NEW DELHI - India’s new-found fascination for Twenty20 cricket has turned into a tug-of-war as money, power and court battles overshadow the country’s most popular sport. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is determined to be the sole crusader of the lucrative crowd-pulling Twenty20 format in cricket-mad India despite its secretary Niranjan Shah earlier describing Twenty20 as a “waste of time.”

This apparent change of heart had nothing to do with Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s young Team India winning the inaugural Twenty20 world championships in South Africa in September, an event Indian officials once strongly opposed.

It had everything to do with the unveiling in May of the unofficial multi-million-dollar so-called rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL), bankrolled by the country’s largest media group, Zee Telefilms.A rattled BCCI banned cricketers signing up to the ICL from representing the country, forcing the rebel body to file an ongoing case challenging the BCCI’s monopoly over the sport.

The BCCI also drew up its own three-million-dollar Indian Premeir League (IPL) with the blessing of the International Cricket Council and supported by boards around the world.And so began a game of oneupmanship, lapped up greedily by the media and showing no signs of abating with no apparent concern for the effects it could have on players, their international commitments and the sport in India.

The Zee-backed ICL presented India’s only World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev as its chief executive, while the BCCI’s IPL paraded the country’s other legend, Sunil Gavaskar, and popular commentator Ravi Shastri as members of its governing council.At the moment the IPL is seemingly winning the battle in terms of getting star players to sign up.

It says it has on board Test captains Graeme Smith of South Africa, Daniel Vettori of New Zealand, Shoaib Malik of Pakistan and the entire Team India.The IPL also persuaded ICL’s main draw, Pakistani star batsman Mohammad Yousuf, to break his contract with the rebel league and sign up with the official body, prompting the ICL to serve legal papers on the player.

The best the ICL has managed so far are retired international stars, headed by West Indian great Brian Lara and Pakistan’s Inzamam-ul-Haq, along with a slew of domestic has-beens.Both leagues — despite obvious deep pockets — have found it easier to sign up big names than finalise start dates and other details of the events they plan to stage.

The only real concrete fact is that both leagues will feature Twenty20 matches between franchised teams made up of international players and young promising Indians.The ICL may begin in November and the BCCI is looking to start the IPL in April next year, although like much in this saga, nothing is certain.

The beleaguered Asia Cup limited-overs tournament, already put off twice before and now scheduled to be held in Pakistan in April-May, faces an uncertain future if the IPL is held at the same time and there are concerns the players may end up playing too much cricket.Unsurprisingly, not everyone is impressed at the potential impact the leagues could have on cricket.

“If the proto-typical young cricketer is happy signing up for IPL franchises and making his money there, is he going to bother playing five-day cricket?”, veteran columnist Ashok Malik said.Cricinfo, the game’s leading website, said: “Money could make Twenty20 the most lucrative form of cricket any aspiring cricketer wants to play.

“So what that would do to cricket skills and talent pools for longer versions of the game is anyone’s guess.“Also, it could change the way we look at cricket. Teams based on regional affiliations will be replaced by teams based on commerce, players playing not for local pride but for top dollar.

“That’s how football has grown in the last 20 years — and not everyone’s happy with the shape it’s in today.”

The Indian Premeir League has signed 10 more international players for its inaugural Twenty20 tournament scheduled to begin in April 2008.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) revealed the new additions to the IPL - the board’s proposed official domestic league - to take the player count for the event to 22.

The new list contains five South Africans, captain Graeme Smith, batsman Herschelle Gibbs, left-hander Ashwell Prince, middle-order batsman AB de Villiers and all-rounder Albie Morkel.

Other additions include West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sri Lanka seamer Chaminda Vaas, Australian Justin Langer and New Zealanders Daniel Vettori and Scott Styris.president Lalit Modi said: “We had made a promise to the cricket-loving masses of India of some truly international

BCCI vice–class high-octane action through the Twenty20 format in the IPL.

“It is in line with this promise and philosophy that we have signed some of the best cricketing talent on display internationally, including over five players that have captained their respective countries.

“We are in talks with some very promising talent and should shortly be making some further announcements.”

IPL had already signed veteran stars including spinner Shane Warne, paceman Glenn McGrath, batsman Mohammad Yousuf and former Kiwi skipper Stephen Fleming.

Eight Sri Lanka players had also committed to the league earlier this month.

Stephen Fleming has promised he will not be a de facto captain on New Zealand’s Test tour of South Africa following his demotion from the leadership after a decade in charge. However, Fleming will try to relieve the pressure on his successor Daniel Vettori by giving him advice on when to bowl himself.

“It’s more just giving him the confidence to come on and bowl because I think that’s his biggest adjustment,” Fleming told the Press. “It’s up to Brendon [McCullum] and myself to give him the confidence or [suggest] maybe that a change is required. That’s probably the only time I would look to influence his captaincy otherwise I would give him his space and let him work his magic.”

Fleming is back with the national squad after a lengthy stint in county cricket during which there was constant speculation over his future and whether he would sign with the Indian Cricket League. He said he was slightly uneasy about returning to New Zealand but his concerns had quickly disappeared.

“It’s been surprisingly relaxed,” he said. “I wasn’t nervous but I guess a little apprehensive about how I’d slide back in but it’s a pretty good squad, a good group of guys. I’ve no axe to grind. I was disappointed I was not captain anymore but it was a small component of what I want to do and where I want to be.”

Fleming will bat at No. 3 in South Africa and he sees the two-Test series as a good opportunity to lift his average, which sits at 39.64 after 104 matches. “My Test average should be up higher than 40 and that’s something I want to achieve but I’ve never been a great goalsetter,” he said. “I tend to put my energy into match situations rather than goals or achievements.”

After the South Africa trip Fleming will settle into the Wellington first-class side to prepare for home Test series against Bangladesh and England.

As the Indian cricket team defeated Australia by eight runs on Monday evening, Manu Sawhney wasn’t watching his competitor network but was strategizing how he might replace it.

Sawhney, former chief of the Indian operations, was in town for the first time since being named ESPN Star Sports’ managing director last month.

With ESPN Star Sports’ competitor Neo Sports having rights to all cricket played in India and organized by the local cricket board, Sawhney said he planned to appeal to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to consider ESPN a partner as it rides the return of the euphoria surrounding the game.

He said the upcoming Indian Premeir League represents the perfect opportunity. “For any sport to develop one has to nurture it,” he said. “BCCI should tie up with ESPN sports to be successful. We have brand equity. People recognize us.”

Sawhney cited ESPN’s success in nurturing the Premier Hockey League and said future relationships between cricket leagues and bodies with broadcasters should be modelled on relationships between broadcasters and leagues such as the US’ National Basketball Association and National Football League.

Sawhney joined ESPN Star Sports in 1996 as marketing manager and was promoted to managing director of ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd in 1999. He moved to the network’s headquarters in Singapore in 2003 as senior vice-president of programming and event management, and was promoted to executive vice-president of programming and marketing in 2005.

Sunday, 16 September , 2007, 19:07 
 
Melbourne: Legendary Shane Warne has signed with the Indian Premeir League, for “significantly less” amount than what was reportedly offered to him by the rebel ICL, media reports said today.

Warne has inked the deal for less than USD 600,000, the minimum figure reportedly offered by the Indian Cricket League, which would add to the credibility of the IPL, according to Australian daily ‘Syndey Morning Herald’ today.

“However, marketing opportunities and a bidding war between the eight IPL franchises could see him earn more than USD 1 million for a month’s work,” it said.

The report said Warne was on the verge of signing with the ICL, but negotiations in the past 72 hours clinched the signature of the spin bowling great, Glenn McGrath and recently deposed New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming.

McGrath and Fleming were paraded during the BCCI meeting last week to announce the IPL and the Champions League Twenty20 tournament, which would be conducted in partnership with Australian, England and South African boards.

Fleming also took a big sign-on cut to join the IPL, the paper said.

Warne will continue to play for Hampshire in the England county competition, where he has another year remaining on his contract. He will leave in April to join a franchised IPL club in India, where he will play between 10 and 14 games of Twenty20 over 30 to 40 days.

If his Indian team finishes in the top two, Warne may represent that team at the 10-day international Champions Twenty20 League, though that is yet to be confirmed - he could still be offered to the highest bidder.
 

Richard Scudamore marches into work at the Premeir League every day fretting less about England’s talent pool, foreign ownership and overplaying and more about problems most fans have never heard of, such as the rights dispute threatening the very future of the Premeir League. “Some things are skirmishes, but these are wars, and I’m trying to fight them,” Scudamore said.

The Premeir League’s success is phenomenal. “I go to the finest stadia ever and watch some of the quickest, slickest, most exciting football,” said the organisation’s chief executive, sitting in his neat office near Marble Arch. But success brings problems.

	Richard Scudamore: with Premier League success comes problems

“Everybody is coming at us. The Premeir League is so pervasive, so much part of news, front and back of papers, that basically all the world wants a big slice of us. Reuters would love to come into our grounds, take pictures of our goals, and syndicate them on a world news service – for nothing paid to us. Their argument is that we are of such interest to the world now that it is news.

“If Reuters could get somebody at the European Commission to say the Premeir League is news, therefore they can have news access, it would be our entire business gone. If suddenly what we do is available in video form around the world, that’s all our income gone.

“We are constantly out there trying to protect our intellectual property.Littlewoods Pools haven’t paid us for our fixtures for 2½ years. They say we have no copyright. We have to make a decision whether we take them on in court. We have a class action against Google and YouTube in the US. They have no appetite for taking down clips. If every clip of every goal is available on YouTube, what appetite will Virgin Media have for buying them?”

Billions are at stake. “We have started our planning for the next [TV] rights deal,” said Scudamore, who believes fees will rise again for the 2010-2013 period, from their present £1.7billion. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. We are in a maturing pay-TV market. I don’t think we have maxed out. There is more scope, more places to go. As long as the interest in the game is there, we should be able to take it on again. Internationally, there is some growth to go.

“International TV rights were 10 per cent of our income, and are now 28 per cent of our income. We could be at 50 per cent of our income in three years’ time [with international rights touching £1billion]. But it’s not just a case of taking these commercial dollars from these people. We need to give something back internationally, so we are doing community work in India, in townships in South Africa, in sub-Saharan Africa, and in Egypt.”

A sport born in northern mill towns and southern public schools has grown into a global brand. Scudamore rejects the suggestion that the Glazers, Lerners, Abramovichs and Shinawatras are here solely for the money. “They could get better returns making other investment decisions. It brings them a credibility, a profile, a reputation, whether in their home country or this one, which you can’t get with other investment.

“Any financial aspirations they may have only work if they deliver success. Their interests are aligned to the fans. You don’t buy a Rolls-Royce and try to turn it into a Ford Fiesta.”

The cash flowing into West Ham, Aston Villa and Manchester City has encouraged upward mobility. “I’m not saying we have altered the natural order of the Premeir League entirely, but it creates more uncertainty. After the first few weeks, the table looked upside down! City could finish top three or 13th. West Ham could do extremely well.”

He is quick to defend owners like City’s Thaksin Shinawatra. “I don’t work for Amnesty International. I work for the Premeir League. I’m not shying away from those issues, but there has to be a reality check. This man was democratically elected, a military junta ousted him, and his party may well get back in forthcoming democratic elections. It would be pretty hard for us, or the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, to say we are with the military junta against the democratically elected prime minister.

“It’s not ideal, but it is part of our role to bring some sense to the debate. I was also at Manchester City when he got a standing ovation. I respect the columnists and opinion-formers but ultimately the fans are the audience that matters. You can get yourself into a moral maze.

“Our intelligence company checks everybody, trying to unearth anything that might contravene our ‘fit and proper person’ test. Do we apply such checks to every businessman in our high street? People forget we have some very credible chief executives, like David Gill at Manchester United, and Alistair Mackintosh at City. Morally, if the foreign ownership was wrong, these credible chief executives would not have stayed in the game.”