ICL can never hope to match the aura of an India-Pakistan series: Speed

Sneering at the Indian Cricket League, ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed on Wednesday said the ICL, effectively a get-together of faded stars and fringe players, can never hope to match the aura of an India-Pakistan series.

The ICC chief executive, who was here to unveil the trophy for the Twenty20 World Championship, took a dig at the rebel league and said it could never match mainstream cricket. "What is being proposed by the Indian Cricket League is a six-team event for about three-four weeks, featuring some provincial players, apart from some retired cricketers. Now you have to be careful to draw a comparison, for you know that an India-Pakistan Test series would draw more millions. "It's about domestic cricketers and retired players and you can't really make a comparison," he said.

Speed said ICL, the Essel Group-backed venture, have not applied for ICC approval and also made it clear that unless BCCI approves the breakaway league there is no question of giving the ICC nod for the event. Speed said the governing body was not surprised by the emergence of this kind of venture. "Two years back, we could see that private promoters, television channel proprietors, sports marketing agents would be interested to run their league and make money out of it. So we are not really surprised.

"But if you apply for ICC approval, we have a five-stage system in place, going by which, we ask the member board of the country concerned whether they have approved it. If they have not, we can't approve it either. It's common sense." The ICC official, meanwhile, was upbeat about next month's Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa and exuded confidence that the event would be a smashing hit.

"It's exciting time for international cricket with a new format. It's no exaggeration to say that Twenty20 is the biggest development to have happened to cricket in the last 30 years. "It has the potential to bring in new audience because of its quickfire entertainment and it has been popular wherever it has been introduced." He also confirmed Reliance, Emaar MGF and Nokia as global partners for the event.

Speed also felt that Twenty20 could bring crowd to first class cricket. "One-dayer and Test cricket have been popular among crowd but it has been difficult to attract people for first class level. Twenty20, the short and sharp festival of cricket, would bridge that gap." "The administrators here were not initially keen on Twenty20 but now they are behind it." It, however, does not mean that Test cricket has slipped in the ICC agenda. "Our priority is to preserve and promote Test cricket, which is the premier format, while One-dayer is the financial driver. In contrast, Twenty20 would help us reach new audience."

Amid growing apprehensions that Twenty20 would reduce the bowlers to mere canon-feeders, Speed felt, on the contrary, it might help the emergence of another kind of bowlers. "I don't subscribe to the view that Twenty20 is an anti-bowler format. Rather, we might see the emergence of a new crop of bowlers, it maybe spinners or medium pacers who can take the pace off the ball. I hope spinners to have a role in this format."

Have to agree with that. T20 brings in more crowd when compared to first class cricket in Pakistan atleast. Plus T20 is good for the growth of the game. More popularity for cricket means more competition!