Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Super Kings or Super Stars, Indians or Champs, Daredevils or Giants, Riders or Tigers?

A few days ago I did a post where I mentioned that the Indian Premier League teams were clones of the International teams.

Just before the IPL got underway, the "rebel" Indian Cricket League had held the Edelweiss 20s Challenge involving 8 teams, the same number taking part in the ongoing IPL tournament. Similar to the IPL teams, the ICL ones were also based on Indian cities.

Here I look at whether the IPL city teams are clones of the ICL ones or not.

IPL Team: Mumbai Indians, ICL Team: Mumbai Champs
Both teams are led by the two greatest batsmen of this era - Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara respectively. While Sachin has been kept on the sidelines due to a groin injury, Brian Lara missed in the entire ICL tournament due to injury. Both are coached by Indians - Lalchand Rajput and Sandeep Patil respectively. The Champs hardly won anything ending as the 6th ranked team in the ICL, while the Indians have lost 4 matches in a row before winning a couple. They are also in 6th place currently.

Cloning Factor: Identical Twins. The kind that wear the same clothes.


IPL Team: Chennai Super Kings, ICL Team: Chennai Superstars
One is led by a young dynamic Indian stumper, MS Dhoni, while the other an old retired Aussie batsman, Stuart Law. Both are coached by former Australian internationals - Keppler Wessels and Micheal Bevan respectively, and both rely on Aussie power for the runs - Hayden & Hussey and Law & Harvey. Both teams are one of the stronger sides in their respective competitions - the Superstars lost in the semis, while the Super Kings are well on there way there.

Cloning Factor: Twins but not Identical. Try and dress differently.


IPL Team: Delhi Daredevils, ICL Team: Delhi Giants
Both are captained by opening batsmen, though very different in style - Sehwag and Atapattu respectively. One is coached by Greg Shipperd, a domestic Aussie coach, while the other by a former Indian international, Madan Lal. The Daredevils are one of the strongest sides in their competition, while the Giants were one of the weaker ones. One attacks with McGrath and the other with Shane Bond.

Cloning Factor: No Relation. Too different. Can't even be friends.


IPL Team: Kolkata Knight Riders, ICL Team: Kolkata Tigers
One is captained by one of India's best captains, Saurav Ganguly, and the other by one who was in and out of his international team, Craig McMillian. One is coached by one of the world's best coaches, John Buchanan, and the other by Daryll Cullinan, who has no prior coaching experience. While KKR is 5th in the points table and could go through to the semis, the Tigers were the 4th team into the semis.

Cloning Factor: Friends. Share a little in common, haven't met in years.


IPL Team: Deccan Chargers, ICL Team: Hyderabad Heroes
One is captained by an established Indian international, VVS Laxman, and the other by an allrounder, Chris Harris. Both are poles apart as far as cricket is concerned - one is a pure batsman who is a turtle on the field, and the other a lower order batsman, a lep spinning medium pace, and a livewire on the field. One is coached by Robin Singh, fielding coach of India, and the other by Steve Rixon, a former international coach. Both have Pakistani allround power - one with Afridi and the other with Razzak. One is lowest placed side in its competition, and the other won theirs.

Cloning Factor: Divorced cause there was nothing in common apart from erratic Pakistani behaviour.


IPL Team: Kings XI Punjab, ICL Team: Chandigarh Lions
Lions are Kings aren't they? One is a Mohali team and the other a Chandigarh one but both Punjabi. Punjabis are Lion Kings! One is captained by a hard hitting batsman, Yuvraj Singh, and the other by a Kiwi allrounder, Chris Cairns. Both can hit a lot of big sixes though. One is coached by a former international player and coach, Tom Moody, and the other by Balwandar Sadhu, unheard of. the Kings XI are placed 2nd in the points table while the Lions ended 7th.

Cloning Factor: Friends with the same names, but nothing else in common.

The IPL has teams from Bangalore and Jaipur, which the ICL did not. They instead had a team from Ahmedabad and an all Pakistani one from Lahore.

Those are the similarities, or lack of, of the teams in the two leagues. But what is the relationship between the IPL and the ICL?

The ICL is the original, while the IPL is the successful cloning experiment of very smart scientists. One has been termed an illegal resident by the authorities and is fighting for official legal status, much like a step son disowned by the evil mother. One considers the other to be a rival that has no right to exist while in reality it is a business partner promoting India. They even have similar names and could even have a fruitful long term relationship but the concerned parties are refusing to the marriage. They remain separated and often communicate through different media channels, but it may be better for both to go out on a date and figure out how they can be together.

Make your pitch on this post...



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2 Pitched:

  1. straight point said...
     

    nice analogy between ICL and IPL...Q!

    the problem with this pair is that who will be submissive partner...once the sort this out they will marry ;-))

  2. Q said...
     

    ICL will have to be the submissive after IPL gives into ICLs demands for acceptance ;-)

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