The 2nd season of ICL has already kicked off with a match between Ahmedabad Rockets V Chandigarh Lions, the 2nd season is being promised to be bigger and better than the inaugural season.The winning team stands to pocket Rs. 25 million (US$ 625,000 approx.), an increase of Rs 5 million from last year. There are two new teams, among which is an all Pakistani-outfit, the Lahore Badshahs, and many new international stars, among whom the star attraction is undoubtedly Shane Bond. The tournament will be held in three locations instead of one – Panchkula, Hyderabad and Gurgaon.
With the exception of Abdul Razzak and Shabbir Ahmed all the Pakistani players will play for 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,
Wicketkeeper: Humayun Farhat
Fast Bowlers: Mohammad Sami, Rana Naveed Ul Hasan, Riaz Afridi, Shahid Nazir
Spinners: Mushtaq Ahmed, Saqlain Mushtaq, Arshad Khan
Except for Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat and Sami the rest of the players are completely out of shape and look more like Qawals than cricketers, I saw the first match today between Ahmedabad Rockets V Chandigarh Lions and I am sorry to say it didn’t excited me at all, the stadium was empty the match was boring and nothing more than a B class match between two B class clubs, the international players were so out of shape that you can barely recognize them.But still I am dying to watch the Lahore Badshahs play because it will be an absolute comical sight, interestingly the Lahore Badshahs are being tipped as the favorites for this season. If this is the barometer of the standard of other teams participating in ICL then you can imagine what will be the future of this league.
Is there any room for cheer leaders in cricket? Does cricket needs help from bollywood item girls?
Or is it that the organizers of ICL knew that their show lacks attraction and it needs support from bollywood item girls, Aik ticket mein do mazey.
Lahore Badshahs have won their 2nd game against Hyderabad heroes, Azhar Mahmood and Imran Nazir were the star performers
Imran scored a scintillating innings of 62 off 32 balls and Azhar took 5/13 to restrict heroes to only 86 in 18.4 overs.
After having watched four ICL matches I have no doubt in my mind that this is the WWF version of cricket and is just a time pass for a serious cricket fan.
Wasim:
Lahore Badshahs proved you wrong by beating the defending champs in an exciting match.At one stage they were 4/47 but Inzamam and Naved Latif rescued them, Naved got several chances but in the end he played a match winning knock of 41 from 25 balls, Inzamam played the role of anchor and guided his team to victory, the Old warrior on several occasions was short of breath but he did exhibited his class.
But I was disappointed by the fielding and bowling standard of both the teams,this league is only a time Pass.
Abdul:
Channel 576 Z sports, in UK check with your dish provider if the channel NO is different.Pentangular Cup is being shown on Geo super.
Two more bomb blasts just exploded in Lahore and Australia has officially canceled its tour of Pakistan.
Chak de India…..
India failed to qualify for mens olympic hockey event for the first time in History,the bubble of their recent success got burst in only one year.I agree with Mr. Kasim that in order to be NO1 you have to sustain your success for a longer period of time.
Wasim;
What chaneel is the ICL on ?
Do you know where u can watch pentangular cup action on the internet or anywhere.
And finally http://www.freewebs.com/cricfans123
Except for a few players this league has been able to attract players who retired from International cricket several years ago, ICL does not irks me anymore except for the fact that if you combine the schedules for both IPL and ICL its almost three months,and this is the biggest challenge ICC and all the boards face.