Thursday 3 April, 2008

Why I Want To See ICL Succeed Over IPL

Now that IPL is about to be launched and ICL is about to reach the concluding phase of its second successful edition, I find this an opportunity to express my feelings toward both of the leagues.
At present ICL seem to be my favourite, even though I have been able to witness just one match in the ground (Delhi Giants v/s Hyderabad Heroes at TDL Stadium Gurgaon), it seem to have inspired enough confidence in me to state on a public blog that I want this league to be successful.
IPL on the other hand is in news for quite a while now. It has got enough star power. But it is yet to be launched in front of public.
Coming to the reasons why I prefer ICL over IPL. The first and the foremost reason is that while ICL is the original idea, IPL is a reaction to ICL from the most influencial organization of the Cricket world (read BCCI). Their intentions are destructive as their actions regarding the people associated with ICL indicate, while ICL represents creativity and dare-devilness (with all apologies to Delhi IPL team.)
Second reason is that ICL despite all the blockage and hooliganisms from ICC and its super-boss BCCI has maintained the dignity and remained humble in the war of words, while the IPL team (captained by Mr. Lalit Modi) seem to indicate that they want to ruin their opponents at every cost.
The third and the foremost reason is that despite maintaining the flavor of T20 and glamour ICL has been able to keep the focus on the main thing - cricket. They have played cricket with passion, shown adaptability to whatever kind of wickets that were on offer. On the other hand IPL has already gone overboard with glamor factor. At the launch of each and every team it was obvious that glamor what the boss and cricket (or read cricketers) was just a slave to them. So obviously any cricket lover would opt for ICL over IPL. However, people wanting to look for beautiful faces may opt for IPL.