ICL threat now really becoming a reality

NEW DELHI: The Indian Cricket League (ICL) has delivered its first big blow to Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Eight current first class cricketers from south zone are all set to join the breakaway league and many more are in queue.

As usual, the BCCI has nothing to say on this development which is clearly becoming a monster for them with each passing day. Ambati Rayadu, former India under 19 captain, was once touted as the future of Indian cricket. But now the 21-year-old Hyderabad batsman has become the first big name from domestic cricket to join Indian Cricket League. And he is not alone.

Six of his teammates from Hyderabad — Vinay Kumar, Kaushik Reddy, Inder Sekhar Reddy, Ibrahim Khaleel, Anirudh Singh, wicket-keeper Shashank Nag — and Tamil Nadu’s medium pacer V Jignesh have also thrown their lot behind the rival league. “We would like to finish the painting that we had started and we would soon like to show you how nice it is going to turn out to be. “It’s not fair for me to take the names of the players right now, who have signed the deal. But we would like to announce it during a Press Conference that we are most likely to arrange within a week, when all the contracts and the names are in place,” said the former India captain and chairman of ICL, Kapil Dev.

This is the first group of current first class cricketers who have joined ICL in spite of BCCI’s threat to ban them. Sources say players from Ranji teams like Delhi and Railways are also holding talks with ICL and will confirm their participation soon. The ICL plans to conduct Twenty20 matches this year but they have bigger plans for future. “If possible, we will go for the 50-over a side matches as well as 3-day matches, etc. But right now it is just the start, taking first step forward. “And with the support of the media and the sponsors, we will go in every kind of cricket,” said Kapil.

The BCCI now finds itself in a strange predicament. The ICL has fired the first salvo — the threat of the ICL is now becoming a reality. This issue promises to hijack the agenda at the BCCI’s annual AGM later this month.

Source: http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=68728
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I sense that the boards will have to be forced to come to a compromise ASAP over the ICL. If the ICL continue to poach future Indian talent like this, and khuda-na-hasta the contract stories from Pakistan turn out to be correct, then the boards will have to do a U-turn over the ICL issue

Absolutely, 2 big guns gone the PCB is vulnerable now.