Cricketers sign up with Zee

[DesiChap]

Ashish Sinha / New Delhi April 5, 2007 MARKETING: Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Dean Jones et al. to lead talent hunt. For all those sceptics who wondered whether the Essel Group?s Subhash Chandra would be able to pull off a parallel cricket league, a line-up of players and a business plan is already in place. Chandra is rumoured to have roped in legendary cricketers including Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Dean Jones and Navjot Singh Siddhu for the executive committee of its newly-formed India Cricket League (ICL). These players will be a part of a pool of 65 ex-cricketers that has been drawn by the group to act as selectors and for talent scouting. The executive committee, which is to be ICL?s highest body, will manage the Rs 100 crore corpus being used to promote the league. ?ICL is also trying to work out a deal with current cricketers like Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar,? said a source. According to the source, money is no constraint for ICL where it comes to getting to best possible talent. Initially, Rs 6-8 crore have been kept aside for the purpose. This move from Chandra is being compared to the Australian media giant Kerry Packer who started his own series of one day matches under lights with players wearing coloured uniforms. Packer had wanted to create an exclusive property for his Channel Nine. After nearly 30 years, Chandra intends to do the same for Zee Network. Earlier, the Essel Group had lost out on the rights for all cricket matches, one-dayers as well as Tests, organised by BCCI in India up to 2011. The group had launched Zee Sports last year in anticipation of bagging the BCCI telecast rights and also acquired Dubai-based sports channel Ten Sports. But the BCCI rights went to Nimbus Communications. It also placed an aggressive bid of $900 million last year for the International Cricket Council (ICC) telecast rights till 2015 but lost out to ESPN. The ICL will now give Chandra not only a platform to launch future cricket stars but also an exclusive television property for its cable and Direct-to-Home service. The ICL will have six teams, each comprising four international cricketers, two Indian cricketers and eight young talents. The teams will be expanded to 16 within three years. The ICL will also set up nationwide residential cricket academies that will nurture young talent. Additionally, there will be a prize money of Rs 4.3 crore for the team winning the annual ICL tournament.

[King]

Re: Cricketers sign up with Zee Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Sidhu and Dean will ensure this will go a flop show. Imran Khan has no time for Pakistan cricket but has lot of time some corporate sponsored league cricket is it? Wonder what happens to the X-Cricketers, they seem to lose all the passion for their country's cricket for some reason.

[shailesh]

Re: Cricketers sign up with Zee this whole thing sounds like a 'made for tv' saga

[Rahul]

Re: Cricketers sign up with Zee ^^ so was Packer. remember?? "Big Boys Play At Night"?? all power to Chandra. kick the idiots at BCCI's asses where it hurts.

[shailesh]

Re: Cricketers sign up with Zee big difference, packer didn't had to launch a talent hunt, he had the talent hunted and available :hic:

[The Outsider]

Re: Cricketers sign up with Zee I would like to know the detailed logistics these guys plan to follow.

[Rahul]

Re: Cricketers sign up with Zee ^^^ another desi implying there's no talunt in desiland. et tu, brute, then fall, ceasar. PS: packer didnt have the talent "available". or mayhaps the history of the game bypassed you???

[veer]

Re: Cricketers sign up with Zee this doesnt mean anything.. who wouldnt sign up if they can make big money for doing nothing..

[shailesh]

Re: Cricketers sign up with Zee chandra from his office window - are Imran, Ian, aao re khelne :lmao:

[Rahul]

Re: Cricketers sign up with Zee

I would like to know the detailed logistics these guys plan to follow.

actually, talking to folks, there is no REAL plan. subhash basically wants (wanted to ever since he got snubbed by the selfish babu sof the BCCI babudom) to take on the establishment. this is the result of his latisht "think outside the box" funda. makes eminent sense, if others back him and if leading Ranji players participate and say fack off the feudal lordship that is BCCI. do you know at last meeting, the biggest, most-argued point of the agenda was about buying a LEAR jet??? matter of fact, the so-called Team India, is not even representative of anyone else besides the BCCI thingy in the Madras court. so he's trying a paradigm shift. good on him. whether the chodus at BCCI will kill it off or not, well, i think u have a better idea, Shwet.

[The Outsider]

Re: Cricketers sign up with Zee Interesting, according to the Financial Express, Chandra has the implicit approval of Pawar. That certainly adds a new angle to the whole thing:

NEW DELHI, APR 4: The announcement of a parallel cricket league by Subhash Chandra-led Essel group--apparently with the implicit approval of BCCI president Sharad Pawar--has split Indian cricket?s apex body vertically. While some BCCI members were aware of the likely announcement of the Indian Cricket League as much as a week in advance, others were caught completely unawares. ICL, according to sources, has intensified the infighting within, particularly over Chandra-Pawar link, both close friends for many years. Ads By Google Automotive Forums Join discussions on your favorite topics with Google Groups - free groups.google.com Coffee Exposed A secret that coffee co's don't want you to know. www.coffeefool.com Automotive Warranty Looking to find warranties? Browse our warranty directory. WarrantyListings.com India Stock Investments India's Economy is Booming Investment Winners - Free Report www.moneyandmarkets.com In fact, the ICL was originally conceived in 2005 with Pawar's knowledge--when Jagmohan Dalmia was still in charge of the BCCI--but the rest of the board got to know of it only as recently as last week when Essel sent intimation of ICL to BCCI. The development has once again brought to the fore the infighting that first surfaced with the Neo sports deal when BCCI and Nimbus decided to restructure the Rs 2,172-crore contract between them. Sources said that at that time when Nimbus asked for a reduction due to loss of revenue from sharing revenue with Doordarshan, BCCI members Lalit Modi and IS Bindra were in favour of reduction while Rajiv Shukla and N Srinivasan were against it. Meanwhile, the Indian Cricket League is moving fast. Sources confirmed that ICL?s selection board will consist of Kapil Dev, Dean Jones, Imran Khan, Navjot Sidhu and Zaheer Abbas, all of whom are believed to have signed up. Sources said Essel was in talks with Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid, among others, for playing in the ICL. The ICL will start with 20:20 format matches in July this year just before the 20:20 World Cup, which to be held in the South Africa in September. Subhash Chandra said on Tuesday, the broadcasting rights of the 20:20 matches would go to whoever bids the highest and that group company Zee Sports would have to be one of the bidders. ?At present the BCCI has contracted only 20 players and there is a restriction that they cannot play for anybody else. From each state, only 25 players can come up as registered players,? Chandra said. ?There are 15 states who are not members of BCCI,? he added. The BCCI is expected to take a final decision on the various issues at its Working Committee meeting on April 6 and 7. The board has to not only ratify new performance based contracts for the players, but also examine World Cup team manager Sanjay Jagdale?s report and select a new coach after Greg Chappell?s resignation.`1

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=160112

[The Outsider]

Re: Cricketers sign up with Zee And I had no clue about this part:

?There are 15 states who are not members of BCCI,? he added

[Rahul]

Re: Cricketers sign up with Zee ^^ yoo hoo, more power. thanks for the link, Shwet. i guess this is the kick in the pants the biyatches at BCCI needs. Pawar to khair Pawar niklega...

[Rahul]

Re: Cricketers sign up with Zee

And I had no clue about this part:

?There are 15 states who are not members of BCCI,? he added

abey yaar, i have gone hoarse talking about it, even here. this is NOT Team India. i am not suprised tho, that Pawar is actually talking abt it. post-ayodhya, when i interviewed him, he sounded the most sane person...

[Don]

Re: Cricketers sign up with Zee So rahul bhai post ayodhya wat did happen in Mumbai, if u were to say it now with no censoship from ur editor. Im very curious!

[Guest BossBhai]

Re: Cricketers sign up with Zee -- Removed on request of the user --

[theguyinallblue]

Re: Cricketers sign up with Zee its very good for cricketers at least... they will have another platform to showcase their talent... if 4 international players are in the team....it will be good for junior cricketers ..for they will gain a lot from them... i am sure..many Zimboks will come....Heath streak or flower brothers..or Olonga.. Many Indian discards can play...Lara..inzi...Warne...macgraa...a lot of WI players...Eng players...will come..to play... i wish it becomes successful...