DURING the World Cup, when Greg Chappell was busy analysing his batsmen’s footwork, or rather the lack of it on his laptop, Zee Telefilms was fast switching on its own machine, busy thinking how to take advantage of the recession in the Indian cricket industry. Their thoughts reeled back to what initially had been a mere one-line mention in their powerpoint presentation when they first bid for BCCI’s telecast rights in 2004. In passing, they had mentioned their plans to improve domestic cricket.

“It was there in our minds and it is no coincidence that we decided to announce our plans right after India’s World Cup ouster. The timing was right,” says ICL CEO Himanshu Mody, in retrospect.
But there were a couple of minor problems. For all their grand plans, where will ICL play the matches and who will play for them?

If their extravagant plans are to be believed, twenty-four foreign stars — Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Brian Lara, Chris Cairns, Darren Gough, Nathan Astle and Daniel Vettori, to name some — are on the verge of signing multi-million dollar contracts. Batches of four of them will be part of each of the six teams in the league. However, no Indian player has been named yet. “We have approached a few India stars too (current players),” says a senior ICL official. He refuses to spell out any names, however.

Further he adds: “Senior Ranji and Duleep cricketers will also be considered.” This is where the likes of Jadhav come into the picture. Frustrated with the inability over the years to make it to the Indian team and tired of mundane domestic matches, such players could be lured into the big open ICL market.

... contd.