Inzamam's Heroes & Lara's Champs

Many doubted that the rebel ICL will ever go through due to the bans on players from their boards, the launch of the IPL, and various other operational issues. However, against all odds, Kapil Dev (chairman of the ICL executive board) announced the composition of the 6 teams taking part in the 20-20 competition in ICL's 1st year.

Click here to see the complete composition of the Hyderabad Heroes, Kolkata Tigers, Mumbai Champs, Delhi Jets, Chennai Superstars, and Chandigarh Lions. The coaches of these teams are prominent former international cricketers. I would've thought Moin Khan and Micheal Bevan, two of the coaches, would have been good to play as well. Wonder why they're coaching.

The captains haven't been announced yet but Inzamam and Lara are expected to lead their teams - the Heroes and Champs respectively. The Pakistani fans should look forward to watching the Hyderabad Heroes in action as it not only includes Inzi, but also Abdul Razzak and Azhar Mahmood. Moreover, Moin Khan is coach of the team. Ambati Rayudu, the 22 year old touted to be India's latest batting prodigy, would love the prospect of batting along side Inzamam Ul Haq.

The Aussies should be looking forward to supporting the Chennai team, coached by Bevan, which includes Stuart Law and Ian Harvey. I still remember the 1996 world cup semi final between Australia and the Windies where the Aussies were 4 down for 40 odd before Law and Bevan scripted a remarkable recovery. What a partnership that was.

Lara will play alongside Nathan Astle for Mumbai, while the Chandigarh team looks like a strong outfit with internationals Cairns, Farhat, Marshall, Hall, Sodhi, D. Mongia, and Tuffey in the ranks.

The ICL looks set to get underway as soon as the issue of grounds get settled. Rumours flying around are that grounds in Sharjah, a private club in Karachi, and a few around India will be used. the prospects would have even been brighter had the IPL not been launched but then nothing flourishes without a little bit of competition. And rebels are always welcome.

Let the ICL roll...

Whats in a name...

Australia and Sri Lanka will be playing for the "Warne-Murali Trophy", as it has recently been named. Both the boards have paid their tributes to the greatest spinners ever to play cricket.

Australia has a knack of naming their test series - They play the Windies for the "Frank-Worrell Trophy", India for the "Border-Gavasker Trophy", and England for the "Ashes". I think these names give a sense of belonging to the players, i.e. give them that extra inch of motivation probably to win the games and hence the series. Surely one would want to say "Hey, i won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for my country" rather than saying "We won the pepsi cup".

I think all test playing nations should do this and name their test series to honour some of the great cricketers they have produced.

I just thought of some names - let me know what you think.

1) Imran-Kapil Trophy. Or maybe Miandad-Gavaskar. Why a Pak-Ind test series doesn't have a name already is anyone's guess. Maybe "Imran-Kapil" for the ODI series, and "Miandad-Gavaskar" for the tests.

2) The McGrath-Pollock trophy or rather The Keppler Wessels Trophy - he played for both!

3) The Lara-Sachin Trophy. That would be the ultimate.

4) A Botham-Imran Trophy and Botham-Kapil trophy would be killers!

5) The Sobers-Hanif Trophy.

I'm sure you guys can think of many more.