ICL International players
Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq, Imran Farhat, Lance Klusener, Nicky Boje
ICL Indian players
Ambati Rayudu, Abhishek T, Alfred Absolem, Avinash Yadav, Ranjit Khirid, Raviraj Patil, Reetinder Sodhi, Deep Dasgupta, V Devendran, Dheeraj Jadhav, Dinesh Mongia, Kaushik Reddy, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Manish Sharma, Hemanth Kumar, Ibrahim Khaleel, Thirunavukarasu Kumaran, Inder Shekar Reddy, Syed Abbas Ali Khan, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Ishan Malhotra, J Hariesh, Jai Prakash Yadav, Mohnish Mishra, Puskaraj Mohan Joshi, R Satish, Rajesh Sharma, Shreyas Khanolkar, Subhojit Paul, Subhomoy Das, T Surendra, G Vignesh, D Vinay Kumar, Robin Morris, Sachin Dholpure, Sarabjit Singh, Syed Akhlakh Ahmed, Shalabh Srivastava, Shashank Nag, Shibsagar Singh, Yashpal Singh, Sumit Kalia, Dakshinamoorthy Kumaran
Domestic and International players with Indian Cricket League
Kapil tells fashion designers to work for ICL
Legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev was yesterday spotted at the 10th edition of the Wills India Fashion Week as it kicked off at a brand new venue of Pragati Maidan.
The former Indian captain was invited by Anjana Bhargav, one of the 40 designers showcasing their spring summer collection during the five-day event.
Kapil was so impressed by the works of the designers that he offered them to design outfits for the newly launched rebel Indian Cricket League, in which he is the Chairman of the Executive Board.
"I like everybody's work. In cricket comfort is very essential. If the clothes are good to look at and there is no restriction of movement that is fashion for me," he said.
"I would tell every designer to design for the the ICL. Every designer has talent. Every designer is different and has a niche segment," he added.
Kapil also drew similarity between designers and cricketers.
"There are so many designers and every designer has talent. Just like there are thouands of cricketers in the country who are waiting to play for the country, so also there are so many designers with so much of talent.
"This is like the World Cup Final," said Kapil, when asked to comment on the ongoing fashion extravaganza.
"This is the first day. Let me have a look around and let me study the fashion week. And perhaps by next year I would be able to make an informed judgement about the event.
Karachi club offers to host ICL matches
A prestigious country club in Pakistan, which has been a favourite haunt for visiting cricketers including the Indians, has offered to host matches of the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL).
An official offer has been made by the Arabian Country Club, located on the outskirts of Karachi with a private cricket ground and five-star accommodation, gymnasium and other facilities for its members.
“We just want to promote cricket wherever it is played. We see nothing wrong with the ICL,” said Arif Ali Abbasi, chief executive of the club. Abbasi, who has held several influential positions in Pakistan cricket, said the ICL people had been “overjoyed” at the offer but nothing was final as yet.
“If they want to come and play some matches, we will welcome them and then the mechanics of how the teams will gather in Karachi can be worked out properly,” said Abbasi.
You can decide ICL team captain
The Subhash Chandra-promoted Indian Cricket League (ICL) refuses to stay out of news. Besides the ongoing spat between the rebel league and the big boy of Indian cricket, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the ICL’s selection process and its marketing plan are heightening the curiosity around the yet-to-be launched league.
In a presentation handed out to media planners, ICL has disclosed its selection process and many marketing tactics to build the league as differently from the BCCI as possible.
So it’s going to be SMS-based polls through which team captains would be selected while it gets telecast live on TV along with having a talent search drive across cities. Every team will play minimum of six matches and a maximum of seven during the tournament, all to be telecast between 7-10:30 pm on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
The tournament will be span a with multiple venues. ICL is in preliminary talks with Airtel and the Future Group for team sponsorship, besides a banking and automobile brand which are likely to sign on as keypartners. Although none of deals has been closed yet, say sources close to the development. The ground rights for the ICL are being sold by Zee while the channel sales will be done by Ten Sports.
ICL marketing plan has everything to lure brands. Quite literally. There are blimps, mascots, celebrities, flash mobs, road shows, brand films, music videos, albums and contests to create the much-required buzz around the league which aims to become the Indian version of the Super Bowl. The presentation further states ICL wants to build its corporate identity through an all India reach, sponsoring the coveted award and key cricketing assets.
The league also plans to create ‘space for sports’ through community service along with offering opportunities for local marketing and activation.
Still, there are some media planners who feel that aligning with ICL, which is like a rebel league against the BCCI, is somewhat risky as they don’t want to be caught on the wrong foot of the big boss of Indian cricket.
In fact, some of the biggest media agencies, while accepting the need of such a parallel league, have sounded caution to their clients and are thinking twice before putting their money in this Kerry Packer-like league.
The sponsorship costs is Rs 3.5 crore for four slots as the key partner, Rs 2.3 crore for six slots as team partner and Rs 90 lakh for eight slots as the official partner. The partnership costs are again divided into four slots for Rs 3.5 crore as a key partner, Rs 3 crore for six slots as team partner and Rs 1.5 crore for eight slots as official partner.
ICL players excited about the new prospect
Rubbing shoulders with Brian Lara and Inzamam-ul-Haq would have otherwise remained a unfulfilled dream for many players in the domestic circuit, but after joining the Indian Cricket League, the likes of Kaushik Reddy are waiting for their day in the sun.
The Hyderabad Ranji players who were the first take the ICL plunge, showing the way to numerous others living their day in the domestic competition, could not suppress their excitement at joining the league.
"We are all very happy to be associated with the ICL. They have given us an opportunity to play with stars like Injamam-ul-Haq," Kaushik Reddy told reporters at the airport here after their arrival from Mumbai.
Eight Hyderabad players- Anirudh Singh, Ambati T Rayudu, Vinay Kumar, Ibrahim Khalil, I S Reddy, Kaushik Reddy, Shashank Nag and Alfred Absolam- were among the list of 44 Indian players unveiled by the ICL, promoted by Essel Group, at Mumbai on Monday.
BCCI is holding its Special General Body Meeting in Mumbai today and the players who have joined ICL are waiting on what decision the board takes on the move.
The Cricket Board is also expected to take a decision on National Cricket Academy Chairman Kapil Dev, who also heads the ICL Executive Board.
ICL may spend Rs 150 crore
With the announcement that as many as 52 players have joined Subhash Chandra’s parallel cricket league, Subhash Chandra’s ambitious Indian Cricket League seems to be finally taking shape. Most analyst still believe this is only the first success and the road ahead is still long and winding. Though Essel, along with infrastructure major IL&FS set aside a corpus of Rs 100 crore at the launch of the league, sports analysts peg the total spend by the Essel Group to kick-start the league to around Rs 150 crore.
According to most analysts, the first priority of the ICL was to get players to sign up followed by a marketing blitz and then broadcasting and setting up the infrastructure.
For signing up new players, ICL is paying around Rs 30 - 60 lakhs to all the ‘no-namers’ i.e. those players that do not have a name to themselves and are domestic players. For a requirement of around 60 to 80 players this comes to around Rs 30 crore. Add on to this the branded players that are expected to join the league.
“Lara would not be expected to join for less than Rs 2 - 3 crore,” one analyst said. Estimating a requirement of around 8 to 10 ‘branded’ players, the bill for player sign-up goes up by another Rs 30 crore.
The second most important issue for Essel is the marketing behind the league. This will be the main differentiator between the ICL and the domestic or international tournaments.
Media honchos like Manish Porwal of Starcom Mediavest believe the ICL is not looking at overthrowing the present system but bridge the gap between the international arena, which gets the highest viewership globally and the Ranji trophy, which gets hardly any eye-balls. The timing also makes a lot of sense with the tournament coming right after the 20:20 world cup thereby creating the appetite.
This makes the analyst estimate the marketing costs to around Rs 20 crore.
As for the third most important issue i.e. playing and broadcasting infrastructure, as Essel owns major broadcaster, Zee Telefilms Ltd, this should not cost them too much. "Around Rs 20 lakh a day totalling to around Rs 10 crore for the season," the analysts say.
As far as revenues go, they have plenty of options to make their margins and much more. India's cricket circus today romps in between Rs 20,00-3,000 crore. A 10% share of this would be enough to cover ICL's base costs.
ICL Team
The ICL Team is supported by its 4 main pillars who are the Executive Board Members, the Talent Scouts, the Coaches and the Players.
The Executive Board plays an important role in creating, managing and running of the Indian Cricket League. The ICL Executive board is headed by Kapil Dev.
The Talent Scouts take pain in going to different parts of the country and searching for the best players to represent the ICL. Their role is very crucial since the players are the ones who can make or break the game and thus selecting the best talent is a key task which is thoughtfully done by the Indian Cricket League’s Talent Scouts.
Once the Talent Scouts select the players, these players will then be sent for net practice and training under the Coaches. There are Physiotherapists and Dieticians who will be there to guide the players with the right regimen of diet and exercises, thus helping them excel in cricketer
ICL The Indian Cricket League
The Indian Cricket League, an Essel Group venture, today officially unveiled 51 players that have joined the league, in a glittering function in Mumbai today. The players comprise of national and international players, most of whom represent their countries and states at the highest level. They have been chosen in a nationwide hunt and selection process. A Talent Search Committee comprising of ICL executive board members, coaches and talent scouts of the Indian Cricket League, has selected these players. Some of the International Players who have joined include Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf Abdul Razzaq, Imran Farhat, Lance Klusener & Nicky Boje. Some of the Indian players signed include Dinesh Mongia, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, JP Yadav, Deep Dasgupta, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, T Kumaran and U19 captain Ambati Rayudu, all of who have represented India in the past.
Announcing the signing up of these players, Mr. Himanshu Mody, Project Head for the Indian Cricket League said, "It is a matter of great pleasure to see these 51 players joining the Indian Cricket League. These players will join the six teams of the inaugural Indian Cricket League. They will be provided with necessary infrastructure, guidance and training to compete at the highest level." Adding further he said, "We believe that each of these players, represent the best of cricketing talent in the country & internationally. We will continue to search for further talent with killer instinct that can take India to the next level. We now see the teams that will play in the ICL tournament later this year, finally taking shape."
Mr. Kapil Dev, Chairman-Executive Board, Indian Cricket League said, "It is heartening to see players of such caliber and enthusiasm join the Indian Cricket League in its very first edition. We are sure that with these players’ capabilities, we will have an exciting tournament ahead."
He further added, "The Indian Cricket League will provide the best platform to the cricketers to showcase their talent and ability to a global audience. This will be a league run by cricketers for cricketers."
Mr. Kiran More, Member-Executive Board, ICL, "I am extremely happy to induct these cricketers into the ICL. I have followed the progress of each of these cricketers from the beginnings of their careers, and I know they possess the killer instinct which is the foundation of the ICL. The players will be conditioned to showcase power and speed on the field, as we can no longer afford to buckle under pressure of competition. Our international stars alongside young promise, is a perfect recipe for the future of Indian cricket."
About the ICL
The ICL will involve young talented players being identified from all over India, being trained to compete at the highest levels and then playing for their respective regions alongside top international stars. The ICL will also make a foray in creating nation wide infrastructure (cricket academies) which will be equipped with state of the art facilities headed by international / domestic coaches under the supervision of a national director of academies.
