Lt Col Kapil Dev

There are very few cricketers who have admirers across all the age group.  Kapil Dev and Sachin I know only. I was born after India had lifted their world cup at Lords in 1983,  sadly I was not born at the auspicious time when Kapil Dev lifted the cup, I am not that lucky as Zoya (Zoya Factor) . I have hazy memories of Kapil playing, he was more of a hard hitting batsman and loved the back side of the wicket in scoring runs.  He has brought laurels to the country and still some morons in BCCI who I think will not be even aware of all the rules of cricket have stopped his pension and tried to malign his image in the world.

Kapil is one cricketer who goes on his own path and sticks to it. He doesn't follow the easy path which other retired cricketers have followed. He choose ICL and he has got decent success in just two years taking into point the opposition ICL has received.  BCCI stopped pensions of Kapil Dev and other cricketers who joined the ICL which is very shameful as they have given much more then what they received back. These cricketers (organisers) who have joined ICL are not from the rich states of India like Mumbai , Delhi etc, most are from small cities who have struggled and faced hardships.  India is a big country if England have 2-3 football leagues with huge fan following why can't one billions plus india have 2 cricket leagues. 

Other cricketers should be thankful to ICL as its because of Kapil Dev and company they are getting higher salaries now , ranji and national level both. Pioneers always have to struggle but they make the path for coming generations easy. This is what Kapil Dev and Zee has done for other cricketers.

Kapil has taken another bold step in October last year when he joined territorial army. There couldn't be any better person to join the army, he has inspired and motivated others always through his work. Last week he was involved in the training camp of the army.
When you see 50 year old training, trying to do something for the country you really feel motivated. 

During training he said :

I am feeling a complete Indian now. It is emotional to wear this uniform. I like to serve my country and that`s the focus point.

In 1983 after lifting the cricket world cup Kapil inspired millions towards cricket and now at the age of 50 he is inspiring millions to join army which is already facing shortage. I feel he should do one more thankless job by joining the politics. Such credentials of a political leader would be envy of all. He is  a true leader and India needs leaders like Kapil.

Paaji tussi great ho :)

 I have ordered his autobiography: Straight from the Heart.  Will read it and write about it.

ICL Power Rankings

On the pattern of power rankings for twenty20 clubs, rankings for ICL clubs is out. I have taken the rankings from here.


1.Chennai Superstars
2.Lahore Badshahs
3.Dhaka Warriors
4.Hyderabad Heroes
5.Royal Bengal Tigers
6.Chandigarh Lions
7.Delhi Giants
8.Ahmedabad Rockets
9.Mumbai Champs


Power Rankings for international clubs can be see at here in my previous post.

Twenty Twenty Cricket Power Rankings

Here are the power rankings of the top twenty clubs in the twenty twenty cricket. All rankings can be seen here .

The ratings are based on a number of important factors including runs scored, totals chased, the loss of wickets and margins of victory. A teams rating is then worked out by dividing the points scored in each game by the number of matches played, the totals are then given to the nearest whole number.




1 Victorian Bushrangers AUS
2 Rajasthan Royals IND
3 Sialkot Stallions PAK
4 Kings XI Punjab IND
5 Chennai Super Kings IND
6 Lahore Lions PAK
7 Chennai Superstars IND
8 Karachi Dolphins PAK
9 Kent Spitfires ENG
10 Middlesex Crusaders ENG
11 Lancashire Lightning ENG
12 Faisalabad Wolves PAK
13 Rawalpindi Rams PAK
14 Lahore Eagles PAK
15 Northamptonshire Steelbacks ENG
16 Lahore Badshahs IND
17 Somerset Sabres ENG
18 Mumbai Indians IND
19 Dhaka Warriors IND
20 Delhi DareDevils IND
21 Hyderabad Heroes IND

Top 21 clubs contains 9 indian teams from icl and ipl, 6 teams from pakistan , 1 from australia, 5 english counties.

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Indian Cricket League Season-2 : Don't forget it in the haze of IPL

Yes I mean it , under the aegis of one of my all time favorite Kapil Dev ICL is slowly and gradually doing its work. Within a year it has expanded its horizon as i expected in my earlier post to Pakistan and plans for teams from Colombo and Dhaka are on. Two more teams Ahmedabad Rockets and Lahore Badshahs are added to the earlier existing six teams.

It will be fun to watch the Lahore team lead by Inzy bhai playing in salwar kameez. Another great news of this edition of Twenty20 is that the tournament is being played at three venues Panchkula, Gurgaon and Hyderabad despite regular attempts by afraid BCCI. Apart from Zee Sports , Ten Sports will also be covering the event which will enhance the reach of tournament.

Lots of stalwarts have been added into the growing list of players. Some of the new players are Shane Bond, Adam Parore, Sami, Mustaq Ahmed, Murray Goodwin, Saqlain Mushtaq and many more. These players will surely add zing to the competition.

Under the financial pressure of BCCI many cricket boards have banned the players who have opted for ICL, but criticism for this ban is also rising. Player union boss Tim May has warned of court action against cricket administrators who are banning player for participating in ICL.

I dont know why my heart wants ICL to succeed may be because IPL according to me a money churner, though ICL motive is also to earn money after some time but now they are investing to do something good that is "give a few extra indians a chance".

May be you will find this logic illogical but i want it to succeed.

IPL please get a site atleast, ohh got it you must have requested for a tender of some crores for interesting parties to run the site. I am waiting to see how IPL will spread cricket how it will improve the standard of stadias and coaching techniques. I doubt the BCCI .....and will always doubt it ...... .

Now lets wait for ICL Grand Championships


IPL ICL Twenty20 Lahore BCCI KapilDev

Hail the Indian Cricket League (ICL)

It started with nobody giving any thought to it but slowly as it progressed it gathered momentum and i am sure the TRP's for the semis and finals must be very high.

It came it showed and it conquered finally

Positives

• People will watch cricket if its played competitively stars don't make hell of a difference, Lara failed and as the tournament progressed Indian players rose and showed their caliber. Now I know a lot of players thiru kumaran, abas ali and many more who I would never have known had they languished under the BCCI.
• Hats of the Chandigarh and Panchkula people who came in large numbers in every match in this chilling winter, it again showed indian people will support cricket by anybody if its good.
  
• ICL is a good platform for those products and companies who cannot spent exorbitantly for marketing and advertising purposes, I expect more products to come in the future events and being city centric the companies of that particular cities can market themselves
• It gave a new meaning to advertising and marketing , fashion show between the innings in the finals, movies promos like Sunday team was there in the finals, previously Dus Kahaniya team was there.
  
• Learning experience for ex-cricketers who were coaches for the 6 teams and the results were visible in the splendid fielding done by the lads awesome catches and run outs. Hats off to the spirit :).
• I felt very bad when Chandigarh lost as I could co-relate to the team , being from haryana living in noida , cities team concept is good. I am sure the teams would increase slowly we can expect Lucknow Nawabs, Pune Hunks, Ahmedabad Rockies.
• Hats of to the Essel group for bringing such a good panel of umpires, commentators and specially Whitney.
• Now about the dancers, I observer them growing fatter day be day :) all thanks to the Punjabi food they must be relishing the Indian experience.
• Big pat on the back for the whole team for success of the tournament.
  

• Calendar Year 2008 (from ICL website)
  

  S.No	Month	Tournament	Particulars
  1.	February 08	Domestic Championship	50 Over tournament Indian players to play
  2.	February – March 08	Triangular Series to field ICL XI.	20 20 Over Tournament
  3.	March – April 08	ICL Grand Championship	20 20 Over Tournament 8 Teams to participate in the tournament. Increase of 2 Teams.
  4.	April – May 08	ICL to Open Academies in prominent cities.
  5.	September – October 08	ICL Invitation Cup	20 20 Over Tournament 8 Teams to participate in the tournament
  6.	November – December 08	ICL 20 20 Indian Championships 2nd Edition.	20 20 Over Tournament 8 Teams to participate in the tournament.

Work to be done

• We need more grounds, I hope now ICL would be able to get more grounds and I think ICL can play a leading role in spreading the cricket to far off places in India, we normally have stadiums in every city and that can be uplifted for playing cricket and the crowd is sure to come, I remember 2-3 years back in my native city Hisar Asian Junior Boxing Championship was organized and I was shocked to see the crowd going to watch that. Play some matches in East India in Assam, play some in Orissa. Spread ICL spread cricket, if England can have 3-4 football leagues India can have many cricket leagues.
  
• Reachability of the Zee Sports has to be increased , more the eyes watching the better it is.
• Spread it outside India, i have written it before also, go to Pakistan, go to Sri lanka , go to Bangladesh and even bring one team of native Asian community with some england players from South Hall UK and even one from USA. It will take time but there is lot of scope

Special Hats Off to the one and only one Legend Kapil Dev who is not working just to earn money and filling the coffers like the other greats of Indian cricket are doing, i don't want to name them but you could guess easily.

Go ICL Go

Meanwhile Arsenal Won vo hoooooooooooo
Khali Lost watched today morning on IndiaTV to a 49 year old lad, felt sad :)

ICL, IndianCricketLeague, KapilDev, ZeeSports, Khali

ICL : Beginning of a new ERA

Tomorrow a new chapter will be written in the history of cricket in India, when the monopoly of the most mismanaged highly bureaucratic and run by the same politicians who have ruined this nation in short BCCI will be challenged with the opening game of the ICL between Chandigarh Lions and Delhi Jets . Lot of people are saying that the launch of BCCI's IPL have taken away the craze or hype or motive from the ICL but in my opinion in a big country like India there is a scope for 2-3 cricket leagues.

Lots of sponsors have gone away at the last moment but these initial glitches are bound to take place whenever a new thing is started. The league will be a learning platform for the youngsters who have decided to leave the tent of monopolistic BCCI and join the ICL. All the 6 teams have got players of awesome reputation as the coach also.

jerseys of the teams

These is a lot of scope for the ICL, it can be expanded to the subcontinent. There will be lot of players in the pakistan who will be game for ICL same is the case in lanka and bangladesh. I see the number of teams like Lahore Warriors, Karachi Champs , Dhaka Tigers and Colombo Rambos coming in few years and even more teams because there are lot of cricket players in the subcontinent who deserve more then what they are getting now. One would say that without stars nobody would watch them play, in my opinion there are lot of fans of the game in the world who would watch the young players become stars, many of us watch the county twenty20 cricket and we enjoy the matches.

With great Kapil Dev at the helm there is no doubt that the ICL's 3D strategy of Discovery, Diligence and Display succeeds will succeed.

Now coming to the launch, its expected to be a gala event. Business tycoons like Anil Ambani filmstars Akshay Kumar, Aamir Khan are expected to grace the ocassion and with Zee deciding the telecast 30 minutes of game in every zee channel I would be able to watch the game :)

img: from ICL website


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