Lahore Badshahs of ICL
For those who are unaware of this, ICL (Indian Cricket League) has introduced a new team in its latest ongoing 20-20 tournament. The team is called “Lahore Badshahs”.
Now I understand that many of LMB readers are not from Pakistan, or this region entirely. So for their benefit in particular, let me first explain what ICL is… no wait, let me start with explaining what cricket is.
The Webster’s dictionary (named after the famous linguist, Thomas Dictionary) describes cricket as a form of insect that trots in the outdoors when one wants to have a good night sleep. Off course Webster’s dictionary says the same thing about lollywood. So we can’t take Webster’s dictionary too seriously.
Cricket in fact is a form of sport, run by a governing body called ICC. Now for those who follow the game closely on an hourly basis, you must have noticed an immense conflict these days between two major forces in Cricket…. the batsmen and the bowlers. This is pretty much all one has to know about cricket to get involved. Off course once you do get involved, chances are that you will be fed with so many intricate nitty gritties of the game, that football (another major sport) will seem like a mere prank, against the overwhelmingly complicated game of cricket.
ICL is one such complication in the game these days. So now that you have gained enough raw knowledge to comment on this post, let me get back to the main point; ICL has a new team, called Lahore Badshahs.
Captained by our ex captain Inzy, Lahore Badshahs comprises all those Pakistani players who have left the lucrative (hint hint) careers as “test rejects” to join the wannabe rebel league. And there are plenty of them. In fact, Lahore Badshahs has assembled a cast of quite a few ex-match winners, that it can, in fact, create a major upset in the tournament… such as Pakistani players winning matches… The batting line-up comprises Inzy himself, alongwith Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat, Taufiq Umer, Hamayun Farhat, Navid Latif and Hasan Raza, as well as the wicketkeeper batsman Moin Khan. But it’s actually the bowling line-up that makes the team strong, including fast bowlers such as Mohammad Sami, Shahid Nazeer, Riaz Afridi and Rana Naveed ul Hasan alongwith old (by age) spinners such as Mushtaq Ahmed, Arshad Khan, and (not so old still) Saqlain Mushtaq. All rounder Azhar Mahmood also makes the 16 men squad.
Granted, most of these players are not actually from Lahore. But then Chris Cairns in not exactly from Chandigarh and Marvan Atapattu and Shane Bond are not from Delhi either. So it’s the name of the team that’s important rather than who plays in it.
In the first round of current series, Lahore Badshahs are right now right at the top of the table, having won all 3 matches they played, securing 6 points.
Now what happens if Lahore Badshahs go on to win ICL? How would PCB react to that? Will the ban on these ICL players be lifted if they bring home some glory? and where exactly is Abdur Razzaq? are some of the questions which are yet to be answered. Till we have an answer to these, lets watch some more cricket!!!
Thanx for an informative post Faraz, but the essential information on what exactly ICL is is still missing. Please do enlighten us on this issue. I was watching Begum Nawazish ali show last night and Moammar rana (filmi) was boasting in it that he owns the lahore badshah’s team. It beats me how come a film star come to own a cricket team, and how could an individual (filmi or not) own the whole team.
@ Mozang Bijli
Moammar Rana does not own Lahore ICL team.
Its owned by India’s Zee TV network, which is owned by an Indian Tycoon, Subhash Chandra.
(http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/ZMYU.html)
(http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/india/content/current/story/288641.html)
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More info on Lahore Bad-Shahs & ICL
http://www.indiancricketleague.in/index.html
@Mozang Bijjli: ICL is essentially a parallel cricket league. Parallel in the sense that it is not recognized by ICC (the cricket governing body). The league conducts 20-20 tournaments with 6-8 teams representing different parts of India. Since ICL is not ICC recognized, most of the country cricket boards have forbidden their players from participating in ICL. The international players who do participate (including many pakistanis mentioned in the post) face a complete ban from their own cricket boards.
Nevertheless, a number of international players are still participating in ICL’s ongoing tournament. Reportedly, ICL pays hell of a lot to the players!
On the other hand, there’s another upcoming cricket league called IPL (indian premier league), which is recognized by ICC. IPL enjoys the services of a number of current international players.
Can an individual own a team? Not sure about ICL, but in IPL one can. IPL recently auctioned all its teams (for really large bucks) and sold them all to various investors. A film star, therefore, can own a team in IPL. Shah Rukh Khan bought one of the teams (in IPL, not ICL).
Well I cant vouch for others but it gives me creeps thinking of people owning 1 whole team. Is it yet another business?
do you think the business manners will help enhance sporting spirit in our team?
Atleast the way momi raana twisted his mouth and bragged about owning the lahore badshah’s team, It was loathsome…… simply despicable. his expression his gestures were not good at all.
@mozang bijjli: Although I can’t be sure, it is quite doubtful that Momi Rana would be owning Lahore Badshahs or any team in ICL. Huge bucks are involved in these leagues and a Pakistani film actor cannot have made enough money to be able to own a team.
With regards to people owning teams in general, yes it happens and it is indeed a kind of business venture, or investment. Nobody, however, can own a national team, as it belongs to the people.
Its a new phenomena in cricket and many people believe that with the advent of leagues such as ICL and IPL, the shape of cricket will change forever. These leagues (specially IPL) have the potential of undermining the importance of international matches. For the first time in cricket’s history, stars will be born out of private leagues rather than national squads. Plus there will be too much 20-20 going on (which pulls the crowds in any case), much at the cost of test cricket.
Whether the above really happens or not is yet to be seen. Let’s see how it goes.