A New season of “Bravehearts”. Taking stock at the beginning of it.

There may have been more than thousand experiments that would have made a common man go “WOW” and then were dead within no time. But there are some real good ones that see the light of the day and then go on to make a difference in the life of thousands. Indian Cricket League, which started as an experiment, or as an alternative to the mainstream cricket in India, has not made it long enough to see the light of a second season. For once this is a proof enough for the popularity of this so called rebel league.

Since the last time a ball was bowled in the ICL, there have been a lot of changes in the cricket fraternity in general and people’s attitude towards ICL in particular. T20 cricket has taken over from other forms of cricket so much so that the poor ODI format has suffered like anything. A lot of national teams have practically let their players represent T20 leagues than appear for national duty. This says a lot about what the global fraternity thinks of the game’s latest format. ICL which until a quarter back was deemed only for players who do not want to play anything apart from ICL (because they won’t be allowed to by the ICC), is now in quite a better stage.

The Arjuna Ranatunga led BCCSL has now changed its stance towards the ICL players and will allow them to play in their domestic league. Though this applies only to a handful of Sri Lankan’s playing in the ICL, it actually is as important as Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon. And that this decision of BCCSL may not have pleased their counterparts in the BCCI, it certainly comes as a huge boost for the team led by the Haryana Hurricane, our own Kapil paaji.

With IPL having paved the path for marketing trends in T20 cricket, I am sure ICL will not be far behind. With more prize money this year and three cricket grounds with them, the league is sure to go places, or rather more places than it went last time around.

And yes, as I write this awaiting the first ball of season two, one thing is for sure. Ambati Rayudu and Ibrahim Khaleel are now known to ten times the number people that knew them before the first ball of the last season was bowled. Indeed a great achievement for someone who dared to go against the BCCI. As the fresh season begins, I sincerely hope good things happen to the ICL and my favourite team Hyderabad Heroes repeats history to lend a smile to the faces of the locals who have been dejected by the much hyped “Deccan Chargers”.