Twenty20 has hit the headlines consistently over the last two years, for reasons as varied as India’s title triumph in the inaugural world championships two years ago, the success of the Indian Premier League and the rise and fall of the rebel Indian Cricket League.

For the past eight years though, away from the glare and the riches of the high-profile format, an entire parallel infrastructure of Twenty20 cricket has been running successfully, catering solely to the backward classes and the economically weaker sections of society, with matches played out in far-flung villages such as Nabha in Punjab and Fazilka in Rajasthan.

Established in 2001, the Indian Twenty20 Cricket Federation (ITCF), with its headquarters based in Patiala, is registered under the Societies Registration. It registered its trademark and copyrights in 2006. A full-fledged congregation of 32 state units, empowered with its own Anti-Doping Policy and Anti-Corruption Unit, the ITCF has as many as 1,00,000 players currently under its umbrella.

The body categorically states that it’s not affiliated to the BCCI or the ICC and is hoping instead that the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs gives them recognition, wherein the certificates awarded by them is accepted by the public sector undertakings and colleges from players under sports quota.

On its website, the ITCF calls itself as the “national governing body for Twenty 20 & Twenty 20 innings cricket in India and the original promoter of T20 Cricket in India.” Even so, they have a completely non-confrontational approach as far as the BCCI goes.

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