ICL initiates cricket clinics in Delhi

As part of the ICL’s Youth Connect Program, Madan Lal – the former India all-rounder and current coach of Delhi Jets visited schools in the capital city to help young kids learn the finer nuances of the game. The overwhelming participation by the students across schools reflects the awareness and popularity of the ICL, the Delhi Giants and its players.

With cricket being the most popular sport in the country there is no dearth of talent. Most kids aspire to be cricketers and it becomes imperative to equip them with right knowledge and coaching from an early age. Keeping this is mind, the ICL arranged a seminar with Madan Lal who not only interacted with young enthusiastic kids but also gave them vital tips.

It was a big opportunity for young students to learn from one of the finest all rounders this country has produced. Madan Lal has been a bowling coach at the NCA and has also coached the senior Indian team. Meeting eager kids was also a new experience for the member of the World Cup winning team. The young kids too made most of the opportunity and sought an opinion on the technical aspect of their game. Madan Lal exhibited the correct way to grip the ball, the delivery stance and posture. The Delhi Jets players weren’t left behind and they obliged their young fans who wanted autographs.

ICL has in the past supported and encouraged various youth ventures like inter-college festivals, workshops, seminars with various education institutions and keeping in line the Dehi students competed in various quiz contests.

The following is list of winners from Delhi Public School
Sr. No.	Student Names			Class
1.	Abhinav Bahl		=	VI - A
2.	Jugal Malhotra		=	VI - C
3.	Himanshu Tiwari		=	VI - C
4.	Sarthak Soni		=	VI - D
5.	Rohan Khanna		=	VI - A
Bumper Prize
	Manik Panwar		=	VII - K
The Following is list of Winners from Amity International
Sr. No.	Student Names			Class
1.	Kunal Verma		=	V - Amity Gurgaon
2.	Sanchit Sehgal		=	VIII - Amity East Delhi
3.	Akash Ahuja		=	VIII - Amity East Delhi
4.	Madhav Kaushik		=	V - E - Amity Noida
5.	Dishant Goyal		=	VII - A Amity Gurgaon
Bumper Prize
	Shivank Chaturvedi		=	X-B Amity International , Noida.

Social Responsibility – Top agenda for ICL players

Chandigarh Lions captain and New Zealand cricketer Chris Cairns undertakes 1001kms walk for his organization - the Chris Cairns Foundation. Besides, Mumbai Champs support Jai Hind College’s Monsoon Marathon.

The Indian Cricket League (ICL) fraternity has taken up social causes across the globe as a part of their social responsibility. The enormous support that the sport of cricket receives from the general masses makes it an ideal platform to create awareness and promote social causes.

Chris Cairns, Kiwi cricket stalwart and Chandigarh Lions’ captain, has undertaken a 1001kms walk from Auckland to Christchurch in New Zealand. This is in aid of his institute, Chris Cairns Foundation which has the sole objective of promoting rail safety and education in his country. “I really want the Foundation to make a difference with rail safety in New Zealand. Since Louise died over 100 people have lost their lives at road level crossings and I am committed to ensuring that people understand their responsibilities at level crossings and that this number does not continue to grow”, Chris was quoted as saying in his statement.

Indian domestic players too have displayed active interest in using the platform of cricket for promoting social causes in their respective regions. Mumbai Champs exemplified this initiative by participating and supporting Jai Hind College’s Monsoon Marathon; the run was organised in order to create consciousness about global warming.

The ICL have not only pioneered initiatives in the field of cricket but also have guided sportspersons so that they understand their social responsibility.

http://www.indiancricketleague.in/specials/diary/social-responsibility.html

ICL Stars help Sussex win Pro-40 County Championship

16th September, 2008
The ICL player-pool prowess and its contemporary relevance were proved when two of its players Murray Goodwin (Ahmedabad Rockets) & Mohammad Sami (Lahore Badshahs) were involved in a match-winning partnership to help their team, Sussex, win the Pro40 County Championship.

The high-octane match in it climax stage saw Sussex needing 4 runs of the last ball against Nottinghamshire with the stylish Rockets middle-order batsman, Goodwin on strike.

Chasing 226 for victory, Sussex was in all sorts of trouble at 130 for 8 before Mohammad Sami joined Murray Goodwin at the crease. With Nottinghamshire expecting a victory soon, Goodwin and Sami slowly started taking the game away from the opposition.

Once they settled into momentum, the duo practically had everything going in their favor as even Sami, who came as a tail-ender managed to preserve his wicket till the end scoring an unbeaten 32 from 40 deliveries with the help of 2 boundaries.

Murray Goodwin however was in impeccable form as his unbeaten 87 included six boundaries and three huge sixes. Needing four runs from the final delivery to win the match, Goodwin struck a six to take his side home to a well-deserved victory.

Goodwin, who was later awarded the ‘Player of the Match' award for his heroic efforts, admitted that he himself did not expect to win but he kept telling his ICL teammate, Mohammad Sami, to keep hitting the ball hard and into the gaps.

Sussex ended up wining the Pro40 County Championship by 2 wickets thanks to the match-resuscitating, unbeaten, 99-run partnership between the two ICL stars. This innings will hold both players in good stead for the forthcoming ICL season which begins in less than a month's time.

Sami will be seen in action for the Lahore Badshahs, a team which is considered one of the strongest units at the ICL despite not winning a title last year.

Goodwin will feature at the ICL for the Ahmedabad Rockets and his recent form in the county is a stark reminder for all opposition in the ICL that the Ahmedabad Rockets will be one of the dark-horses in the forthcoming ICL season. The challenge from the Rockets is something every ICL team management will take on priority.

It is best exemplified by the legendary player and coach of the Chennai Superstars, Michael Bevan, who in his recent interview to the ICL website, www.indiancricketleague.in, expected the Rockets to provide stiff competition to his side, Chennai Superstars. By the looks of Goodwin's form and confidence, Bevan's prediction may just come true.

Another big move in favor of the Ahmedabad Rockets is the inception of its home ground in the form of the Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad, as the fourth venue in the forthcoming ICL season. If the Hyderabad Heroes' home-court advantage last season was anything to go by, then the Ahmedabad Rockets may just be ‘the side to watch out for' this season.

Bangladesh T20 rebels banned for 10 years

Bangladesh cricket chiefs said on Wednesday that 13 players who opted to compete in the unauthorised Indian Twenty20 league will be banned for 10 years. The Indian Cricket League (ICL) unveiled late Tuesday its new Dhaka Warriors team in New Delhi, which comprises 11 Bangladesh internationals reportedly earning 200,000 dollars each over a three-year period. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) held an emergency meeting Wednesday and decided to ban the players for joining the unapproved league for 10 years, BCB spokesman Rabeed Imam said. "We don't have full reports of who have joined the ICL. But today, the board has decided that whoever has joined the unapproved league would be automatically banned for 10 years," he said. The board was also considering legal action against the 13 for breaching International Cricket Council rules, he added. At least seven of the 13 players informed the BCB they were retiring from Bangladesh cricket, citing personal reasons. The 13 players announced for the Dhaka Warriors include former captain Habibul Bashar and senior team-mates Shahriar Nafis, Dhiman Ghosh, Mohammad Rafique and Alok Kapali. The others are Aftab Ahmed, Farhad Reza, Manjural Islam, Mabud Chowdhury, Mahbubul Karim, Mohammad Sharif, Mosharraf Hossain and Tapash Baisya. Players aligned with the ICL -- bankrolled by India's largest listed media company Zee Telefilms -- are banned from playing official domestic and international cricket. The meeting was held a day after the board announced it would not accept the players' retirements. Earlier Wednesday, Bangladesh's Australia-born coach Jamie Siddons, who joined the cricket minnows a year ago, denied the sport was in crisis. "We can't afford to lose that many players on a regular basis. We'll replace these guys with young players but my biggest concern is that the ICL will come knocking again next year," Siddons told AFP via telephone from Australia. Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful told the leading Bengali language newspaper 'Prothom Alo', in an interview published Tuesday that he was offered a 700,000-dollar contract to play in the ICL, which he declined.

source: www.cricbuzz.com

To play a virtual Pakistan team in the final is an exciting experience: Abdul Razzaq

I have been a professional cricketer for a long time and have played against my compatriots on number of occasions in the English county. But to play a virtual Pakistan team in the final was an exciting experience.

If you see the line-up of the Lahore Badshahs you will find that I have played alongside almost every individual who has represented Pakistan in the last decade. On the plus side that meant that I knew the opposition very well and that knowledge came handy in preparing our game plan for the first final. Even when I came into bowl the last over, I exactly knew what I had to do to restrict the batsmen and despite bowling three wide balls I was confident of pulling through.
But we are professionals and we have to give our best for the team we are playing for. And I am happy that I could deliver the same both with the bat and the ball.

This was the first time that the Badshahs have lost a game in the second edition of the Indian Cricket League and apart from the win in the first final it also gives a psychological upper hand over them going into the second final in Hyderabad on Sunday. Add to that the vociferous crowd support that we receive in this Andhra Pradesh capital and you will understand why all of us are now pretty confident of bagging the coveted title.

But we can't be overconfident since we know that the Badshahs are known to raise their game every time they are down in the dumps and have time and again proved that they have the big match temperament needed to succeed at this level.

The ICL India team players meet the Great Inspiring Khali

The ICL India team players meet the Great Inspiring Khali

Mumbai, May 10, 2008: The robust new India story has trickled into the sporting world & is best exemplified by these two new sporting icons - one in the form of the Great Khali who made Indians believe that it is possible for an Indian to compete & win, amongst a galaxy of global wrestling icons & second in the form of the ICL India team that forced the cricket crazy nation to take notice of cricket talents & win against some of the best international names in the business, at the recently concluded ICL 20s World Series. An eventful Saturday afternoon today witnessed these two sporting champions - the Great Khali & the young ICL India team players, come together to spend some time & mutual admiration for each other.

In the pic (from LHS):ICL India team players - Stuart Binny, G. Vignesh, Ali Murtuza, Raviraj Patil, Khaleel Ibrahim & Syed Mohammad with the Great Khali in the centre.

Indian Cricket League 2008 season

The inaugural season for the Indian Cricket League will begin in October 2008 with 6 teams. The first tournament will be organized on a double round-robin basis in which each team will be playing the opposite team on home and away basis. The top four teams will reach the semi-finals and the final be played between the top teams. There will be a total of 20 matches for the entire season.

The Indian Cricket League

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Indian Cricket League (ICL) is a private cricket league that runs parallel to the existing cricket league managed by BCCI. At the moment, matches in the ICL follow the Twenty20 format, though there was a ODI (50 over) championship in January 2008. Matches are held at Tau Devi Lal stadium in Panchkula, near Chandigarh, Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad and Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Gurgaon, near New Delhi. In the second edition the league has been expanded to eight teams, almost doubling the number of group stage games from 15 to 28.HistoryZee Telefilms (part of the Essel group, which is promoted by Subhash Chandra) bid for the telecast rights to the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Although the highest bid, it was unsuccessful. In 2004, Subhash Chandra again bid for telecast rights and ended up in an inconclusive court battle. He made another bid for the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy rights and once again lost. He responded by creating the ICL. “They denied us the cricket content,” says Himanshu Mody, business head of ICL and Zee’s sports, “so, we had to create our own content” . Zee Telefilms announced that it would partner infrastructure major IL&FS to create a new, ambitious cricket organisation, the Indian Cricket League (ICL) with prize money of one million US dollars in the initial edition for the winning team. The ICL was set up with a billion dollar Indian Rupee corpus, and was to initially comprise six teams playing Twenty20 cricket, with plans to expand to sixteen teams within three years and to eventually move to 50-over matches. These plans, if realised, will make ICL the richest professional league in India. On 24 July 2007, some famous international names were announced to have signed to play in the ICL, including Brian Lara [3]. Due to the unofficial nature of the league, most of the national cricket boards warned their players against joining it and as a result most of the international players who signed for the first edition were retired internationals, such as Brian Lara, Chris Cairns and Craig McMillan, or former players with little hope of breaking back into their national team, such as Chris Read and Daryl Tuffey. A notable exception was Imran Farhat, who chose to opt out of his Pakistan Central contract to sign with the League . Former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad said he was not able to understand why the PCB would not allow its players to participate in the league and why it was threatening players with a lifetime ban[citation needed]. The PCB subsequently banned players involved in the ICL from playing domestic cricket, a move that prompted some players, notably Farhat and Taufeeq Umar, to threaten court action . The opposition to the league from most national cricket boards has continued into the league's second edition, with several players who were signed to play domestic cricket for teams in the English County Championship, including Shane Bond, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Mushtaq Ahmed and Jason Gillespie being unable to fulfill their County Championship contracts because of their home counties cricket boards refusals to grant them the necessary paperwork to play in England .The first edition of the league commenced on 30 November 2007. The league consisted of six teams with the matches played at Panchkula, near Chandigarh. It concluded on 16 December 2007 with the Chennai Superstars winning the first title. A second edition which commenced on 9 March 2008 saw the league expanded to eight teams and matches being played at two further venues, Hyderabad and Gurgaon.