What was the initial corpus that was planned to fund this project? Did Zee consider the fact that it was taking on the world’s richest cricket body?
As far as figures are concerned, I may not be able to reveal much. But 100 to 120 crores (per year) is our estimated budget. But every venture takes time to set itself in motion. The board isn’t having a good time either and Nimbus is the only deal with them right now. With Nimbus around, the board earns approximately Rs 400 crore a year and — while we’re not counting just money here — we aren’t far behind.

Is the Kerry Packer revolution an inspiration?
With due respects to what Kerry Packer did, our idea is completely different. Packer was truly commendable. What one-day cricket is today is mostly because of his foresight and innovations. However, ours is an entirely different concept. We don’t see it as an inspiration.

What is the timeline and by when do you intend to put everything in place for the ICL to commence?
To be frank, we haven’t set any deadline. I have said earlier that it has to be the third quarter of the year. So, it can most probably be either in November or December that we begin.

Why do you think the ICL will sell, especially when cricket is at an all-time low in India?
Zee does not think that cricket in India is all about big players and representing the country. There is a severe dearth of domestic cricket and to add, it is not sold properly. You hardly get 1000 people on the ground for a domestic match. Compare this to the county circuits in England, and other sporting events across the world. We keep spending so much money on international cricket, why can’t we create some local pride?

... contd.