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BCCI bombs ICL with its IPL!

The BCCI has finally flexed its muscles in a big way to take on the ripples created by the Essel Group’s Indian Cricket League. In a function held yesterday in Delhi, the BCCI has officially launched two professional leagues. The Indian Premier League and the Champions Twenty20 League are going to be the two plans that will get into implementation by the BCCI with the co-operation of the Boards of Australia, England and South Africa. Yesterday’s function was attended by Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Glenn McGrath and Stephen Fleming along with the top cricket officials including the ICC President Ray Mali and the BCCI President Sharad Pawar.

The prize money for the inaugural Champions Twenty20 League to be played in October 2008 is said to be at a staggering 5 million US Dollars. The prize money for the Indian Premier League itself is 3 million US Dollars which is thrice the money that the Indian Cricket League had announced! This bomb from the BCCI is all set to make the ICL and its contracted players eat the dust as the two leagues launched by the BCCI have official status and the support from the International Cricket Council.

The Champions Twenty20 League tournament which will be featuring eight teams with the top two teams of the respective Twenty20 Domestic Championships in Australia, England and South Africa along with India competing against each other. The Indian Twenty20 Championship which is called as the IPL is going to be played by 8 teams with each team having the provision to have 16 players in its squad. This tournament will start in April 2008. While there is an urge to have atleast four junior players in each side, there is also the boosting of two to three international stars per each side. A total of 59 matches are to be played in 44 days for the Indian Premier League with matches played both home and away.

The Indian Cricket League had failed to rope in Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath but it hasn’t taken a huge effort for the BCCI to lure these legendary cricketers to feature in the Indian Premier League. Former New Zealand Skipper Stephen Fleming has also joined the IPL. The players of the IPL will be traded, drafted and even sold by ‘Franchises’ that own the eight teams just like how it is done in the NBA and the football leagues in Europe. A ‘Franchise’ will pay the BCCI a fee which in turn gets them the access to a revenue share out of the tournament.

BCCI Vice-President Lalit Modi has been named as the Convenor of the Indian Premier League. The IPL will be run by a seven-member council that includes former Indian Skippers Sunil Gavaskar, Tiger Pataudi and Ravi Shastri along with cricket administrators Rajiv Shukla, ISS Bindra, Chirayu Amin and Arun Jaitley, the BJP Politician.