Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Stand up to the BCCI !!

- Former Pakistan Captain Inzamam Ul Haq who led the Lahore Badshahs in the ICL Edelweiss 20s Challenge and is leading the ICL Pakistanis in the ICL 20s World Series.
Moin Khan, who is coaching the teams captained by Inzamam, is also the ICL agent for Pakistan. He gets a neat commission from the ICL for every Pakistani player he signs on and has been instrumental in getting together an international looking Pakistan side for the league.
The presence of big names like Inzamam have led a number of Pakistani cricketers to jump ship. Ignorance on part of the PCB is another factor leading players like Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umar, Mohammad Sami joining the ICL bandwagon.
You can't blame the cricketers - for apart from being ignored for national duty, they earn more from the ICL than from playing domestic cricket and maybe even earn more than their IPL counterparts.
The PCB here failed on several accounts.
  • They failed to provide the 'rebel' cricketers with enough confidence that they still have a future in Pakistan.
  • They failed to increase pay packages for domestic cricketers. Or at least for those who had represented Pakistan or were on the fringes.
  • They failed to negotiate IPL packages for these cricketers. The Badshahs were a hit in India so theres no reason why the BCCI would have ignored these cricketers, which have proved to be big crowd pullers.
Where does all this leave Pakistan cricket?
Not in very good shape unfortunately.
The domestic competitions this year, despite having the first choice internationals, lacked subtance due to 18 of the countries' top cricketers playing in the ICL.
If another dozen or 2 dozen cricketers join the ICL it would leave the domestic structure in tatters with only 2nd and 3rd grade cricketers participating in it. Or rather only those whom the ICL are not interested in.
So what should the PCB do about this?
Its quite simple honestly.
Let the cricketers earn their livelihood by playing in the ICL and allow them to play domestic cricket in Pakistan. Its not that these cricketers don't want to play for their regional teams or departments - they do, the PCB has banned them.
Imran Farhat and Taufeeq Umar have a case filed with the High Court to overturn the bans. Abdul Razzak has filed one as well.
The sooner the PCB realises that the ban is unfair, and its only going to hurt them, the better.
But then if the bans are overturned the PCB will come into the bad books of the BCCI. They can't afford to do that.
Someone then needs to knock some sense into the BCCI. Who can do that? The ICC? CA?
All the national cricket boards need to come together and stand up to the BCCI. They need to let the BCCI know that they are at a loss since they are not getting a share of IPL revenues and at the same time they are losing cricketers to the ICL because of their support to the BCCI.
I hope that sanity prevails and the boards don't go for a cut in IPL revenues as opposed to having their domestic cricketers back.

Make your pitch on this post...



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11 Pitched:

  1. straight point said...
     

    though i am also a basher of bcci (if not big basher)...

    but seriously how can bcci be blamed for other boards knowtowing to them...??

    i am yet to hear a report that mr lalit mody assembled all board super honchos and on point blank gun got the approvals from all over?

    those who are signing icl know it for sure that they WONT BE able to play for their countries and majority of them i believe are majors...if not all...

    as they say with every decisions comes the consequences associated with it...its called karma...

    for once i am not in agreement with you on this...

  2. Q said...
     

    SP - Sure the players knew that what they were getting into when signing with the ICL.

    My stand is that the bans by the boards on ICL players are unjustified. Agreed that each board has its own right to deal with ICL players as they feel right but how will the BCCI feel if say the PCB or CA allow the players to play domestic as well as international cricket?

    Surely they wont take it lieing down.

    Lalit Modi did not hold any board to gun point and force them to ban ICL players but the BCCI did say that it was a rebel league and tey dont want to associate with, which led the ICC to do the same, and the other boards had to follow suit.

    It was a polite request if anything by the BCCI and all the boards, knowing the advantage of towing the BCCI, conveniently agreed.

    Its only a matter of time that these boards will realise that they are only hurting themselves by banning these cricketers.

  3. straight point said...
     

    exactly...

    let the market, influence, circumstance decide the course of turn of events...

    the better sense will prevail...

    but let them have some 'sense' first...

  4. Anonymous said...
     

    actually you should read what shane bond has said about it. in sum, he said that when he first signed to the icl he got permission from the nz board to do so. however, 6 months later, the nz board changed their minds. why? he claims he read documents taht were sent from the bcci to the nz stating that if they allowed any icl players to play in their national team or league, they would refuse them to play india anywhere. they would refuse their players to play in the ipl etc. you know what this means: a loss of significant revenue for the nz board. at the end of the day, india is where the money is coming from.


    in effect, the bcci has put a gun to their head, financially

  5. Anonymous said...
     

    q

    I partially agree with you,their is no justification of banning players as it is an agreement in restraint of trade,IPL was created to kill ICL but BCCI other than asking other boards to ban their players who join ICL have not done much to stop ICL, in fact all the dangers which were associated with ICL are becoming a reality because of IPL,the test Cricket and other International cricket is being threatened by IPL, another tour has been postponed India V zimb and I am sure more consequences will unfold after the first season.

    My question is why IPL does not have the same dates as ICL if its main purpose was to kill ICL, why players from countries who were scheduled to play international cricket during IPL dates this season were put for auction, all the financial gains are for BCCI why other boards should make their domestic seasons barren by imposing bans on their players when they have no financial benefit from the league infact only their management headaches have been increased by these two leagues.

    I think its been a failure on part of ICC and other boards to fully foresee the consequences of this league they should have carefully looked at the business and operational model of this league and should have asked for at least a share in the management control of it and then approved it.

    And let me tell you one thing BCCI used ICL as a big bogey to get the other boards to approve IPL and they are still using it,all the other boards are just like out of the frying pan and into the fire,
    if they do not give NOC to a player he will sign ICL, their is no leverage left with the boards.

    I think the solution to this is create one window for all these leagues in the ICC ftp thats the only solution.

    Pakistan should start its own league we have the talent pool we have infrastructure, all we need is some professional at the top who can design and implement the business model.To counter ICL players must be given their due financial share Rs75000-RS200000 per month contracts are not going to help in retaining the players,more innovation regarding revenue generation is required from the PCB, they have no choice but to increase the salaries of the players.

  6. Anonymous said...
     

    Another point regarding ICL it is going to schedule 6 events in a year no country can commit its main players for such a long period of time.It will be hard for the boards and ICC to legitimize it unless they broker a deal with ICL.

  7. Q said...
     

    Anon - actually ur right, in Bond's case that did happen.

    I think behind closed doors the BCCI were quite adamant that the oher boards support them against the ICL.

  8. Q said...
     

    "another tour has been postponed India V zimb and I am sure more consequences will unfold after the first season"

    Sam, the BCCI also made sure that the Pak vs SL series doesn't take place during the IPL time..

    "My question is why IPL does not have the same dates as ICL if its main purpose was to kill ICL"

    The ICL dates were not known to anyone. They had not announced any tournament. The IPL anounced its dates and released a schedule and the ICL then made sure that they hold their tournament before the IPLs. The ICL were the smart one here - they knew that the IPL would have to announce dates in advance cos they had recruited players currenly playing int'l cricket, while the ICL could announce a tournament at a short notice and still have all its players present...

    "I think the solution to this is create one window for all these leagues in the ICC ftp thats the only solution."

    Haroon Lorgat, the new ICC chief to be is well on his way there. Sounds promising..

    "Pakistan should start its own league we have the talent pool we have infrastructure, all we need is some professional at the top who can design and implement the business model"

    The professionals are working on the business model and it will be unveiled in June-July this year. I agree that Pakistan has everything u mention, but wat they don't have is the assurance that international players will sign with them the way they have done with the ICL and IPL.

    Spending 45 days in India as a tourist is very different than 45 days in Pakistan, which unfortunately doesn't sound that promising...

  9. Anonymous said...
     

    Q your point regarding the dates is well taken, I know it will be hard for Pakistan to attract foreign players under present circumstances, we do not need to attract foreign players if the tournament is marketed properly it will generate enough money to enable PCB to retain its players.

  10. Q said...
     

    Sam, if ur not attracting foreign players then it will just be like th ABN Amro 20-20 that has been held in Pakistan for the last 3 years - Faisalabad wolves won in 2005, Sailkot Stallions in 2006, and Karachi Zebras in 2007..

    If ur talking abt franchises taking over these teams then the only way that business model will be viable is if the game is taken outside pakistan in terms of TV viewership - that can only happen with international stars..

  11. shellykane said...
     

    i am yet to hear a report that mr lalit mody assembled all board super honchos and on point blank gun got the approvals from all over?
    ==================================
    shelly

    voucher codes

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