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Deccan Chargers were put into bat, they continued with their experimentation with their line up, Afridi was dropped after a dismal performance and Gibbs came in to open in place of Afridi, the move paid off as Gilly and Gibbs gave the chargers their best start in the tournament, too bad it was too late, in 11 0vers they scored 79/0 and lost the first wickets Gibbs on the first ball of 12th over, he scored 44 off 34 balls, Gilly scored 50 off 42 balls a bit slower by his standards, but the highlight of their opening partnership was that they were not taking any un due risks they eliminated the high risk shots and just played the normal shots and eliminated the risk, in fact Gilly got out soon after completing his 50 trying to sweep against the spin the first poor shot he played and paid the price.

After his departure Rohit Sharma took Charge and scored a whirlwind 50 off just 27 balls, this guy has an ice cool temperament and should  get a permanent place in India’s national team, The chargers probably scored 10 or 15 scores less than their target as Sharma also got out after completing his 50 trying to pull a Misbah on RV Singh but the later bowled a faster yorker on the legs stump and send Sharma back. Again Sharma played a high risk shot and paid the price their was no need for it. The final Score was 175 in 20 overs.

The Kings XI got Sangakara back, he came to open with the inform SE Marsh and both made their intentions clear  from the beginning RP Singh’s first over costed 14 runs, both of them played some high class shots all around the wicket, and took their team to 50 in 3.5 overs the fastest in the tournament, again the highlight of the batting was no High risk shots were played, these two have a wide range of shots and they just kept on playing proper shots and only hit the balls which were in the slot, the bowling was also below par, all the bowlers were bowling either too up or too short, there was no consistent line and length.

Most of the Indian frontline bowlers are on top of the bowling charts with the highest # of wickets only because they have played more matches, their econ rate is above 8 and their average is in the range of 20-24. It was fuuny to hear that RP was the proud holder of the purple cap, he has recieved so much drubbing in this tournament that after every spell the color of his face becomes purple he doesn’t need a purple cap he has already turned purple.

The target of 176 was comfortablly achieved in the end, Kings XI made sure that they win this dead rubber it was absolutely essential to maintain the momentum losing creates doubts and exposes weaknesses. They have a very strong batting line up, but I am not impressed by their bowling and fielding they give away too many runs they dropped too many easy catches, any good team will not give them a second chance.

The final round of IPL league matches is almost over, the tournament was a major success, cricket fans all over the world had plenty to cheer about their respective heroes but not so much for Pakistani Cricket fans.

10 Pakistani players featured in the tournament, but with the exception of Sohail Tanvir no body was able to perform consistently, ironically he is the most inexperienced of all the Pakistani players but while his senior team mates including the captain were warming the bench of their respective teams, Sohail Tanvir gave match after match winning performances.

He has played 9 matches and has taken 21 wickets @ 5.95 with an ave of 10. He is topping the bowling charts in all categories he has  taken the highest # of wickets, he has the best bowling figures in a single match, his bowling  ave of 10 is also the best, his econ rate 5.95 is only second to thornely who has bowled only 7 overs in the tournament. Sohail Tanvir has been the X factor for the Rajasthan Royals, In this tournament he is bowling like his hero Wasim Akram and has overcome his erratic line and now can swing the ball both ways. His senior Pakistani team mates after failing consistently have been warming the bench, the only other Pakistan player who has played 9 matches is Afridi who is averaging 11 with the bat and has taken 9 wickets in the tournament @ 7.62 with an average of 22.88. His team benched him after his failure with both bat and ball, he had only two good games as a bowler, he probably  disapointment the Pakistani cricket fans the most.

Mohammed Hafeez played 8 matches for Kolkata Knight Riders after playing two good games in which Kolkata won he consistently failed with the bat and was not much used as a bowler  there after.In 8 matches he scored a mere 64 runs a pathetic performance by a technically incorrect player. He is still holding the record of bowling the most economical spell in IPL in which he gave away only 8 runs in 4 overs against the Deccan Chargers.In an effort to defend his poor performance he made a statement that the senior players in Pakistan team who are selected automatically selected didn’t performed any better than him.

Shoaib Malik played 7 matches and batted in 5 innings only, he failed to hold his place in the Dehli team as he failed as a bowler and Dehli don’t need another batsman he was selected as an all rounder but wants to play as a batsman only, Dehli benched him when they realized he is not going to bowl, something to learn for the Pak selectors. In all fairness in his five outings he probably got only two chances where there were some overs left when he came on to the crease, his highest score was only 24 and is averaging a mere 13 in the tournament. He bowled only8.3 overs in 7 matches and took 2 wickets @10.

Asif also played 7 matches and has taken 7 wickets @ 9.42, he started the tournament nicely but then faded away he has been too expensive, now he is injured and is warming the bench.

Salman Butt has also played 7 matches, he scored 193 runs @ 27.57 with the highest score of 73, he warmed the Kolkata bench during the first round and was given a chance only when McCullum and Gayle left, several technical faults in his batting were highlighted in his batting, he is weak on the onside, and has no foot movement, he scores most of his runs on boundaries and fails to work the ball for singles, his SR was a problem, he gave a few good starts to his team but their was not much to cheer about his batting, he was another disappointment.

Misbah ul Haq also played 7 matches, he was benched initially for Kallis and Chanderpaul, but later on because of public hue & cry was given a chance to play, he was the biggest disappointment for Pak fans as he failed to capitalize on the chances he scored only 117 runs @19.5 with a highest score of 47. Its true that Rahul Dravid failed to use him properly and was treated unfairly for which the Royal Banglore team paid heavily. He is in the wrong team and should demand a trade.

Umar Gul played six matches, and took 12 wickets @ 8.17 with an ave of 15.33, he was benched when Shoaib Akhter arrived because after playing one good game he failed to take wickets and was too expensive,but after Shoaib got injured he played superbly and took wickets in all the matches he played and improved his average.

Kamran Akmal has played 4 matches and has scored 98 runs with an ave of 32.66 the highest by any Pakistani batsman, he has been warming the bench since the arrival of Smith, he had only one good outing with the bat scoring 53 runs, his performance has been average neither bad nor good.

Shoaib Akhtar played only three matches, the Rawalpindi Express started the tournament with a big noise but got derailed in the next match, in 3 matches he only bowled 7 overs took 5 wickets @ 7.71 and an average of 10.80. After playing three matches he quietly saw his team being knocked out of the race for semis while warming the bench.

Although Pakistani bowlers stood out, but batting remains a problem, the senior players have been exposed, Afridi and Malik they are selected in the team as all rounders one can’t bowl and the other can’t bat, Younis Khan has not been considered worthy to play even a single match, Misbah failed, Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal had average success but their performance was such that you would not like to count on, the problem is further compounded since Pakistan has already lost their bench strength to ICL , the selectors do not have any option but to again give automatic selection to these so called seniors for the upcoming Asia cup and Champions trophy.

A hint for the selectors,the youngest guy was the star amongst the bench warmers, so get rid of some of these so called seniors and inject some young players in the team.

Versus 

A super charged Chennai super kings team is almost on the verge of knocking out the tournament favorites Kings X1, its 44-5 in 8.5 overs all the top 5 batsmen are back into the pavillion, Chennai bowlers made full use of the bounce in the pitch, Dhoni surprised everybody when he handed the ball to Murali to open the bowling, Murali bowled only 1 over and gave 7 runs, the second over was bowled by Ntini who was bowling at his top speed and with a very high energy made full use of the bounce in the pitch, Ntini is always dangerous against left handers his speed and angle un nerved Marsh, he removed Hopes in his first over and Marsh in his third over, he was fully supported by Goni who removed the dangerous Sangakara in his first over and then removed Yuvraj Singh in his next over, the highly energetic Chennai team never let any Punjab batsman to settle down, the feilders were supporting their bowlers, the batsmen found it really hard to find the gaps and boundaries were only coming of edges, the wicket is not conducive for stroke play because of the bounce and movement the Punjab batsmen after sufferring early loses could never adjust their game, even the running between the wickets reflected the nervousness of the Punjab batsmen, the early loss of wickets and the pressure of the big match got to them. Its 63/7 in 13.4 overs, the match is all over for the Kings X1.

At his first press conference today, Ijaz Butt, the PCB’s new chairman, made a series of startling revelations about the ICC’s discussions over the unauthorised ICL at a board meeting last week. The ICC, he said, has been warned by its lawyers of the problems ahead if it is sued by the ICL. He also spoke of plans of a possible “merger” with the IPL and of the PCB’s own possible openness to its younger ICL players returning to the national fold.

Cricket fans all over the world are enjoying and celebrating the thrills of T20 cricket being played in ICL and IPL both leagues have been very well organized and operate on extremely savvy business models and have been a huge financial success. BCCI and Lalit Mody deserve all the praise for their innovative ideas but there are certain grey areas which are causing huge problems for different boards and if they are not resolved quickly they can harm International cricket in the long run, I have had several discussions on the topic with some of my Indian friends  but the problems are so complex that Scorpicty of cricketfizz asked me to write a separate post on the subject so that the whole community can get involved in the discussion.

With the advent of T20 cricket modern day cricket has become commercially attractive and hence attracted the attention of the private sector, Until now different boards have enjoyed monopolistic control over cricket in their respective territories. In the past there have been feeble attempts by private business owners to capture a market share of International cricket but none of them survived in the long run as they were strongly resisted by different cricket boards.

Why was ICL created?

ICL was formed as a result of BCCI- Zee group feud over broadcasting rights, Subhash Chandra in an interview said “they were not willing to sell us the content so we decided to create our own content.”

The Essel Group’s Zee TV believed it got a raw deal in the allocation of Indian cricket¹s TV rights the last time around when, despite making the highest bid, Zee was denied the rights for want of experience in sport broadcasting. The ICL – a joint venture between the Essel Group and Infrastructure Leasing & Finance Services (IL&FS) – is seen by many as Essel head Subhash Chandra Goel’s attempt to get back at the BCCI.

The Aftermath

The creation of ICL seriously intimidated BCCI and cricket boards all over the world as they perceived it as a serious threat to their monopoly over cricket. Money is not the only benefit of hosting the IPL for the BCCI. The BCCI no longer holds a monopoly upon Indian cricket, after the emergence of the Indian Cricket League (ICL), a privately run Twenty20 venture. For ICL to be globally successful, it needed the top stars, the underpaid stars of International cricket overnight became a precious commodity and this is where the IPL and BCCI hold the trump cards.

The BCCI was able to convince other cricket boards across the world not to recognize the rebel league when it launched. The economic value of maintaining good relations with the BCCI, meant that other national cricket boards and the International Cricket Council quickly fell in line.

In return for their support, the BCCI agreed that players would only be allowed to join the IPL if they received clearance from their national cricket board. The agreement also means that players who sign up for the ICL risk being barred from playing for their national teams, effectively ending their careers outside of the rebel league.

That wasn’t a mere threat. Shane Bond, perhaps New Zealand’s most talented bowler and Mohammad Yousuf Pakistan’s most prolific batsman both have been frozen out of international cricket after their decision to sign for the ICL. 13 players from Bangladesh including six test players defected to ICL  So far 18 players have defected to ICL  as a result Pakistan has almost lost its entire bench.

The vendetta of BCCI and other boards didn’t stop here they expelled players from employment who established any relation with ICL, BCCI denied ICL the access to the cricket infra structure in India, Players were forced to lose jobs from private sector, their pensions and other dues were withheld, BCCI and other boards twisted the arm of every associate and private entity to make life tough for the rebel players and ICL.

The Monopolies and restrictive trade practices’ authority took a suo motto notice of these vindictive activities and ordered it’s DGIR to submit a report the  report is still pending. ICL has also  filed a case against BCCI in Delhi High court regarding its employment rules the case is still pending.

India is a free market economy and BCCI although it is registered under the society’s act and is a co-operative but a court has already given the ruling that merely because BCCI is registered under the Societies Registration Act, does not bring it under the purview of RTI Act.” Hence BCCI does not enjoy the exemption from being scrutinized by MRTPC. There is no notification by the central government which gives BCCI exclusive right to run cricket in the country, in the eyes of the law BCCI will be treated as a private entity. BCCI had contended in the court that it did not receive any funds, directly or indirectly, from the Center and also did not have on its board any nominee from any government it should be treated as an autonomous body.

ICL has applied for recognition with ICC which was declined, to make matters worse ICC has also refused to interfere in the feud between BCCI and ICL.

Almost two years have passed since this row started, none of the parties involved in this feud made any serious effort to resolve the issue,  the issue is not about cricket its about money, the players want to leave their country for money, BCCI wants to retain its monopolistic control over Indian cricket market, the rest of the boards and ICC fear that if the legalization of ICL becomes a precedent it might bring an end to their monopoly over the game.

BCCI besides arm twisting other boards and banishing its own players has done nothing to resolve the issue, the Indian government is also silent on the issue.

ICC and BCCI want to grind out this problem until ICL withdraws itself from the market due to financial loses. There is no data available on ICL’s financial viability but the packed stadiums, high TV ratings and huge fan following suggests that such a withdrawal is highly unlikely and ICL is here to stay.

So what does this mean for other boards should they just act like spectators while their players are being poached away by the rebel league? and will the fans never be able to see their favorite players in national uniform again? I hope not.

ICL  in my opinion has not been sincere in its efforts to resolve the issue except applying for recognition and filing a suit against BCCI for the recovery of pensions on behalf of players it has not pursued aggressively on the legal front to resolve the issue, Subhash Chandra knows if ICL gets recognized it will also get regulated, which means the boards will again control the supply of players, and ICL might have to pay huge amounts in lieu of affiliation fees, he won’t gain anything and he might lose control over his market share. If ICL was sincere, they would have been a lot more aggressive on the legal front against BCCI, the MRTPC laws and the restraint in trade laws are very strict and BCCI stands no chance to win this legal battle. It is in the interest of both BCCI and ICL to maintain status quo as they are not losing anything all the loss is of other boards.

There is a saying that “the first man to the shell gets the oyster and the second one gets the shell.” Both ICL and IPL have captured the T20 market as they have signed most of the players in long-term contracts, and IPL has a guaranteed revenue stream of over a billion dollars over a period of next 10 years so the hype of losing the market to ICL is over exaggerated, both leagues can coexist and even if some new leagues come in the market in the next few years they will find it very hard to survive as both IPL and ICL have established themselves and the ICC FTP program is already being stretched to accommodate IPL it will be hard for multiple leagues to survive also the supply of  quality players is limited after a certain point it will dry up.

BCCI and the Indian fans should  realize that ICL will also contribute to infrastructure and the training of young talent.

There is wide disparity between the facilities enjoyed by the national team and the regional ones. This makes the regional players far from finished products when they are called to represent their country, preventing a huge country like India from having adequate bench strength when key players are injured or retire. Also, the regional cricket boards depend on the BCCI for hand-outs of funds for infrastructure and grassroots development. The players who are entrenched at the top have strong backing from sports management firms and also can afford the best in personal trainers, physiotherapists and technical consultants, hardly the preserve of the average player.

All the financial gains shall be reaped by these two leagues they have nothing to lose its all hype and over exaggeration, all the other boards are going to be the losers in the equation as they will lose their most precious asset “the players” through exodus, they will struggle to maintain their bench, the player exodus and resulting bans will affect the quality of their domestic tournaments and in certain cases they will even struggle to maintain the best combination in their national team and if they have any hope or plans of starting a T20 league of their own it can never materialize without the banned players.

Its high time that the bans on the rebel players should be lifted.