ICL flopped on debut. I swear on Muralitharan's world record that I did not witness more than two of Andrew Hall's deliveries to some chap called Maddy. I do not know of anyone in my extended circle who saw any bit of those ICL matches on TV or in person. Nice name Maddy. I suppose one really has to be mad to join the circus.
If you go deep into the statistics of Zee TV subscribers.....up the mini skirt as Mr.Sidhu will want to describe it.....do some further hair splitting to the level of viewers per Cable TV subscribed.......then do some more to find out just how many of those viewers (guys who eat, drink and sleep cricket) actually convinced their fellow viewers (mothers, housewives, sisters, parents, grandparents, children who love all kinds of soap all with all its accompanying froth).......convinced them that ICL was THE EVENT to watch.....I am sure we will end up with only one person who actually suffered the event on any one of Zee's 25 odd channels including Zee Sports, for more than one over. That person has to be Subhash Chandra.
Now I am thinking who, what, how, when and where. The money I mean. How can anyone like SC make any money out of this?
To find the answer perhaps you need to read this article about match-fixing in football's greatest tournaments. Now I know why BCCI is annoyed with ICL and replied in kind by launching the IPL. Now I know why CA was annoyed with BCCI and yet ICC has conferred its blessings on IPL. Now I know why SRK wants to do a Abramovich with a cricket team of his own. Big Moolah is not virtual... I take my words back!
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2 comments:
Hi Sanju,
I always thought that ICL and eventually IPL will bring in a lot of changes in the way cricket is played in India - especially IPL. The reason I thought was it will create fluidity in the player's availability for national duty. It will also make some players retire earlier and give new comers achance, lastly huge money involved - on the lines of EPL and Euro Cup etc. For true lovers of cricket like you and me, it will not matter who is playing whom and where - we just need 2 teams, a ball and 2 bats along with 2 sets of stumps on a ground with any type of pitch - and we will be glued. The reason for ICL to flop so miserably from viewer's point of view is poor marketing more than anything else. But it is just a start - watch out as private teams gather momentum to change the way this world knows cricket.
Well between IPL and ICL I wouldn't mind if ICL succeeds and IPL fails.
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