Taking a monopoly apart — piece by piece

It was announced a couple of days ago that the Indian Cricket League (ICL to most news papers/channels) has so far garnered the support and participation of 44 domestic cricketers and about 7 (at last count) international "stars" for its first season. Lance Klusener and Nicky Boje (the very same Boje, who was sufficiently frightened of the Delhi Police to avoid the India tour a year or so ago) from South Africa, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, Imran Farhat and Abdul Razzaq from Pakistan and Trinidadian Brian Lara are the international players signed up so far. Kapil Dev, Madan Lal, Erapalli Prasanna, Tony Greig and Dean Jones are but a few of the star cast, who've been signed on as administrators for the ICL.

The season, originally expected to commence in October, will require at least another 40-odd players to get started, but it all still seems very uncertain. Kapil Dev, as is his wont, fired on all cylinders in the press conference, describing the domestic cricketers rounded up so far as the "cream of the country". If that wasn't enough, he went on to say that they were being courageous, by putting their future on the line (more on that later) and that he would back them to the end of his life — or at the very least, till the end of the ICL, one presumes. Naturally, as the spearhead of this new renegade faction, one would expect nothing less from the Haryana Hurricane.

Juxtaposing his words with the BCCI's threats (of banning all players from ANY competition organised by them or their constituents) really does bring about the realisation that for a number of these 44 domestic players, it really is a courageous call on their part. For the likes of Dinesh Mongia, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Reetinder Sodhi and T. Kumaran, this is probably not all that huge a loss, considering the fact that it seems highly unlikely that they'll be re-entering the Indian team any time soon. However for Ambati Rayudu and Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (who almost single-handedly spearheaded Bengal's charge for the Ranji trophy last season), signing up with the ICL is akin to throwing away their chance at an India cap.

I could go on and on forever describing the posturing employed by the BCCI and the ICL, over the course of this entire saga, but that would defeat the purpose of this piece and that is to laud the ICL. Sure, it's a Zee-owned corporation looking to make some big bucks. But in a world where there are so many unscrupulous and I daresay easier ways of making money, it's truly admirable that they choose to take on the biggest fish of them all in its own pond. Let's face it, the BCCI is also out to make money and the last thing (I'm sure) they'd like to see is someone else getting a piece of the pie, no matter how thin the sliver may be. Additionally, what's wrong with an attempt to shake things up a bit and keep the infamously dinosaur-esque board on its toes? The ICL may be a complete failure, but look back at Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket — that could have gone either way but one can't deny the way it revolutionised sport.

While it appears as though the BCCI holds all the cards (stadia, sponsors, political leverage, ability to decide who plays for the country), the most important resource of all lies with the ICL — the players themselves. Four of the major Indian Ranji trophy teams have been severely depleted after losing over half a dozen of their best players each to the ICL. With the BCCI's hard stand on cutting ties with anyone associated with the ICL, it remains to be seen what the domestic rosters are going to look like, once more players sign up with Zee's ventures. All said and done, if there was ever a way to crack a monopoly, this appears to be it. Unfortunately, it increasingly seems as though the main casualty in this war is going to be Indian cricket.