The Board of Control for Cricket in India has woken up to ICL's threat and decides to launch its own league Professional Cricket League(PCL) and the person most likely to head and create the format of the league will be Sunil Gavaskar. The dramatic move only heightens the ongoing tussle between the BCCI and the Subhash Chandra-promoted Indian Cricket League (ICL).  Sunil Gavaskar Vs Kapil DevWith Gavaskar backing the Board's official league, the rivalry between him and the ICL chairman Kapil Dev looks set to be renewed once again.  Nearly 23 years later, Cricket Fans are likely to get a taste of battle once again. This time, the game will be played out in boardrooms, backroom strategy sessions, and team bunkers, not on the ground. ...

In a big boost for the Indian Cricket League the West Bengal government has decided to extend its full support to the Essel group promoted twenty20 tournament. NDTV has quoted West Bengal Sports Minister Subash Chakraborty as saying that they have decided to provide all the stadiums under the government control for the league matches of the ICL.That also includes the world class Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Chakraborty has also added that the state players who had joined ICL will get full support from the government. Former India player Deep Dasgupta, Laxmi Ratan Shukla and youngster Abhishek Jhunjunwala are among the prominent cricketers from the state to join ICL. On the other hand,  it turns out that Bengal all-rounder Laxmi Ratan Shukla may pull out ...

Days of media speculation ended with the announcement of ICL's domestic and international signings. In a dramatic press conference in Mumbai on Monday, the ICL named their domestic and foreign recruits who will play in the breakaway league.The press conference was in typical combat style. Kapil was seated alongside the other officials of the ICL in Red Shirts - Himanshu Mody, the project head of ICL, Sandeep Patil, Kiran More, EAS Prasanna, Bharat Reddy, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Madan Lal, Rajesh Chauhan and Pranab Roy. The ICL players were paraded in black shirts, they were indeed looking smart(to more glamorize the cricket). The only new face in the executive board was former India off-spinner Erapalli Prasanna. The rumour mills had been working overtime on the foreign recruits, ...

With the success of Indian Cricket League in recruiting domestic and international talents, Advertisers and markets, the lifeline of all sporting events, have also begun to look at ICL as an opportunity. On an average, international cricket matches featuring India cost between Rs 1-2 lakh for a 10-second commercial spot, depending on the channel and the team India plays. However, for the ICL's first season, the cost is expected to be half of that amount. Advertisers looking at the league include consumer durables makers Videocon and LG, fast-moving consumer goods company Hindustan Unilever and even telecom service providers. These firms have some of the biggest advertising budgets in corporate India. As everybody knows, BCCI is going to ban anyone who involves in ICL. Now the ...

Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone has once again expressed his interest in buying London based Premier League club Arsenal. The 76-year-old billionaire vaguely discussed the possibility of an Arsenal bid on July 21 at the European Grand Prix in Germany. The British billionaire, who effectively controls F1 auto racing, says he would bid to buy the Gunners if the current owners — who are already resisting takeover plans from American real estate businessman Stan Kroenke â€” decided to sell. The Arsenal directors are reluctant to let the club become the latest Premier League team to fall into foreign ownership and have resisted Kroenke's (12.2% shareholder)  attempts to increase his shareholding. Dein's support for Kroenke's plans was one of the reasons he left ...

The rebel Indian Cricket League has done something which the BCCI, the world's richest cricket Board, is still struggling to do -- launch its official website. ICL, the much talked about venture of Subash Chandra's Essel Group which has already sounded the alarm bells in the BCCI, today announced the launch of their website www.indiancricketleague.in to facilitate the entry of aspiring players. The website would help hundreds of aspirants to now apply directly for the twenty20 League proposed to be held in October. Business Head of ICL, Himanshu Mody, said in a press release, We have been getting thousands of mails, letters and queries from aspiring cricketers who don't know how to apply for the ICL. With the website, ...

Rumour of the Summer - Reports in Iran suggest radical Iranians Ansar Hezbollah wants to buy Manchester United. The England's Barclay Premiership 2007-2008 Season has started with a insane rumour of Iranians interest in Manchester United. The group — backers of hard-line Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — even plan to rename the football giants to Khaybar after a holy Muslim oasis. The Sun of UK has quoted Ansar Hezbollah's secretary general, Mohammad Bagher Kharrazi, as saying,  "Once we have bought Manchester United we will change its name to Khaybar." Khaybar is near the Muslim holy city of Medina in Saudi Arabia and it is the site where Jewish inhabitants were defeated by the Prophet Mohammed's followers in 629 AD. Manchester United fans ...

The flip-flop of BCCI over the Indian Cricket League continues, whereas  Railway Minister and Bihar Cricket Association President Lalu Prasad on Thursday openly backed the ICL, saying the million-dollar tournament could be played on Railways stadiums. Earlier, BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah had last week threatened to impose life bans on players aligning with the rebel body and Sharad Pawar later on said there was no confrontation between the BCCI and the ICL, we did not issue any statement on banning anybody for life if he joins another organisation. But, on yesterday meeting BCCI members rebelled against Sharad Pawar and issued a statement to ban anyone who joins ICL. Lalu said at a press conference in Rail Bhawan, It is a good initiative. It ...

  The drama continues in Indian cricket. BCCI is desperate to keep its tight grip on Indian cricket whereas ICL hopes to give the six-team league a foothold in the India market. We have been hearing a lot about Indian Cricket League (ICL). BCCI bosses are not happy with ICL. They are not even ready to recognize ICL and trying their best to derail ICL.   Ponting: ICL may lure cricketers into early retirementRicky Ponting has hit out at the proposed Indian Cricket League (ICL), saying the million-dollar series threatens to tempt ageing cricketers into early retirement while luring youngsters away from national duty."It's only a concern if there is huge money involved in it. If this sort of stuff gets off the ground, these guys ...

Sixteen year old Evans Thomas from Ernakulam, Kerala, has won the "WHERE'S THE NEXT" Nike football contest, which was held across India in July 07. Evans will form part of an 11-member team from Asia that will get an exclusive opportunity to train for a week with the FC Barcelona coaches, from August 27 to September 4. The encouraging response to the call for entries saw teenagers from across the country, in the age group of 15 to 17 years, posting one-minute videos that displayed their football skills on www.nikefootball.in website. The finalists from India, judged on the basis of these videos, were taken to Delhi on August 5 to attend the Grand Final, where Indian football team captain Baichung Bhutia selected the winner.  ...