For years, if any enterprising cricket organiser wanted to get a go-ahead from the BCCI to conduct a tournament, all they had to do was fill a two-page form with rudimentary queries, submit a demand draft worth Rs 250 and just wait a fortnight. For a junior tournament, a mere phone call or even verbal approval was enough.

And then the Indian Cricket League (ICL) happened; the rules changed, the scrutiny became more intense and getting affiliation didn’t merely mean completing the documentations. A BCCI whip in the form a letter to its units made the “unapproved tournaments” untouchable. Though the letter doesn’t mention the acrimonious acronym ICL, but it is clear why the BCCI has suddenly become insecure about encroachment of their turf.

So didn’t Zee Telefilms — the ICL promoters — apply for affiliation? “We have applied, but still haven’t heard from th BCCI,” says Zee Telefilms CEO Himanshu Mody. Ask the BCCI’s CAO Prof Ratnakar Shetty about the status of Zee’s application and all he is ready to say is, “the working committee has decided that the BCCI will have nothing to do with ICL.” Such is the paranoia that he isn’t ready to give the reasons for the cold shoulder, nor is he ready to reveal the general conditions that a tournament now needs to adhere to, to get the official status.

One rephrases the question when one speaks to BCCI joint-secretary MP Pandove. How are the official All-India tournaments like Sheesh Mahal, Buchi Babu, Goswami Ganesh Dutt and Moin-ud-Dowla different from Zee Telefilms’ proposed event?

... contd.