ICL: Seeing First Light Towards Recognition?

The market may be opening up if the word on the street has it right. Threatened or otherwise, the ICC seems to at least want to hear out the ICL and that would explain the reason behind an unscheduled meeting next month.

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The ICL has been pressing from the very beginning for recognition from the ICC. In the absence of it, it has meant that primarily the Indian players who signed on with the ICL were immediately banned effectively from being part of the official Indian cricket system. The BCCI move was emulated by the under pressure ICC leaving cricket boards like the one in New Zealand helpless over promises made to the ICL-affiliated players to be inducted back into the international team.

Now unconfirmed reports from certain quarters suggest the ICL was willing to take the matter to court if the ICC delayed the matter of meeting to give recognition to the so called ‘rebel’ league. The ICL need not despair. In the first of perhaps more steps, the ICC has decided to meet the ICL officials on the matter of recognition next month.

Now it will be interesting to see what kind of pressure the several boards will put on the ICC even as the BCCI looks to ensure the enforcement stays on the Subash Chandra led league. While some boards have expressed reservations over the BCCI’s insistence on the ICL remaining unrecognized, others like the SLC (Sri Lanka Cricket Board) have taken matters a step further by actually five of its players in a domestic tournament and thereby, escalating tensions over torn issues on the legality of the ICL league.

Rule 32 of the ICC manual of operations has allowed the Hong Kong Sixes and the much touted Stanford series to go on. The ICL has a tougher task convincing David Morgan, the ICC President, with the BCCI opposing the move. But the ICL will look at it as a positive step on the part of the ICC where the president will report back to the ICC directors, some of whom will undoubtedly be in favour of giving the ICL its due if only to release some of the international players who have come under an enforced ban, not by their own boards’ design.

The ICL cannot really be a threat to the IPL and it would be hard for the BCCI to press the stand on that front. Monetary issues will perhaps force the ICC’s hand. But speculations need to rest as well till the first of its kind meeting gets underway, if it is indeed allowed.

For Bangladesh’s exodus to the ICL or more on the Dhaka Warriors, read:

Stopping the ICL Exodus: Forced Inclusions?

On the multi million Stanford series extravaganza, catch up on:

Stanford in Jeopardy?

Or for the entertainment factor that will be Rakhi Sawant at the ICL or the ICL Zeebras, read:

Rakhi Sawant: Fixture at Cricket Now!