Indian Cricket League

The Indian Cricket League (ICL) was a private cricket league funded by Zee Entertainment Enterprises that operated between 2007 and 2009 in India. Its two seasons included tournaments between four international teams (World XI, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) and nine domestic teams notionally located in major Indian cities as well as Lahore, Pakistan and Dhaka Warriors based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The matches were played in the Twenty20 format. There was also a planned domestic 50-over tournament, but this did not eventuate. While its establishment pre-dated the Indian Premier League, the ICL folded in 2009. Aside from commercial factors, the ICL lacked the support of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and International Cricket Council.

Indian Cricket League
SportCricket
Founded2007
Ceased2009
Divisions9
No. of teams9 city teams, 4 international teams
Country India
Pakistan
Bangladesh
World XI
Last
champion(s)		Lahore Badshahs, 2008

In 2008, following the ICL tradition, Board of Control for Cricket in India launched Indian Premier League Twenty20 format, that literally killed the existence of ICL.[1]

History

After the Indian Premier League The second season, which added Ahmedabad as a venue, commenced in the last quarter of 2008, with the Lahore Badshahs from Pakistan winning. Many international cricketers played in it like Imran Nazir, Abdur Razzaq, Shane Bond. Inzamam-ul-Haq and Moin Khan was the coach of Lahore Badshahs.

League structure

Each team was coached by a former international cricketer and comprised four international, two Indian, and eight budding domestic players. Essel Group also planned to set up cricket academies all over the country. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was assured that it was free to draw from ICL's talent pool. The league became active in November 2007 with matches in the Twenty20 format.

Former international cricketers including Anjingsora Risora, Tony Greig, Dean Jones and Kiran More were hired as board members of the Indian Cricket League.[2] The board positions were to be paid positions.[3]

ICL World teams

World XI

India

Pakistan

Bangladesh

ICL Domestic teams
Main articles: Chandigarh Lions, Chennai Superstars, Delhi Giants, Hyderabad Heroes, Kolkata Tigers, Mumbai Champs, Ahmedabad Rockets, Lahore Badshahs, and Dhaka Warriors

Tournaments

First season

Second season

Reasons for creation

Several factors have played a role in the formulation of a cricket league and which may run in parallel to the current official Indian cricket control body, BCCI.

The "Inverted Pyramid" cricket structure

There is a wide disparity between the facilities enjoyed by the national team and the regional ones. This makes the regional players far from finished products when they are called to represent their country, preventing a huge country like India from having adequate reserve strength in the national squad when key players are injured or retire. Also, the regional cricket boards depend on the BCCI for hand-outs of funds for infrastructure and grassroots development. The players who are entrenched at the top have strong backing from sports management firms and also can afford the best in personal trainers, physiotherapists, and technical consultants, which are well beyond the scope of the average player.

Zee Telefilms desire to create sports content

The Essel group has expressed a keen desire to help India develop cricketing talent, as well as provide lucrative sports programming for Zee Telefilms, which lost out on the rights to broadcast all BCCI-sanctioned cricket matches in India until 2011.

Essel Group had originally launched Zee Sports earlier with the anticipation of securing at least some of the BCCI telecast rights in 2006. This was followed by Zee acquiring 50 percent in TEN Sports in November 2006 for Rs. 2.57  billion. This gave the company a few international cricket rights – West Indies, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan.

Cricket played in India generates Rs. 10  billion in advertising and subscription revenue and Subhash Chandra has been acutely aware of his company missing out on this lucrative cricket pie.

During his battle with BCCI and ESPN Star Sports for the five-year telecast rights in August–September 2004 in the Bombay High Court, Chandra was present every day for the hearings. Despite Zee bidding the highest at $307  million, BCCI, and it is then-president Jagmohan Dalmiya denied him the rights.

The pain of denial has been with Chandra since 2000 when the ICC World Cup rights were sold to NewsCorp's Global Cricket Corporation (GCC) for $550  million despite Zee bidding the highest at $650  million citing Zee's insufficient sports marketing experience.

In August 2005, Zee again emerged as a forerunner with a pitch of over $340  million while ESPN Star Sports, the other principal contender, is believed to have offered around $325  million. BCCI took the stance that Zee was not qualified as a specialist broadcaster and refused to consider Zee's proposal. The matter expectedly went to court and Doordarshan emerged the beneficiary.

Chandra then tried the political route too and supported Sharad Pawar's candidature as BCCI president against Dalmiya. Pawar emerged victorious but not Chandra. In the last round of bidding in February 2006, it was Nimbus who bagged BCCI's telecast rights till 2011 for $613  million with Zee trailing at $513  million.

Since there was a Zee-Nimbus alliance before the bidding, media pundits thought Nimbus' bid was a Zee front. But Nimbus chose to go its way and launched its own sports network – NEO Sports. In 2012, Star Sports bought broadcasting rights for international and domestic matches in India for more than $550  million.

Support for the league

The ICL received some support from unexpected quarters. There was a fear that lack of access to infrastructure, like the premier cricket stadiums, would limit the success of the operation of the league, but support from various government bodies boosted the league. Camps were held at Mayajaal in Chennai, a private resort with adequate cricket facilities.[4] The then head of Indian Railways Lalu Prasad Yadav showed his backing by opening all the cricket stadiums controlled by the Indian Railways to the league. Describing the ICL as a "good initiative", Prasad issued a statement saying that the BCCI and ICL should each come up with a cricket team and play against each other to show who's the best.[5] The state government of West Bengal also agreed to rent its cricket grounds, notably Eden Gardens, to the league.[6] In Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation provided its Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium for matches.

Controversy

BCCI Response

The BCCI refused to recognise the ICL as a cricket league, and criticised Kiran More and Kapil Dev for joining the ICL.[7] Kapil Dev's association with ICL was seen by the establishment as a conflict of interest as he was also the chairman of National Cricket Academy, a BCCI owned cricket facility.[8] On 21 August 2007 Kapil Dev was sacked from his NCA post.[9] Subhash Chandra had earlier stated that the ICL will go ahead regardless of the BCCI's stance. The International Cricket Council gave a statement through its chief executive, Malcolm Speed, that the ICC would not recognize the ICL unless the BCCI chooses to recognise it. The ICC looks at the ICL as an issue to be sorted out by the BCCI. On 25 July 2012 Kapil Dev informed BCCI that he had resigned from the ICL.[10]

Faced with the threat of young players joining the ICL, the BCCI jacked-up prize money for winners, runners-up and losing semi-finalists across all tournaments. An average domestic cricketer can hope to make around Rs 35,000 per match day from the season of 2007–08: more than double the Rs 16,000 they got in 2005–06. The BCCI has also planned to do away with honorary selectors, who will be paid professionals from September 2008 onwards.[11]

The BCCI started its own international Twenty20 league. The official league, which launched in April 2008, is called the Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket. The league model is based on the franchise model of the National Football League and Major League Baseball in the US.[12]

ICL takes BCCI to court

In August 2007, the ICL filed a petition against the BCCI in the Delhi High Court accusing the BCCI of threatening and intimidating them and other state organizations and asked the court to stop BCCI from interfering with its attempts to sign up players for its tournaments. It also petitioned that the BCCI stop trying to "out-hire" cricket stadiums in India that are owned by the state governments, in anti-competitive attempts to stop the ICL from using them to play matches.

On 27 August 2007, the Delhi High Court ruled in favor of the ICL. In its ruling, the Delhi High Court said that players should not suffer in the battle between corporate giants. The court has issued notices to all corporate sponsors, the state cricket associations & the BCCI against terminating valid contracts of players joining the ICL.[13]

The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) of India had asked its Director-General of Investigation to do an initial investigation into the BCCI's action against players who had joined the ICL. The investigation was based on media reports of the BCCI giving an open statement that it will ban players who join ICL. It was also reported in the media that all state associations, under direction from the BCCI, have canceled contracts with players.[14]

Pressure on players from other national organizations

In considering rejoining the ICL former England wicketkeeper Paul Nixon was said to have put his career in jeopardy because any player that signs up with the ICL, which does not have official status from the International Cricket Council, risks losing their registration.[15]

The addition of a new team from Dhaka in Bangladesh, consisting largely of Bangladesh internationals caused more controversy as the cricket board of that country banned the players for 10 years for joining the 'rebel' ICL.[16] Faced with the departure of so many players the board appealed to other Bangladeshi players to reject the new ICL team, stay loyal to the board and embrace the opportunity to play for their country.[17]

Downfall of the ICL

The future of ICL became uncertain when BCCI banned ICL players from playing international matches. Since then many ICL players have returned to their national team including famous players like Shane Bond (now retired) and Abdul Razzaq.

BCCI after seeing the success of ICL wanted to start their league called "IPL". So, BCCI didn't miss any chance to stop the league by banning players and stadiums associated with ICL.

Shortly before the conclusion of the inaugural tournament, the ICL announced its plans for expansion, which include a fifty over tournament in February 2008, and the expansion of the ICL Indian Championship to eight teams for the second tournament, due to be held in September and October 2008.[18]

A similar initiative has been launched in United States by the PayAutoMata group but details have yet to emerge.[19]

In October 2008, the promoters of the ICL, Zee and its parent company Essel Sports Pvt. Ltd, had applied for trademark registration of T20 under Class 28 of the Trade Mark Rules, 2002.[20] [21]

Transparency issues

Independent analysts have had difficulty gauging the financial viability of the ICL due to the lack of transparency of the league's operations. Terms of contracts are hidden and advertising revenue from match telecasts – considered to be a major contributor to revenues – has never been disclosed. Because they are unsanctioned by the ICC, the teams do not have access to the best facilities across the whole country or access to the best players, limiting their ability to generate high gate revenues. This lack of transparency leads to questions regarding the overall viability of the ICL's business model.

The end of ICL

The ICL has now come to an end after all its players dropped out. This was because of the offer of amnesty given by BCCI to players choosing to leave the ICL.

Broadcasting of ICL

Since the ICL was conducted by Zee Telefilms, the ICL was broadcast in most domains on the Zee network.[22]

Broadcaster Regional broadcast rights
Zee Sports Global Rights, India—Hindi, Bangladesh & US
Ten Sports India—English, Bangladesh, Pakistan & Middle East
ATN Bangla Bangladesh
Gateway North Africa
Telkom-Malaysia Malaysia
Astro TVIQ Malaysia
Fox Sports Australia
Zee Music UK
Zee Smile Asia
Zee TV Africa
Caribbean Media Corporation Caribbean

Broadcasting ban

In November 2008, the Bangladeshi government set a ban on the broadcasting of live matches of the ICL on the privately held Diganta TV channel in the country. This would extend to the ICL World Series featuring the country's national team.[23]

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References
  1. Ajita Shashidhar, Suveen Sinha and (25 May 2014). "League of Notions". Business Today. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  2. Cricinfo staff (14 May 2007). "Zee Sports denies signing of stars". Cricinfo. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
  3. Khanna, Roma (14 May 2007). "BCCI's own now have a new job". CricketNext. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
  4. Vasu, Anand (22 August 2007). "ICL to hold camp at Mayajaal in Chennai". cricinfo.com. Retrieved 23 August 2007.
  5. Cricket on Times of India | Live Cricket Score, Cricket News, India Cricket. Cricket.indiatimes.com (1 January 1970). Retrieved on 2013-12-23.
  6. Press Trust of India (23 August 2007). "State minister allows ICL use of Eden Gardens". cricinfo.com. Retrieved 23 August 2007.
  7. Press Trust of India (13 June 2007). "BCCI shoots down ICL". Rediff.com. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
  8. Shanbhag, Sudhakar (13 June 2007). "BCCI Not To Recognise Zee-Promoted Indian Cricket League". Worldcuplatest.com. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
  9. Press Trust of India (21 August 2007). "Kapil sacked as NCA Chairman". Rediff.com. Retrieved 21 August 2007.
  10. "Kapil Dev resigns from ICL, returns to BCCI". Wisden India. Archived from the original on 14 March 2013. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  11. Press Trust of India (21 June 2007). "BCCI hikes domestic match fees". Rediff.com. Retrieved 22 August 2007.
  12. Jamie Alter (13 September 2007). "International Twenty20 league launched". Cricinfo.com. Retrieved 13 September 2007.
  13. "Delhi HC orders companies to let players join ICL". Reuters. 27 August 2007.
  14. "Cricket row under MRTPC scanner".
  15. Hoult, Nick (1 October 2008). "Paul Nixon may put county career in jeopardy by rejoining 'rebel' Indian Cricket League". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
  16. "Bangladesh vow to ban ICL rebels". BBC News. 17 September 2008. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
  17. Dhaka tries to stop more cricketers from joining ICL. Sify.com (16 September 2008). Retrieved on 2013-12-23.
  18. Indian premier league live score 2020. iplt20.live (February 2020). Retrieved on 2020-02-27.
  19. "Indian Cricket League invades the Americas". http://www.mmdnewswire.com/the-indian-cricket-league-invades-the-americas-2626.html. 4 December 2007. Archived from the original on 7 December 2007. Retrieved 4 December 2007. External link in |publisher= (help)
  20. Archived 22 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  21. All about T20 cricket: Zee promoted ICL planning to patent T20 as its brand. Thecricketingleague.blogspot.com. Retrieved on 2013-12-23.
  22. http://www.indiancricketleague.in/news/inner-news.aspx?xfile=data/news/2008/October/news_20081007_20.xml%5B%5D
  23. Bangladesh govt bans ICL coverage. Hindustan Times (1 November 2008). Retrieved on 2013-12-23.

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