IPL
BCCI nothing but Shody Copiers just like our bollywood directors, who copy the entire hollywood movie scene by scene – no originality what so ever…
IPL may attract the big league…but it never was an original idea…& will never will be