Hyderabad Cricket has got into a turmoil after confirmed reports have come that seven of its players have left the State to join the Indian Cricket League! This is the biggest catch for the ICL as so far only the names of former cricketers or cricketers on the edge of retirement have emerged. The ICL is now gaining serious momentum having consumed half of the Hyderabad Ranji Squad and that might pave way for cricketers from other states to join the rebel league as well despite the threat of a life ban from the BCCI. Leading the Hyderabad players is none other than Ambati Rayudu, the former India U-19 Captain and once thought as the next Sachin Tendulkar of the country!
While the HCA officials have already started to react about the players joining the ICL, the players who have signed with the ICL are tight lipped about the entire matter. It is learnt that the ICL has asked them to stay silent till Monday where there would be a press conference revealing the details. Mr.G.Vinod, the President of the Hyderabad Cricket Association has stated that the news comes as an ’embarrassment’ and one that would weaken the Hyderabad Ranji side. The list of players from Hyderabad who are believed to have signed up with the Zee Group’s ICL are Ambati Rayudu, Ranji Trophy Captain Anirudh Singh, Shashank Nag, D Vinay Kumar, Wicket Keeper Ibrahim Khaleel, spinner P Indersekhar Reddy and pacer Kaushik Reddy!
The Hyderabad Team is currently engaged in playing in the Buchi Babu All-India invitation tourney in Chennai. Most of the seven rebel players were part of the squad in Chennai and were having secret deals with ICL agents during the tournament. The HCA has asked these players to return back to Hyderabad and has hurriedly sent five replacements to Chennai including a new Captain in Santosh Yadav.
The seven Hyderabad players are reported to have signed highly productive contracts with the ICL that would pay them anything between Rs.75 lakhs to Rs.90 lakhs for a three year term. The BCCI is expected to put a life ban on all the players representing the ICL. The BCCI is set to have a meeting on the 21st to discuss about the ICL and other issues. The action taken by these Hyderabadi players would mean that they would be banned from playing any leagues under the Hyderabad Cricket Association which further means that they would end up losing their jobs with their respective organizations which employ them primarily to play for them. Going by the BCCI, a Ranji player would have at the most made around Rs. 4 lakhs per annum in comparison to the obviously tempting amount of Rs. 30 lakhs per annum from the ICL!
Joining the ICL is arguably a very good decision from these players as most of them wouldn’t even had the potential to make it to the Indian team realistically. The only exception was perhaps Rayudu, but he had lost his way after his decision to leave Hyderabad to play for Andhra and then returning back to Hyderabad. It can be said that someone like Rayudu was just waiting for something like an ICL to crop up. These seven relatively unknown Hyderabadi players with the exception of Rayudu have suddenly caught the limelight and have now set the trend for other players across the country to join them. Already it is learnt that G Vignesh, Tamil Nadu’s medium pacer has also joined the ICL. There is speculation that a former Test Cricketer hailing from Hyderabad has been influential in getting these players on board for the ICL and that person could well be former Indian Skipper Mohammad Azharuddin according to a section of the Media!
ICL also gaining momentum at the International Level!
Pakistan’s prolific batsman Mohammad Yousuf and all rounder Abdul Razzaq were left out of the Twenty20 World Cup and it is also known that they haven’t yet signed the central contracts with the PCB. The Pakistan Media has since then has been publishing that both these players have signed lucrative contracts with the ICL. This news is yet to be confirmed though. But what is confirmed is that dashing left handed opener – Imran Farhat has returned his central contract to the PCB to enter into the ICL arena. Imran Farhat has openly spoke against the National Selectors for ignoring him for Pakistan. There is also name in Asim Kamal, another test discard likely to join the ICL. The PCB had before warned its players not to join the ICL with life bans.