Its Here - April 18th, 2008 is Here!

The glittering opening ceremony for the IPL is underway.

Shankar Ehsaan Loy are performing.

The stadium is PACKED! I don't see a single empty seat.

42 days? I reckon, all round India they could do this 365 days a year.

In an hour or so former Indian captains Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid will walk out for the toss under spotlights in the dark.

In an hour and a half Kolkata Knight Riders and the Bangalore Royal Challengers will kick off the Indian Premier League.

Apart from Ganguly and Dravid, Ponting, Kallis, Boucher, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, McCullum, David Hussey, Cameron White, Virat Kohli, ad Chris Gayle will be seen in action today.

Quite a star cast that is.

At this point, I take you back to an old post where I rated the bidders in terms of the IPL teams they selected.

Here is what I had said about Kolkata and Bangalore:

Team Kolkata
Franchisee: Shahrukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment
Being the King of entertainment Shahrukh Khan made sure he fills his side with entertainers in Shoaib Akhtar, Ponting, and Gayle - all more than able cricketers. Led by Ganguly, the prince of Kolkata and SRK's managed the players who can fill up the 100,000 plus seats at the Eden Gardens. Shoaib sharing the new ball with Ishant Sharma followed by Umar Gul's toe busting yorkers looks like a solid pace attack on paper which can be ably supported by the spin of Gayle and Murali Karthik. They also gambled by paying a pricey $675K for arguably Australia's best T20 batsman in David Hussey. Add McCullum as the keeper to the mix and Kolkata looks like a well balanced side that could be one of the favorites as well as one of th most entertaining side of the competition. SRK bagged the best bargain in the auction with Ponting, Akhtar, and Gul but may have overpaid for Ishant.
Bidometer: 9/10

Bangalore Royal Challengers
Franchisee: UB Group
Vijay Mallya had Rahul Dravid by his side during the auction but even he could not help Bangalore pick suitable men for the T20 game. Dravid, Kallis, Chanderpaul, and Wasim Jaffer look more like a test batting line up than one for a T20 match. Moreover, they spent as much as $900,000 for Kallis, who was dropped by his national team for the T20 World Cup played in his own backyard. On the bowling front however, with Steyn, Bracken, and Zaheer they probably picked up the best pace battery out of all franchisees and all at very good prices. They got a very good deal for the best keeper in the world, Boucher, and they gambled half a million on Cameron White. With the 3 pacers, White, and Kumble; Dravid has managed a varied and dangerous attack but the batting is on the weak side and apart from home boy Dravid, Bangalore haven't really managed any crowd pullers.
Bidometer: 5/10

This rated the bidders and apart from the teams' crowd pulling power it was also based on the type players they selected keeping the 20-20 format in mind so in a way it is also an indication of team strength.

Based on the Bidometer, I say Kolkata Knight Riders will register the first victory of the IPL.

Its besides the point, that I want them to.

The Aussie Invasion of the IPL Continues...

Yesterday I did a post on the Aussies taking the IPL by storm. Shaun Marsh and Dominic Thornely were the latest signees to the league.

That wasn't the end of the Aussie signing spree though.

One of the commentators on that post mentioned that the dominance of Aussie coaches in the IPL has led a number of domestic players to join the IPL. Very true I think.

The latest Aussies to join the IPL are Micheal Buchanan and Matthew Mott. Micheal is the son of former Australia coach John Buchanan and he joins his father at the Kolkata Knight Riders as the teams strength trainer.

What in the world is a strength trainer? Is he going to train the likes of Saurav Ganguly, Ricky Ponting, and Chris Gayle to become stronger?

Matthew Mott is the New South Wales' coach and he also joins the Kolkata Knight Riders as John Buchanan's assistant.

And so the Aussie invasion of the IPL continues. There could yet be more though.

In a recent survey held by the Australian Cricketers' Association, 47% of the nationally contracted players said that they would consider early retirement to play in the IPL or the ICL. 49% of the players with state deals said the same.

I believe that this is going to have quite an impact on Australian cricket in the future. All the Aussies could well be thinking that this is India's plan to strip them of the world dominance that they have been on for over a decade.

Pakistan's domestic cricket is already suffering with the cream of domestic stars opting for the ICL. Even though this year the Aussies in the ICL were the ageing ones like Jason Gillespie, Damien Martyn, Jimmy Maher, and Micheal Kasprowicz, theres no reason why younger ones won't follow suit in the future.

A weakened domestic structure in Australia is bound to weaken the international team.

I say the ICL because in the same survey, 75% of the contracted players said that the ICL was good for the game. Now this is a surprise! I had thought otherwise since majority of the Aussie bloggers call it evil. The players obviously think otherwise.

Here is a further case for lifting the ban off the ICL and accepting it as an open competitor.

If the best players of cricket in the world feel that a league, labelled as rebel, is good for the game and that they would even consider early retirement to play there, the rebel label needs to go sooner rather than later.

The BCCI and the ICC need to wake up already.

Stand up to the BCCI !!

"The ICL headquarter in Mumbai has been flooded with calls from leading Pakistani cricketers who are willing to join the breakaway league"

- 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.

Long Live the ICL!

After the Lahore Badshahs won their first match of the ICL Edelweiss 20s Challenge, I mentioned elsewhere that knowing the Pakistani players I wouldn't be surprised to see them reaching the final undefeated and then losing it. That is exactly how ICL's 2nd edition ended last night.

I think I said it on Soulberry's blog or it could have been on Ottayan's. I tried looking for it but couldn't find it. (SB & OTT, can you help?)

The Hyderabad Heroes beat the Lahore Badshahs twice in 3 days to clinch the best of 3 finals and the ICL Trophy.

Both the finals were intense close games. The first one saw the Heroes winning by a narrow margin of 6 runs with Abdul Razzak's 3-18 restricting the Badshahs to 137 while chasing a target of 144.

The 2nd one was even closer. The match ended in a tie. Defending 130, the Badshahs did well on the back of Rana Naved's 5-22, who took the last 2 wickets in the final over of the Heroes' innings to help tie the game.

The match was then decided by a bowl out, which the Heroes won 3-0. All the Lahoris missed the stumps! Anyone remember the 20-20WC group match between Pakistan and India?

Abdul Razzak was declared player of the series for his outstanding all round performance in the tournament - He finished as the highest wicket taker of the tournament with 18 from 10 matches at 13.38 apiece. Add to that his 183 at 22.87 and he displayed what the international Pakistan team has been missing. Its also a boot to the face of the selectors that dropped him from the 20-20 World Cup Squad last year.

The Badshahs took the the ICL by storm and were huge crowd pullers. Inzamam led the team with passion and the energy displayed by the players on the field was something one doesn't see in a typical Pakistan side. They definitely improved the standard of the tournament, which augurs well for the ICL's future.

There are talks doing the rounds that the next tournament could see similar sides from Sri Lanka, South Africa, and New Zealand. There are also reports that the ICL is considering adding a 4-day competition and a 50-50 competition to their annual calendar of events.

If that happens the ICL may as well be operating as the largest competitor to the ICC rather than one to the IPL or the BCCI.

The tournament has been a success, the crowds have been entertained, TV coverage has been lapped up in India and in a big way in Pakistan, and the ICL seems to have firmed its footing in the cricketing world despite all the barriers that were thrown at it. The only complaint I have is that TV coverage is not extended to the Middle East, but I guess with time that will also happen.

Sidharth Monga on Cricinfo questions whether anyone will watch the ICL once the IPL takes off. And also if the Indian market has room for two 20-20 leagues. With the cricket craving population of over a billion I think India has room for 10 such leagues! Ok maybe 5.

Mr. Monga, ICL's 2nd edition is over and its next tournament that kicks off on 9th April will be over on the 15th, a few days before the IPL kicks off. The ICL has ensured that they don't clash with their competition and smartly so.

This brings me to ICL's next tournament which starts in 2 days. Its called the ICL 20s World Series and is a triangular tournament between ICL India, ICL Pakistan, and ICL World.

I tell you the ICL keeps getting bigger and better!!

ICL Pakistan will be captained by Inzamam Ul Haq and coached by Moin Khan. It will comprise of the Badshahs' team members joined by Abdul Razzak and Shabbir Ahmed.

ICL World will be captained by Chris Carins and coached by John Emburey. The team will comprise of the galaxy of international stars on the ICL roster including Damien Martyn, Marvan Atapattu, Nathan Astle, Micheal Bevan, Craig McMillan, Lance Klusener, Chris Harris, Ian Harvey, Andrew Hall, Justin Kemp, Adam Parore, Jason Gillespie, Shane Bond, and Micheal Kasprowicz among others.

ICL India will be coached by Steve Rixon and the team will be announced soon. It will be comprise of the best performers of the just concluded ICL Edelweiss 20s Challenge.

The ICL 20s World Series promises even more entertainment from the ICL. Each team will play the other twice in the league stage and then the top 2 will contest the final on 15th April.

Smartly planned and scheduled right before the IPL.

In a way the ICL has also helped the IPL. It has generated such wide interest from the public that will just spill over to the IPL with non stop 20-20 action for viewers. So Mr. Monga, I think India has enough appetitie for 2 such leagues, and as I said maybe enough for 5 such leagues as well.

Long Live the ICL!

Subhash Chandra, Kapil Dev, and all of you at Zee and the ICL board take a bow.

Shoaib Akhtar in Hotter Soup - The WAR Continues...

The PCB banned Shoaib Akhtar, Nasim Ashraf gave a press conference, Shoaib gave an interview to GEO, Hamid Mir disclosed off-camera talk, Shoaib confirmed off-camera talk on other TV channels, and now it has all come back to bite Shoaib on his back side!

To read about what has happened over the last few days since this war started, read here, here, and here.

Had Shoaib remained quiet after the ban, seemed apologetic for his indisciplinary acts, and filed an appeal, maybe, just maybe, he could have gotten away with it. He has filed an appeal and the PCB is setting up an appellate tribunal to her it out but I highly doubt Shoaib would be listened to this time round.

His vindictive interviews to the media regarding match fixin, former cricketers, the PCB, and Nasim Ashraf have completely back fired.

1. The ICC have stated that the ACU is going to question Shoaib - this is going to get him or others into serious trouble. In order to keep intact whatever little integrity he has left, he cannot go back on what he has said. If he speaks the truth and is able to give some sort of evidence, it could potentially shake up cricket in Pakistan, India, and South Africa.
   
2. The IPL have disallowed Shoaib from playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders - Lalit Modi said that since the IPL was looking for global acceptance they had to follow international guidelines, thus it would be wrong of them to allow a player banned by a home board to play in their league. Fair enough, but there could be more to this. Ottayan has pointed out that it was the BCCI that requested the ICC to question Shoaib regarding his claims of being approached by bookies in India. This could have triggered the BCCI barring Shoaib from the IPL.
   
3. Nasim Ashraf and the PCB have filed a defamation case against Shoaib - a lawsuit demanding millions of dollars in compensation for making derogatory comments about the PCB and Nasim Ashraf has been filed by the PCB. If he cannot provide evidence against Nasim Ashraf and his "fee cuts", Shoaib is going to be poorer by some $3 million! Plus I doubt the tribunal will reverse the ban following these statements.


4. The ICL looks out of the options list - Shoaib publicly spoke about slapping Inzamam and Moin Khan who are the captain and coach of the Lahore Badshahs respectively. Playing for the Lahoriyas is out of the question now. He could play for some other ICL team but then Moin Kan is the agent for Pakistani players taking part in the ICL and I believe he will put in all efforts to keep Shoaib out of it.

What now for Shoaib? I think he has bowled his final delivery in all forms of cricket.

Bollywood and Rakhi Sawant look like the more realistic option.

Smartest Bidder or Favorite Team?

The current poll on Well Pitched asks you "who was the smartest IPL bidder?".

The current voting count is at 70 and that is by far the highest number of votes we have receivd for any of our polls. Usually the number used to range from 15-25.

Why the increase? It could either be because of the large interest that the IPL has generated or cause of the general increase in traffic on Well Pitched, which is owed to Uncle J, Soulberry, and Ottayan for guiding readers here. And also to some googlers searching items like "how tall asif tanvir", "Shahrukh Khan Ganguly Akhtar knight rider national anthem", and "sohail khan fastest ball".

Out of the 70 votes casted, the Kolkata Knight Riders are considered the smartest by a vast majority - 31 or 44.3% of the votes went to Shahrukh Khan's team. I did think he bid very smartly but some of the votes could also have been due to the cricketing Knight Riders being everyone's favorite team. Almost everyone's.

Hyderabad was voted 2nd with 17 votes - 24.3% followed by Chennai who got 6 votes. The rest got 5 votes or less.

Each team got at least 1 vote, which is why I say that the voting was probably done according to the team one is supporting rather than according to who you think was the smartest bidder.

Which franchise do you think has been the smartest thus far? In terms of their bidding for cricketers as well as their marketing. At the same time also let us know who you're supporting.

Pakistan Pooled with India

Not only for the Asia Cup in June but also for the Champions Trophy in September.

Both the tournaments are being held in the "safety concerned" Pakistan and Sri Lanka has been named as the alternative venue for both. For the sake of Pakistan Cricket, I hope that Pakistan is declared safe enough for the Asia Cup and the Champions Trophy.

With PPP announcing their candidate for PM and rumours of Pervez Musharraf shifting base to hideout in Turkey, probably a "safe" Pakistan is not too distant in the future.

The more interesting part though is that in both the competitions, India and Pakistan have been pooled in the same group. A garanteed Pakistan-India clash will definitely boost ticket sales and will provide the domestic season the energy it needs.

Is this a casting coup by the adminstracrats or did the seeds actually play a role in this?

For the Asia Cup its Pakistan, India, and Hong Kong in the same pool. With the top 2 going through to a "Super 4" stage the Asian teams shouldn't have a problem here unless HK pulls an Ireland.

For the Champions Trophy its Pakistan, India, Australia and the West Indies. This pits the Asian sides against the defending champions (the Aussies), and the winners and runners up of 2004 and 2006 (the Windies). Only 2 teams will go through to the semis - tough one there for the Asian sides.

Scheduled or June and September, its high time top internatonal cricket returns to Pakistan.

Order Order !!

The timeline:

2006: Mohammad Yousuf breaks Sir Viv Richards' record for the most test runs scored in a calendar year. On top he also breaks the record for the most number of centuries in a year.

Fast Forward...

July 2007: PCB conducts a 20-20 camp and several 20-20 matches between leading players of the country in preparation for the T20 World Cup. Mohammad Yousuf fails to make an impact in the practice games and is excluded from the World Cup squad on the basis of being a poor fielder and being too old for the T20 game.

August 2007: In protest over shabby treatment from the PCB, Mohammad Yousuf signs with the ICL despite PCB's claims that all ICL signatories will be banned from international and domestic cricket.

September 2007: Nasim Ashraf and PCB enter into negotiations with Mohammad Yousuf and convince him to cancel his ICL contract because Pakistan require his services. PCB is successful as Yousuf cancels his ICL contract, returns the signing amount and the PCB announce that Yousuf will play for Pakistan. Moreover, PCB aslo secure an IPL contract for Yousuf and give him a handsome renumeration for choosing Pakistan over the ICL.

October 2007: ICL file a case against Mohammad Yousuf for dishonoring the contract. PCB state that they will take care of all the legal hassles and Yousuf has nothing to worry about.

February 2008: An Indian court passes an order that Mohammad Yousuf cannot play for any league competing with the ICL till a final verdict is given. The IPL cricketers' auction Episode I takes place and 77 international cricketers are sold to Indian multinationals and bollywood stars. Noone bids for Mohammad Yousuf.

March 2008: The IPL cricketers' auction Episode II takes place and another 14 cricketers are auctioned but no Mohammad Yousuf yet again.

Today (March 19th, 2008): The Mumbai based arbitration court announces that there will be a final hearing for the case on March 29th before a verdict will be given.

March 29th, 2008: What will the verdict be? Or rather, what should it be?

Mohammad Yousuf has thus far blamed the PCB and the BCCI for not pressing on his case with the court and also for not garanteeing to the IPL franchises that he is able to play so that they bid for him.

Who should really be blamed? The PCB? BCCI? Yousuf? The ICL? or the IPL? Or maybe the lawyers fighting his case? Or the judge?

Knight Rider is BACK!

I used to love the show in the 80s. Micheal Knight and Kit were heroes in their own right and I used to follow their adventures week in week out. Micheal Knight then moved on from chasing bad men to chasing bikini clad women and Knight Rider died.

I heard recently that Knight Rider was relaunched and a pilot has been aired with Micheal Knight's son and a new Kit.

But a different kind of Knight Rider was launched in India today.

It was the launch of Shahrukh Khan's Kolkata Knight Riders!

Finally we have an interesting name from one of the IPL franchises. After Super Kings, Royal Challengers, Royals, and Indians; Knight Riders is a refreshing change. And who else than King Khan to come up with something like that.

Team owner Shahrukh Khan, Team captain Saurav Ganguly, and Team Coach John Buchanan launched the name, logo, jersey, mascot, and anthem of the Kolkata team today.

• The logo is a golden helmet.
  
• The jersey is in black and gold.
  
• The mascot is a tiger called 'Hoog Lee', which King SRK announced as "not Bruce Lee, not Brett Lee, but better than all the Lees".
  
• And the anthem is in bengali with the lyrics "Karbo, Larbo, Jeetbo Re". Translated that means "we will do it, fight it, and win it".

Trust the king of entertainment to make his team the most interesting one out of the lot!

A video of the anthem has also been shot and SRK joked about John Buchanan learning some Bollywood steps for it. I can't wait to get my hands on that video - apparently Shoaib Akhtar, Ganguly, and King Khan all make an appearance in it.

Watch out IPL teams, the Kolkata Knight Riders mean business and they are ready to Rock n Roll!!

Hopes Tops the List in Episode II of the IPL Player Auction

Part II of the IPL Player Auction was held today. I reported yesterday that Misbah and James Hopes were likely to recieve the highest bids in todays Auction and they in fact did. Well kind of.

Hopes was the most expensive player auctioned today as he went to Preity Zinta's Mohali for $300,000.

Misbah was picked up by Vijay Mallya's Bangalore for $125,000. I thought he would have gone for much more but I guess not many were interested in him, which is surprising. Misbah joins Darvid, Kallis, and Chanderpaul in the Royal Challenger's middle order.

A number of other international players, who were not listed in the 18 initially announced to be auctioned, were sold today as well. This had something to do with a list of names provided by the franchises to the BCCI.

The first English player was signed up with the IPL today - Dmitri Mascarenhas was picked up by Jaipur for $100,000 after an agreement was signed between Jaipur and Hampshire, who have released Mascarenhas for the initial part of the county season. Hampshire will reportedly be compensated for the time Mascarenhas is not available to them.

This just goes to show how the counties and boards are willing to oblige to the BCCI for the IPL, actions that are totally opposite to the ones bing shown for the ICL. Its quite obvious that Shane Warne, captain of Jaipur and Hampshire, would have played a role in the negotiations.

The other players auctioned today include:

Jaipur: Shane Watson ($125,000), Sohail Tanvir ($100,000), Morne Morkel ($60,000), and U19 players Taruwar Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja.

Kolkata: Salman Butt ($100,000), Mohammad Hafeez ($100,000) and U19 players Iqbal Abdullah and Siddarth Kaul.

Mohali: Luke Pomersbach ($50,000), Kyle Mills ($150,000), and U19 players Ajitesh Argal and Tanmay Srivastava.

Delhi: Brett Greeves ($50,000) and U19 Pradeep Sangwan (Soulberry, your wish of Sangwan in the same team as Asif and Mcgrath has been granted).

(Know anything about Greeves Uncle J?)

Bangalore: Ross Taylor ($100,000), Abdur Razzak ($50,000), and U19 Shreevats Goswami.

Mumbai: Ashwell Prince ($175,000), and U19 players Manish Pandey and Saurabh Tiwary.

Chennai: U19 players Napoleon Einstein, Abhinav Mukund, Viraj Kadbe.

Why did Mumbai pay $175,000 for Ashwell Prince when no one was interested in him the first time round?

Many players still remain unsold, but reports indicate that they will be paid their base prices despite not playing for any team.

Earning money for no work? I am definitely in the wrong job.

IPL Player Auction Part II - Will Misbah be a Big Draw?

18 International players and 16 Indian U19 players are set to be allocated to IPL franchises tomorrow in what will be a 2nd auction for the international players and draft picks for the U19 players.

Jaipur aka Rajhasthan Royals spent only $2.9 million at the 1st auction, effectively leaving them $2.1 million for tomorrow, and thus are the best placed team to pick up more stars as the IPL Player Auction Part 2 gets underway.

The other teams are left with very little money totaling to a few 100 thousand dollars thus they may not be able to pick up more than 1 international player each at the most.

Misbah Ul Haq, who was arguably one of the best batsmen in last year's T20 World Cup, looks to me as the biggest draw at tomorrow's auction. I reckon if he was there in the first one, he would have been the highest priced Pakistani player but strangely he was missing.

Considering that Bangalore have $374,000 left in their kitty, which is the highest balance after Jaipur's, I see Shane Warne's Royal team picking Misbah up. If they do at a relatively low $400,000 or so, he might end up being the bargain of the tournament -a tag currently associated with Ricky Ponting.

The other players up for grabs include Mohd. Yousuf and Ashwell Prince who no one was interested in the last time round in addition to new entries:

Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez
Australia: Shane Watson, Brad Hodge, James Hopes, Luke Pomersbach
SriLanka: Prassanna Jayawardene
New Zealand: Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton, Jamie How, Jeetan Patel, Chris Martin, Kyle Mills, James Franklin
Bangladesh: Mohammad Ashraful, Mashrafe Murtaza

I wonder if anyone will buy Shane Watson - he'll probaby turn up to play and get a stomach bug or something. I don't see how any of the franchises could be interested in any of these names. They have spent millions on big names in the first auction that all these names look like minions.

Misbah and James Hopes will most likely generate the most interest tomorrow. Lets wait and see how much the franchises dish out for these players. Pomersbach, whose big in the Aussie domestic T20 scene, could also be a big draw.

For the U19 players the BCCI have restricted their salary at $30,000 and 2 players each will be alotted to the 8 teams through draft picks. Since there are no seedings for the teams yet, they will be numbered 1-8 randomly, and select the players in order. Team number 8 will get the 8th and 9th pick, while team number 1 will get the first and last pick, and so on.

Someone is going pick up the hammer again tomorrow and some more cricketers are going to be dollar rich.

How much do u think Misbah will go for?

Here come the Lahore BADSHAHS!

Team: Lahore Badshahs (Translation: Lahore Kings)
Coach: Moin Khan
Captain: Inzamam Ul Haq

The Squad
Openers: Imran Farhat, Imran Nazir, Taufiq Umar
Middle Order: Inzamam, Naveed Latif, Hasan Raza
Allrounders: Azhar Mahmood, Abdul Razzak
Wicketkeeper: Humayun Farhat
Fast Bowlers: Mohammad Sami, Rana Naveed Ul Hasan, Shabbir Ahmed, Riaz Afridi, Shahid Nazir
Spinners: Mushtaq Ahmed, Saqlain Mushtaq, Arshad Khan

Reading those names as part of a Pakistani squad would seem that a Pakistan A side is touring for a series of matches. This is not Pakistan A, its the Lahore Badshahs team taking part in the 2nd edition of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) that gets underway in a weeks time.

Apart from the 6 teams that participated in the 1st edition of the ICL, the 2nd edition, "ICL 20s Grand Championship" will feature another 2 teams: Lahore Baadshahs and Ahmedabad Rockets.
In the last 2 days Osman Samiuddin, Ian Chappell, and Asif Iqbal have raised their concerns regarding the bans placed on the cricketers joining the ICL. I did the same a few weeks back demanding the rule of the free economy in cricket - Read here and here.

There is a clear distinction between the IPL and the ICL - the former boasts of current international stars, while the other of retired or ignored ones. Then why are these national boards depriving these cricketers of their livelihood?

Moreover, the ICL 20s Grand Championship will run from 9th March to 7th April, thus concluding over a week before the IPL gets underway. ICL has smartly scheduled its competition so it doesn't clash with the IPL and even then the BCCI seems to have a problem with it. They have left no stone unturned in trying to block it with barriers of all forms -including support from the ICC and other national boards.

As has been mentioned in the articles I linked above, the key question here is what are the ICC and the national cricket boards getting out of this? The IPL benefits only the BCCI, the franchisees, and the auctioned cricketers - the other cricket boards get nothing out of it and neither does the ICC.

This just makes the BCCI the big bully monopoly earning billions and the ICC, PCB, CA, ECB, etc its partners in crime who get what?

Intriguing I think.

The BID-O-METER - Who were the Smartest Bidders?

The cricket world came to a standstill yesterday as all those who mattered gathered around the Hilton Towers in Mumbai and spent millions on cricketers for their IPL franchises. The media frenzy and crowd pull to the cricketers auction was such that other cricket happenings around the world went by unnoticed.

England and New Zealand played out a 340 run tied ODI match, which was probably the most interesting ODI in recent times, the U-19 world cup marched on with its 4th day of matches, a Duleep Trophy Final was being played at the Wankhede, and the ICC announced a shorter 2011 World Cup.

Despite all this, all eyes were on the auction. So how did the bidders fare? Who were the smart ones? Who got it wrong? My Bidometer answers all your questions.

Team Jaipur
Franchisee: Emerging Media
They picked an able leader in Shane Warne at a good bargain along with a potentially dangerous opening combination in Smith and Langer. The middle order looks good too with Younis Khan and Kaif, however the two may not be suited to the T20 game. In Kamran Akmal they have a valuable late order batsman ideal or the T20 game, however their bowling picks look thin - apart from Shane Warne there is Munaf Patel whose history of breaking down makes him a risky choice. They dished out over a million for Yusuf Pathan and Kaif, which is on the high side in my opinion. Apart from Warne, there isn't much star value in the team either, which is essential to oull the crowd in.
Bidometer: 3/10

Chennai Super Kings
Franchisee: India Cements
They made sure that they pick the T20 world cup winning captain in Dhoni, who along with being a sound leader in the shorter versions of the game, also adds the star value required to pull a crowd and add to the brand equity of India Cements. They also got it right with the openers in Hayden and Fleming and a good looking middle order with MEK Hussey and Raina. Add to that hard hitting allrounders Oram and Albie Morkel followed by Dhoni and the Super Kings' batting line up looks very strong. On the bowling front Ntini and Murali are potentially threatening; and they've also got India's T20 WC star Joginder Sharma to bowl the last overs of the innings. They got a very good deal for Hayden and Hussey but may have over paid for Oram and Morkel - but if those sixes start flowing in the last few overs with these 2 in the middle, $1.3 million for both of them may prove to be worth it.
Bidometer: 7/10

Team Mumbai
Franchisee: Reliance India Limited
Mukesh Ambani and his men were blessed with Sachin as their Icon and they ensured that they get te best opening partner for him - Sanath Jayasuriya. This is a dream opening combination for any team and I reckon the best opening pair that will walk out once the IPL kicks off. Both of them bring ample star appeal to the team as well. With Uthappa in the mix they've got a solid top order but the middle order is missing. As is the wicket keeper. Mumbai missed a trick there but they ended the bidding war on a good note by stocking up their bowling with Pollock, Malinga, Fernando, and Harbhajan. Thats a very varied attack and has the potential to trouble all the oppositions batsmen - probably one of the best bowling attacks picked up at the auction. I think they dished out way too much for Bhajji and Uthappa but it got it right with the other bids.
Bidometer: 6/10

Bangalore Royal Challengers
Franchisee: UB Group
Vijay Mallya had Rahul Dravid by his side during the auction but even he could not help Bangalore pick suitable men for the T20 game. Dravid, Kallis, Chanderpaul, and Wasim Jaffer look more like a test batting line up than one for a T20 match. Moreover, they spent as much as $900,000 for Kallis, who was dropped by his national team for the T20 World Cup played in his own backyard. On the bowling front however, with Steyn, Bracken, and Zaheer they probably picked up the best pace battery out of all franchisees and all at very good prices. They got a very good deal for the best keeper in the world, Boucher, and they gambled half a million on Cameron White. With the 3 pacers, White, and Kumble; Dravid has managed a varied and dangerous attack but the batting is on the weak side and apart from home boy Dravid, Bangalore haven't really managed any crowd pullers.
Bidometer: 5/10

Team Hyderabad
Franchisee: Deccan Chronicle
VVS Laxman withdrew his Icon status so that his team could play with a larger budget. That worked very well for they picked up the most apt batsmen for the T20 game - in Gilchrist, Symonds, Afridi, and Gibbs they've got a hard hitting batting line up that will send shivers down the spines of bowlers, they've got multi dimensional cricketers, and they've got the stars that can fill the stadiums. Add Laxman, Styris, Chamara Silva and Rohit Sharma to that batting line up and you've got the strongest one out of the eight. The bowling picks area a bit weak though with all left armers in RP, Vaas, and Zoysa. They made sure they pay high for the stars, which makes sense but $875K for RP is probably too high.
Bidometer: 8/10

Team Mohali
Franchisee: Preity Zinta led Consortium
They started off with probably the best T20 batsmen in Yuvraj as their Icon and made sure they got one of the best middle orders with Mahela and King Sanga who will get to work with their World Cup coach Tom Moody, along woth Katich and Sarwan who were picked up at good bargains. But they didn't pick any openers. Priety also managed to grab a lethal new ball attack in Lee, Pathan, and Sreesanth who will be well supported with spinner Powar and Chawla - plus all 5 bowlers have the ability with the bat as well. They've got the crowd pullers in Yuvi, Lee, and Pathan but the openers slot is a major issue.
Bidometer: 7/10

Team Kolkata
Franchisee: Shahrukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment
Being the King of entertainment Shahrukh Khan made sure he fills his side with entertainers in Shoaib Akhtar, Ponting, and Gayle - all more than able cricketers. Led by Ganguly, the prince of Kolkata and SRK's managed the players who can fill up the 100,000 plus seats at the Eden Gardens. Shoaib sharing the new ball with Ishant Sharma followed by Umar Gul's toe busting yorkers looks like a solid pace attack on paper which can be ably supported by the spin of Gayle and Murali Karthik. They also gambled by paying a pricey $675K for arguably Australia's best T20 batsman in David Hussey. Add McCullum as the keeper to the mix and Kolkata looks like a well balanced side that could be one of the favorites as well as one of th most entertaining side of the competition. SRK bagged the best bargain in the auction with Ponting, Akhtar, and Gul but may have overpaid for Ishant.
Bidometer: 9/10

Delhi Daredevils
Franchisee: GMR Holdings
They didn't pay over a million, made sure their Icon doesn't go over a million, and made sure they got local stars able to turn the game on smartly using the stipulation that allows only 4 international stars in the final XI. Sehwag, Gambhir, Tiwari, and Dinesh Karthik makes for a solid batting line up and all able to take the field and attract the local crowd. Add to that Shoaib Malik , Dilshan and AB De Villiers and the batting line up seems more than decent. Glen McGrath and the Pakistani version Mohammad Asif make for a dream new ball attack and only had they been aggressive on home by Ishant Sharma it would have been perfect. Mahroof and Vettori provide the support to the bowling and Dilshan, Malik, and Sehwag add variety to the spin department. They didn't over pay for anyone and managed smart deals for all their players.
Bidometer: 9/10

Thats how all the bidders fared in my opinion. How smart they all were will be proved once the competition gets underway and how the teams manage their stars in an XI that allows only 4 non-indian players. Who do you think were the smart bidders? Who do you think got it wrong? Let me have your views.

Welcome to the Cricketer's Trading Floor - IPL Player Auction Summarised

77 out of the 79 cricketers that were up for sale were bought by the 8 IPL franchises on a cricket history defining day at the Hilton Towers in Mumbai for a whopping $42 million. Thats an average of over half a million dollars per cricketer!

Here are 7 points summarising what went down at today's Cricketer Auction.

1. Who didn't make it?

Mohammad Yousuf - pending court case due to ICL contract cancellation.

Ashwell Prince - no one was interested.

2. Who spent the most?

Bollywood King Shahrukh Khan (Kolkata) - $6,072,500 for 11 players.

India Cements (Chennai) - $5,925,000 for 11 players.

Deccan Chronicle (Hyderabad) - $5,885,000 for 11 players.

Point of Interest: The top 2 franchise bidders - Mukesh Ambani and Vijay Mallya who spent $111.9 million and $111.6 million for the mumbai and Bangalore franchises respectively spent less than $5 million each at the player's auction and were among the lowest 3 bidders today.

3. Who made it to the Millionaires Club?

Mahendra Singh Dhoni - $1.5 million by India Cements (Chennai)

Andrew Symonds - $1.35 million by Deccan Chronicle (Hyderabad)

These were the only 2 players who were bid for over a million. The others in the club are the ICON players:

Sachin Tendulkar - $1,121,250 by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance (Mumbai)

Saurav Ganguly - $1,092,500 by Shahrukh Khan (Kolkata)

Yuvraj Singh - $1,063,750 by Preity Zinta (Mohali)

Rahul Dravid - $1,035,000 by Vijay Mallya' UB Group (Bangalore)

4. Who secured the highest bids?

Sanath Jayasuriya - $975,000 by Mukesh Ambani (Mumbai)

Ishant Sharma - $950,000 by Shahrukh Khan (Kolkata)

Irfan Pathan - $925,000 by Priety Zinta (Mohali)

Jacques Kallis - $900,000 by Vijay Mallya (Bangalore)

Brett Lee - $900,000 by Priety Zinta (Mohali)

Point of Interest: Bollywood celebs are BIG spenders.

5. Which were the most overvalued deals?

$950,000 for Ishant Sharma - surely a talented boy but does he seriously command such a price after having played a handful of ODIs and Tests and no T20Is?

$900,000 for Jacques Kallis - undoubtedly one of the best test batsmen in the world, a decent ODI bat, but even his national team dropped him for the T20 world cup that was played in his home country. Is such a price justified?

$675,000 for Mohammad Kaif - Ignored by the national selectors for all forms of the game, untested at the T20 level, why were bidders so interested in him?

6. Which were the most undervalued bids?

$375,000 for Matthew Hayden - are you kidding me? Australia's tour of Pakistan has been given as a probable reason but then team mate Lee who would also be touring fetched $900K!

$400,000 for Ricky Ponting - deserves more doesn't he? Strange that the bidders were not more interested.

$150,000 for Umar Gul - the leading wicket taker of the T20 world cup definitelt deserved more.

If you look at it from the bidders' perspective, they have hit the Jackpot with these undervalued deals.

7. What were the other unexpected bids?

Shane Warne and Glen McGrath went for as low as $450,000 and $350,000 respectively.

David Hussey, Cameron White, and Yusuf Pathan, who collectively have international experience of a handful matches fetched bids of $675,000; $500,000; and $475,000 respectively. Looks like the bidders keep an eye on domestic cricket in other countries and their own. Well done.

Shahid Afridi bagged the highest bid ($675,000) for a Pakistani player ahead of Shoaib Malik, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif, Younis Khan, Umar Gul, and Kamran Akmal.

Ishant Sharma pushes Ganguly over a MILLION...

The IPL got their 6th Millionnaire in Saurav Ganguly who joins Dhoni, Symonds, Sachin, Dravid, and Yuvraj in the elite club. Ganguly achieved the status owing to Kolkata's aggressive bid for India's latest bowling senation Ishant Sharma.

Shahrukh Khan bid aggressively for Ishant Sharma closing his bid at a whopping $950,000! Thats the highest than any Indian fast bowler has got thus far. Irfan Pathan is a 2nd close who bagged a $925,000 deal from Priety Zinta's Mohali. Ponting would not have to worry about facing Ishant now as both of them will turn out for the Kolkata team. Ishant sharing the new ball with Shoaib Akhtar - the could be hell for the opposition batsmen and a treat. RP Singh was the other most valuable Indian pacer who was bagged by Hyderabad for $875,000.

The auction has proved the most beneficial for Indian players as almost all of them have gotten deals in excess of half a million dollars. Gambhir was picked up by his home team Delhi for $725,000 while Mumbai picked up Uthappa for $800,000. Delhi also won the bid for Manoj Tiwari for a high $675,000 while Rohit Sharma ($750,000), Suresha Raina ($650,000), and Mohammad Kaif ($675,000) all got valuable deals from Hyderabad, Chennai, and Jaipur respectively.

In my view the biggest surprise of the day was David Hussey being picked up for $657,000 by Kolkata. Uncle J has been running a petition for David Hussey's inclusion in the Aussie ODI side and his case has been made stronger due to the struggling Aussie batsmen in the CB series and his most recent 113 of 64 balls, the 2nd fastest century in Australian domestic cricket. Hussey junior's bid was more surprising because his elder brother Micheal Hussey, who is a permanent member of the Aussie side, did not attract any bids.

In the most recent round of bidding the franchisees concentrated on tanking up their bowling force with Jaipur picking up Munaf Patel ($275,000), Mumbai bagging the Lankan pair of Lasith Malinga ($350,000) and Dilhara Fernando ($150,000), Bangalore hitting the jackpot with Dale Steyn ($325,000) and Nathan Bracken ($325,000), Hyderabad bidding succesfully for RP Singh and the Sri Lankan pair of Chaminda Vaas ($200,000) and Nuwan Zoysa ($110,000), Mohali settling for the spinning combo of Ramesh Power ($170,000) and Piyush Chawla ($400,000), and Kolkata smartly bagging Ishant Sharma, Murali Karthik ($425,000), and Umar Gul ($150,000).

Stay tuned for the final update.

Rahul Dravid is 5th MILLIONAIRE & Ganguly almost there...

Bangalore bid successfully for Jacques Kallis for $900,000 thus putting their Icon Rahul Dravid into the millionares bracket. But Kallis and Dravid in the same 20-20 team? Not smart I think.

Shahrukh Khan and Saurav Ganguly look like men on a mission - after picking up Shoaib Akhtar, Ricky Ponting, and McCullum they added Chris Gayle to their roster for $800,000. That puts Icon Ganguly at $920,000. Kolkata is turning out to be a strong oufit.

Delhi picked up Pakistani skipper Shoaib Malik and his team mate Mohammad Asif for $500,000 and $650,000 respectively. Shahid Afridi 'Boom Boom' Afridi was bagged by Hyderabad for $675,000 while Younis Khan was auctioned to Jaipur for $225,000.

Hyderabad also picked up Herchelle Gibbs for $575,000. Gibbs joins Gilchrist, Symonds, and Afridi - thats some firepower in the Hyderabad squad.

Gibbs' opening partner Greame Smith was picked up by Jaipur for $475,000, while Chennai added to their impressive star cast of Dhoni, Hayden, Murali, and Oram with the addition of Stephen Fleming for $350,000.

Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth joined the Bangalore and Mohali bandwagons for $450,000 and $625,000 respectively.

The squads are shaping up well at the Hilton Towers. I hear that the number of people present there in the form of journalists, TV reporters, actors, cricketers, and businessmen are more than those present at the Wankhede stadium witnessing the Duleep Trophy Final.

Its clear to me which way domestic cricket is going to go in India and the rest of the world.

Symonds and Yuvraj join the MILLIONAIRES Club...

Andrew Symonds and Yuvraj Singh joined Dhoni and Sachin in the millionnaires club as Symonds was picked up by Hyderabad for $1.35 million. Big bucks being thrown around here. Looks like Symmos spat with Bhajji and the whole racism row didn't have much of an impact on his value. Symonds joins team mate Adam Gilchrist in the Hyderabad Team. Deccan Chronicle have now spent over $2 million on the two Australians.

Brett Lee also went for almost a million as he was auctioned to Mohali for $900,000. By way of that bid, Yuvraj the Mohali Icon, moved into the millionaires category. Lee now joins the Lankans Jayawardene and Sangakkara in a strong Mohali outfit led by Yuvraj and coached by Tom Moody. Go Priety Zinta!!

Shahrukh Khan, aided by Saurav Ganguly bagged another 2 players - Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting for $400,000 and Kiwi keeper Brendon McCullum for $700,000. McCullum valued more than Ponting? Now thats a surprise. Kolkata's team is also shaping up well with Ganguly, Ponting, and Shoaib Akhtar. Bollywood seems to be on a roll.

Delhi bought their first player in the form of Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori for $625,000, while Chennai picked up another two - Matthew Hayden for $375,000 and Jacob Oram for $675,000. Both of them join Dhoni and Murali.

Surprising point to note: New Zealanders are valuable cricketers, even more than the Aussies. Vettori, Oram, McCullum have gone for more than Ponting, Hayden, and Warne. And McCullum equalled Gilchrist's bid.

Uncle J, any comments?

Stay tuned for more.

Dhoni and Sachin go for over a MILLION & Shahrukh Khan and Saurav Ganguly bag Shoaib Akhtar !!!

The day that defines the future of cricket has begun and the 8 IPL franchisees mean business. History is being created right in front of our eyes at the Hilton Towers in Mumbai. The men behind the 8 franchisees along with Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly and other cricket advisors and consultants got together this morning to bid for their players.

India Cements, owners of the Chennai franchise dished out $1.5 million for Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni! Thats is $1.5 million for Dhoni's services for 3 years, i.e. approximately 150 days of cricket implying a daily wage of $10,000. How much does Bill Gates earn?

India Cements have also bought Muttiah Muralitharan for $600,000 thus spending $2.1 million or 40% of their maximum budget on 2 key players. Who are the brains behind these numbers?

Shahrukh Khan and his Kolkata captain Saurav Ganguly decided on Shoaib Akhtar for $425,000. They surely don't think he's a bad influence on the dressing room. Maybe SRK will cast Shoaib in his next movie.

Adam Gilchrist went to Hyderabad for a whopping $700,000 - no matter how big that amount is, its still less than half that was spent on Dhoni. Justified?

Mukesh Ambani's men from Mumbai dished out large sums of $975,000 and $850,000 respectively for Sanath Jayasuriya and Harbhajhan Singh! This means that Sachin Tendulkar, Mumbai's Icon, will earn atleast $1.1 million and will join Dhoni as the 2nd player to be valued at over a million dollars! Who is doing these valuations?

Preity Zinta's Mohali have also emptied their coffers by over a million spending $700,000 for Kumar Sangakkara and $475,000 for Mahela Jayawardene - The VC is valued more than the skipper! Mohali's Icon and captain, Yuvraj Singh, is set to earn atleast $805,000!!

Jaipur bagged Shane Warned for $450,000 and Bangalore spent half a million on India's test skipper Anil Kumble.

Over $8 million have been spent by the 8 franchisees collectively in the morning bidding session. There's more to come after lunch. Stay tuned for updates.

Selectorial Headache or a Mathematical Problem?

Come tomorrow and the 8 IPL franchisees will be getting together to bid for the cricketers they want in their teams.

Sounds fun doesn't it? - after all the only thing required is a suitcase full of dollars and knowledge about the players available. That can't be difficult can it? All 8 franchisees have truck loads of dollars and they know their cricketers.

But its not as simple as it sounds. There are certain restrictions in place which have given this IPL player auction the image of a mathematical problem rather than a selectorial headache.

You have to spend a minimum of $3.3 million but can't go above $5 million.

You have to choose 8 international players

You have to choose 4 under 22 players

You have to choose 4 players from the local catchment areas

You can choose as many Indian players as you like

You cannot have more than 2 Australian players in the same team

You cannot choose Sachin, Ganguly, Dravid, or Yuvraj unless you are Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, or Mohali respectively. The same is being requested for Laxman (Hyderabad) and Sehwag (Delhi).

The above mentioned Icon players will earn 15% more than your highest paid cricketer

Not to downgrade the mathematical abilities of the cricketers and bollywood celebrities involved but probably they would be better of hiring an investment banker or a Fantasy Cricket expert.

Those of you who play the several fantasy cricket games on the web would be familiar with such selectorial headaches - fixed budget to use, best players priced too highly to fit into one team, restrictions on number of bowlers, batsmen, and allrounders, restrictions from which country they are from, and so on. Its a dream come true for us fantasy cricket lovers to see the best being auctioned for real dollars unlike the imaginary numbers we play with on ESPN's Super Selector or Cricinfo Fantasy.

An Investment Banker will also be useful - he would develop a model showcasing the different combinations and permutations needed to get the best team fulfilling the whole criteria and one that will ensure returns on the money spent.

Note to SRK and Preity Zinta: I am an investment banker and quite good at fantasy cricket and for you I will work for FREE! (All I require is a visa to India and a flight there tonight, I will pull an allnighter to develop a team and a bid for the auction tomorrow)

So the question is who do you choose? How do you garantee you get the players you want? What is the combination that will get you the crowds and win matches at the same time? Given that its a 20-20 tournament, do you choose senior and exerienced cricketers or rising young ones? Your XI is only allowed to field 4 international cricketers but you can have 8 in your squad - how do you come up with a good mix? How big can you go on your bid for Shane Warne or Glen McGrath given that you have to pay 15% higher to your Icon? Will Hayden make a good opening partner with Saurav or Sachin? Do you want Gilchrist or Dhoni?

What is the Optimal Solution?

I told you, its more like mathematics!

Give us more Monday Night Wars!

Back in the early to mid 1990s the WWF used to be a leader in sports entertainment. It used to kill its competition (WCW, ECW, etc) in TV ratings and Pay Per Views till Ted Turner brought on board Eric Bischoff to compete with Vince Mcmahon's empire. Bischoff, a smart businessman with buckets and buckets of Turner's money, lured in the top WWF stars and by the mid 90s the likes of Hogan, Hall, Nash, and Bret Hart were seen in the WCW rings. WCW started to beat WWF in the ratings and built a larger fan following for a good 2-3 years largely because the WWF stars of the early 90s had jumped ship. The best part was that it gave us the best every Monday Night Wars in the history of wrestling! WCW remained #1 before a Stonecold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon changed the fortunes for the WWF. A few years on the top and an IPO later the WWF bought out WCW and ran as a monopoly before the TNA emerged. Today, known as the WWE due to a lost law suit against the panda foundation, the WWF remains largely popular despite a tussle for wrestlers with the TNA.

Now what does this have to do with cricket? It does. The same could be happening with the ICL and the IPL.

The IPL has been able to sign on many more international stars than the ICL but that has largely been due to the 'unoffcial' tag given to the ICL. Would it have been different if it wasn't deemed an unofficial league and if the national boards did not ban players joining the ICL? Surely. Remember that Shane Warne and Glen McGrath were first linked to the ICL and the only thing that made them change their mind was 'unofficial'.

What if a few years down the line the ICL and the BCCI reach an understanding? What if the ICC decides to sanction the ICL? What if the Indian Govt. decides that a BCCI monopoly is no good and that a free economy in Indian cricket is needed thus making ICL 'official'? What if the national boards show compassion towards the banned domestic cricketers?

Surely there are a lot of 'what ifs' but they are all very probable. If these what ifs happen, then instead of the cricketers auction set to take place between the 8 IPL franchises, you could be witnessing a bidding war between the ICL and the IPL ala WWF and WCW in the mid 90s.

As of now the IPL is sitting on BCCI's riches while the ICL is backed by ZEE which is by no means a pushover, it is the largest listed media company in India. Both have the money to attract high profile stars, both have the infrastructure to hold matches and telecast them live. Both have the sponsors to back them up. The IPL has the edge right now only because of its status as 'official'. I say grant the ICL the same status and let the 2 leagues compete. It can only be good for the game.

There would have been no Stonecold Steve Austin had there been no Eric Bischoff. Vince Mcmahon would have never gotten off his lazy @$$ had Ted Turner not pulled him down.

The IPL has a succesful model in place but no monopoly is good for the economy. Let competition prevail I say and give us a war of words between Kapil Dev and Lalit Modi; give us some bidding wars between ICL's Kolkata Tigers and Shahrukh Khan's Kolkata team; give us some media wars between ZEE and Sony for advertisements and sponsorships; give us some tussle between ZEE and BCCI for rights to using stadiums. Give us some more Monday Night Wars!

Not that all this is not happening right now but the IPL has that unfair advantage, that 'official' tag. Despite that the ICL has been able to attract stars but mostly retired cricketers while the IPL has signed on current internationals. The IPL's magnitude has also led the ICL to rethink their competition - they had a regional competition in their first year, this year they are planning to field full international sides. An Indian squad will not be difficult to build but the others would be a challenge. The ICL will live up to that challenge as well as they have just announced their first international squad:

Pakistan's latest ICL signees: Mushtaq Ahmed, Rana Naveed, Imran Nazir, Humayun Farhat, Riaz Afridi, Mohammad Sami, Shahid Nazir, and Hasan Raza. Add them to last year's signees Inzamam, Razzak, Mahmood, Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umar, Shabbir Ahmed, and you already have a 14 man squad coached by ICL agent Moin Khan. To me that looks like an international squad, only that it includes retired cricketers and those out of favor with the selectors. Mohammad Yousuf would have been there had it been 'Official'.

I think both the leagues can prevail 'officially'. The BCCI and the ICC can sanction both. Subhash Chandra and Sharad Pawar will have more thinking to do. Kapil Dev and Lalit Modi will have more recruiting to do. Ricky Ponting and Brian Lara will have more options to think of. Zee and Sony TV will have more ratings to vie for. At the end of it all, it adds up to a lot more dollars for everyone involved and ultimately a lot more dollars for India.

It can only be beneficial to the ICC, cricket, the players, the media, the TV channels, and everyone involved. It can only be beneficial to the one stopping it from happening at the moment, India.

It will fast track their 20-year process of becoming the largest economy in the world!

Leading Industrialists and Bollywood Stars to own IPL Teams.

What do Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Mohali, and Delhi have in common apart from being cities of India?

These are the 8 cities that will be fielding a team in the Indian Premier League (IPL) set to get underway across India in