ICL competing with Indo-Pak series: Speed

New Delhi—On the outside, International Cricket Council’s Chief Executive Malcolm Speed reverberates his organisation’s now long established opinion that recognising the parallel Indian Cricket League is up to the BCCI.
“If a private promoter seeks to run a tournament, it seeks approval of the ICC after having got the green signal from our member body,” he says. But scratch the surface and he sings a different tune.
Speed was in the Capital on Wednesday to unveil the Twenty20 World Championship trophy, after which he indicated that the ICC hasn’t approved the ICL because it hasn’t approached them yet.
Speed, however, also stated that to start with, the ICL may not prove to be a successful venture at all. “Our general opinion towards the ICL is that it will be a Twenty20 tournament lasting 3-4 weeks, including six teams consisting of provincial and 2-3 international cricketers who have recently retired,” Speed said.
“When the tournament gets underway, it is also time for the India-Pakistan series,” he added, hinting at the magnitude of one of international sport’s greatest rivalries. “So you can judge for yourself and not over-react.”
When Cricketnext probed further if the ICC was hoping for a compromise between the BCCI and the ICL, he added, “I don’t think we have got to that stage yet. We only read in media reports the intentions of the ICL starting a private tournament. So it is up to the BCCI to let us know if they wish to compromise and take them on their boat.”
Asked how the ICC recognises a cricket body, Speed said, “You can’t stop anyone from doing that,” pointing towards the High Court’s statement that the ICL, too, has a right to business. It is also not written in stone that only one member can be accepted per country.
“If at all the BCCI, who has been a member with us since 1927, approves them, we will go ahead and ask for wider issues with the ICL about infrastructure and how they intend to popularise the game. It is the very nature of membership, that the members have the first privileges,” Speed added.
Shrugging off the raging debate of the BCCI, one of the ICC’s crucial members being challenged openly by the ICL, he eased in to answering questions on whether the shortest form of the game—Twenty20—will rise up to the occasion to become cricket’s staple offering, with the World Championships set to get underway from September 11.
Speed said that the Twenty20 World Cup is a unique opportunity for the ICC to tap revenue from three different streams—broadcast, telecom and the internet. “All the three aspects need to be kept happy. It will be complicated,” he said, acknowledging the enormous challenge.
He also had in company swashbuckling batsman Virender Sehwag, who marks his return to India colours at the Twenty20 World Championships.
Cricketnext quivered if Twenty20 cricket was a golden opportunity for the lesser known cricketing nations like Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Kenya to make their presence felt in a game dominated by nine Test playing nations. The 2007 World Cup, for instance saw Bangladesh and Ireland knocking out powerhouses India and Pakistan.
“The game of Twenty20 is immensely unpredictable in nature. If a batsman scores a quickfire 50 or if a bowler takes 2-3 quick wickets, it can turn a game on its head,” Speed explained.—Agencies