Dhondy Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Frankly, this is getting ridiculous. On the day that we are still abuzz with the wonderful cricket that we are watching in Australia, first in the Tests and now in the CB series, comes three disturbing piece of news. First, Lalit Modi, the whatsthepostholder from BCCI has given an ultimatum to the Australian players to join IPL by Sunday, or they are out for three years. From the way he is dropping ultimatums, you'd think the fella is running world cricket. Second, Australia are planning to abort the Pakistan trip. As Kablooee points out, this may be dictated as much by the players' desire to get on the gravy train that is IPL as by security concerns. Third, ICL has today signed up 10 more Pakistani cricketers, among them Imran Nazir, Hassan Raza and Rana Naved. Where is this all going to end? This is financial muscle gone mad. Do these Indian bodies really think that such clandestine tournaments will retain their charm beyond the first year, particularly if it impinges on international fixtures and weakens national teams? I must say, it's very disconcerting watching all this as an Indian, in the knowledge that some pot bellied compatriot of yours who doesn't give a toss whether cricket lives or dies, is adding up the sums somewhere as we speak, planning to create more chaos and confusion. Frankly, does anybody watch ICL? Do any of you guys plan to watch IPL? Shorn of national affinities, a hotch-potch of retired, rejected and current players drawn from all over the world can enact a tamasha, but it can never match the verve, excitement and red hot passion of Test cricket or even ODIs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MundaPakistani Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Frankly, does anybody watch ICL? Do any of you guys plan to watch IPL? . I will try to watch a game or 2 of the ICL but i will certainly not watch IPL. IPL is designed by people who are scared of healthy competition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurker Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Shorn of national affinities' date=' a hotch-potch of retired, rejected and current players drawn from all over the world can enact a tamasha, but it can never match the verve, excitement and red hot passion of Test cricket or even ODIs.[/quote'] It had to come to this Dhondy. Money begets $hit like this. So much so for critics dismissing the players of "Amatuer" era! I wonder how many of the critics would not want us to go back in time now. Anyway my gripe has to do with fans as much as it has to do with Administrators. We all want to spend our evenings refreshing Cricinfo for the latest, why chastise Lalit Modi? He is only supplying what we demand! xxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desi Cartman Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 its all about $ .. Jo bikta hai woh milta hai ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
16 str8 Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Cricket just isn't the same these days. If only for the days of test cricket alone, where the character of a player shone as much as their cricketing ability. They were paid peanuts, but the privelege of playing for their country was all theirs... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dada_rocks Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 As long as noboyd dies I don't mind a chatoic challenge to status-quo.. Change is the ultimate truth for better or worse there is no point resisting it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Evolution..it does infect anything and everything. It may not make sense now, but in future players might prefer ICL, IPL cricket even in longer formats and we might have soccer like national team tournment only once in 4 yrs. Why not, club soccer is pretty popular. Club cricket might be too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gator Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 for a die-hard cricket fan like me, this is a blessing... i jus wanna see CRICKET EVERYDAY... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zap_Brannigan Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 I dont want it to die. Dont be hard on it. A lot of people always wanted the cricket equivalent of NBA and NFL. A couple of hours of watching cricket is much better than wasting 10 hours on it.Plus this could be very good for the horrible state of stadiums in India. With a few years, all the major stadiums could become up to par with the ones in the US. But the major reason i like the IPL is that its a big fk-u to ICC. My fav. tournaments used to be (apart from WC) ,hero cup, independence cup etc....usually 4 or more teams. But since ICC made it a rule that no more than 3 teams can play in the ODI trny (obviously raising the stake of ICC ODI trnys), ODI tournaments have become stale. This trny will have a very good collection of players from all over the world.Once more i can see Australains, Indians, S.Africans and Pakistanis in the same tournament. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desi Cartman Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 for a die-hard cricket fan like me' date=' this is a blessing... i jus wanna see CRICKET EVERYDAY...[/quote'] and India cant lose :two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panesarv Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Cricket everyday will be cool... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fineleg Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 for a die-hard cricket fan like me' date=' this is a blessing... i[b'] jus wanna see CRICKET EVERYDAY... I'm sure Ticz will agree too. :two_thumbs_up: (though it may get to be too much :D) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HariSampath Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 IPL / ICL may be good to watch, but no way it will even come close to watching India play Aus or Pakistan. How many of us can cheer a Sharukh Khan 11 versus Preety Zinta's 11, even if Sachin , Gilly et all are playing the game. And can this take the place of cheering India when we play Pakistan ? There is no replacement for backing a National cricket side, because you are effectively backing your country, and all these clubs/leagues cant replace that. Soccer leagues are popular and we all know what kind of support Man U has or Arsenal, AC Milan etc, but can that equal England playing Germany in a soccer world cup ? NO way. Similarily it is a country's pride and sporting prestige that will inspire great fan following and support eventually, and these leagues/clubs are just fillers up. Like Lurks said, NOW we know the value of the amateur era, as the game now is completely hijacked by big money and corporates. And we the fans are responsible...just imagine, if we are not that interested in following some Mallaya 11 Vs SRK 11 and switch off the nonsense, this whole thing will collapse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zap_Brannigan Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Soccer leagues are popular and we all know what kind of support Man U has or Arsenal, AC Milan etc, but can that equal England playing Germany in a soccer world cup ? NO way. Similarily it is a country's pride and sporting prestige that will inspire great fan following and support eventually, and these leagues/clubs are just fillers up. Like Lurks said, NOW we know the value of the amateur era, as the game now is completely hijacked by big money and corporates. And we the fans are responsible...just imagine, if we are not that interested in following some Mallaya 11 Vs SRK 11 and switch off the nonsense, this whole thing will collapse. Bad example. WC comes once a year. Every other time, Club matches >> International fixtures. Similarly NBA,MLB,NFL >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Dream team, Baseball WC and whatever the equivalent of NFL international is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Predator_05 Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Soccer leagues are popular and we all know what kind of support Man U has or Arsenal' date=' AC Milan etc, but can that equal England playing Germany in a soccer world cup ? NO way. Similarily it is a country's pride and sporting prestige that will inspire great fan following and support eventually, and these leagues/clubs are just fillers up. .[/quote'] You know absolutely nothing about football mate. No one gives a flying f uck about international football. The atmosphere at World Cup matches are pathetic, no passion, no intensity. People's allegiances are to their clubs - clubs represent their cities, their communities. The rivalries between club sides are far more intense and go back more than 100 years. Watch a derby and you will understand. People could kill in their name of their clubs, and that's happened in the past. Obviously you won't understand this since you have never followed or watched football. You don't have to believe me, just go to any football forum and ask genuine, match-going fans if they care more about club or country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ram Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 ^ Agree, Club rivalries are some the most intense in the world. Could there be any more fitting example of this than the rivalry between the Scottish clubs Rangers and Celtics ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Predator_05 Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 ^ Agree, Club rivalries are some the most intense in the world. Could there be any more fitting example of this than the rivalry between the Scottish clubs Rangers and Celtics ? The sectarian elements make it pretty intense. Catholics vs Protestants and all that. Rangers are pro-British, Celtic are Irish. It's a legendary rivalry, but not my personal favorite. The daddy of all rivalries is Real Madrid vs Barcelona. So much hatred...i would need to write about 2000 words to fully explain it. It's incredible and it produces football of the highest quality. This isn't a derby though. Derbies would be matches like Boca Juniors vs River Plate (Argentina), Flamengo vs Vasco da Gama (Brazil), Roma vs Lazio (amongst other big ones in Italy), Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid (Spain), Dortmund vs Schalke 04 (Germany). Those are just derbies - i haven't even mentioned other rivalries (except for Real Madrid-Barcelona) and i haven't even gotten into the English ones. Club football basically p isses all over international football. England played Germany a few months ago...what a sh itty match that was. 70,000 people at Wembley, and the dullest atmosphere ever. Why ? Because people don't care Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunny Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 I think IPL will provide opportunities to a lot of talented people and that's good. International cricket means that only 11 good Indians, Australians etc. can play. The problems are there though i) IPL vs ICL ii) Conflict with international schedule iii) Only T-20 games iv) A big talent gap between international and domestic cricket. I think once all of these problems are dealt with IPL/Champions league cricket will be very competitive and fun to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holysmoke Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Soccer leagues are popular and we all know what kind of support Man U has or Arsenal, AC Milan etc, but can that equal England playing Germany in a soccer world cup ? NO way. Man Utd v Arsenal >>>>> Engerland vs Germany. Nobody cares about international football. Tell me this. What would you rather watch. NBA finals or USA vs Portugal in the olympics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kablooee87 Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 The thing that worries me is the following: In the past, if players were given the cold shoulder by national selectors, they had little choice as to how to proceed. If they wanted to stay in cricket, they had to make a living playing domestic cricket somewhere. This meant that you could go to domestic cricket, show your performance, and if you're good enough, the selectors will have to pick you. That being said, it's naive to believe the players go to FC cricket just because they have an unrelenting desire to play international cricket. For many, it's how they make their living. Enter, ICL. Now, players who have been discarded (and even some that haven't), have giant bags of money waved in front of them. Who can really blame someone like Rana Naved for joining the ICL. It was becoming increasing obvious that he was out of the minds of the selectors, so why toil away in county/domestic Pakistan cricket when you can get a lot more money in the ICL. Now, if the cricket boards weren't boycotting the ICL (ie. banning players who join), this problem wouldn't exist. The paradigm that existed before could continue. Now, with the IPL, the focus is firmly on the finances and not on the cricket. Sadly, the thing that fuels world cricket (Indian viewership), is the leading factor is the cheapening of the sport. It was inevitible really, if there's money to be made, people will make it, and who can blame them. My hope is that the viewing public responds to the lower quality of cricket (and be sure, that will be the case) with apathy towards these leagues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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