Story Indian Cricket League 1993 - Second Half of the Season is on! Who will qualify?

[Bevab]

As promised in the discord server, here's to a new project. One that hopefully I manage to stick with for a longer period.

Watch this space!

Spoiler: Important News

Where it all started?
Team Names Announcement
Important Auction News and Schedule Conflicts
Coach Appointments + Final Auction News
Captains for 1993 Season + A couple of coach appointments
Mid-Season News

Spoiler: The Auction Timeline

Round One
Rounds Two and Three
Rounds Four and Five
Round Six
Rounds Seven and Eight
Rounds Nine and Ten
Rounds Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen
Final Rounds

Squads
Fixtures & Results
Standings
Statistics

Spoiler: Team Reviews

Spoiler: Rounds 1-3

#1 and #2
#3 and #4
#5 and #6

 

[Bevab]

Sometime in early 1993​

IS THIS THE NEW AGE OF INDIAN CRICKET?

​

In the wake of a historical new TV deal with Trans World International (TWI), the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced a new domestic tournament targeted at improving the team's record in ODI cricket and reaching the wider domestic people to generate even more interest in the sport, ten years after an unexpected and historic World Cup win. What is unique about this tournament is that it will feature six teams that are completely owned privately in a step that will no doubt feel like progression from the 1991 economic reforms introduced by the Government in a new sector.

More worrying is the allowance of up to eight foreign players as per rumours in each team with up to five being allowed to play in a match. Concerns have been raised over a lack of opportunities that will be provided to local players in this tournament with private owners not being seen as invested into the health of cricket in India. List A cricket in general has not been played much at the highest level of domestic cricket with only seven teams participating in a season of Wills Trophy till now. The BCCI for it's part has said that it this new tournament is one of two in it's effort to address it with a proper List A tournament in the works for the end of this year. As for this tournament, it has confirmed that the number of overs per innings will be only thirty, ten less than the Sunday League held in England. It is thought that this will help attract a newer audience with less time taken per match. Despite the ongoing controversy with long time broadcaster Doordarshan unlikely to end soon, it seems that they are not interested in this tournament or any development related to it, believing it to be a 'gimmick' that will not be sustainable in a few years and have chosen to focus their efforts on the prize of the national team broadcast.

The only confirmed details as of now other than six teams are that the tournament will begin in the first week of April after the matches against Zimbabwe and that it will feature a new auction system for getting players instead of the widely followed direct contract based approach elsewhere in cricket. It has also been reported that there are large sums of money being promised to lure experienced and big foreign cricketers to participate in the auction. More details such as the teams and owners with the auction details are expected to be announced soon.

 

[Bevab]

Sometime in early 1993​

THE START OF A NEW ERA​

Things may never be the same again in Indian cricket as the six teams participating in the newly named Indian Cricket League have six new owners with various minority stakeholders. The six major owner groups with their respective teams are

OWNER	TEAM
TATA Group	Bombay Tatas
Hero Honda	Hero Delhi Nationals
MRF	Madras Rubbers
Prestige Group	Prestige Bangalore
Aditya Birla Group	Tollywood Cricket Nagar
ITC Limited	Wills Classic Calcutta

The player auction that had been previously confirmed will take place in the first week of February with each team required to sign seventeen players out of which eight are allowed to be foreigners. To that end each team has been allowed a luxurious budget of four crore rupees to bankroll their entire squad. Critics wonder what it would mean for the sport to have youngsters earning a significant sum of money before they have even established themselves properly in the cricket world...

 

[Bevab]

Sometime in early 1993​

AUCTION NEWS​

A collection of erstwhile cricket stars and contemporary ones have signed up for the ICL's first auction to be held in the first week of February. It has been confirmed that the tournament will start on April 4 and run from that day till May 9. With most domestic tournaments ending by then it is thought that most overseas players will be available for the majority of the ICL. However the Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB) has already issued a statement that it expects all of the players with county contracts to honour and fulfill them which casts doubts over the availability of most England players in the later stages of the ICL. Australia's tour of England is also a major tour that will happen around a similar time. While the first international game will be after the ICL is over, the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) will expect most of it's players to be available for the practice and warmup games prior to that ahead of a long and gruelling Ashes tour and the availability of international Australian cricketers will also be a question mark.

International Pakistani and West Indian cricketers will also miss out on the ICL due to the Pakistani tour of West Indies which will happen at the same time. It will be a huge blow to the ICL's ambitions as both of these teams boast some of the biggest stars in cricket today and have a big fanbase in India. As consolation though their former captains in Vivian Richards and Imran Khan have confirmed their availability. Some of the other noteworthy names to have been signed up include Dean Jones, Martin Crowe, Peter Kirsten, Geoff Marsh, Allan Donald, Aravinda de Silva. A full list of notable overseas players to have signed up has been given below.

Spoiler: Overseas Players

Dean Jones
Craig McDermott
Geoff Marsh
David Boon
Allan Border
Paul Reiffel

Graham Gooch
David Gower
Ian Botham
Robin Smith
Alec Stewart
Phil DeFreitas

Martin Crowe
Chris Harris
Andrew Jones
Mark Greatbatch

Imran Khan
Saleem Malik
Abdul Qadir
Iqbal Qasim

Peter Kirsten
Allan Donald
Clive Rice
Kepler Wessels

Aravinda de Silva
Arjuna Ranatunga
Champaka Ramanayake
Asanka Gurusinha

Vivian Richards
Gordon Greenidge
Malcolm Marshall
Joel Garner

 

[Bevab]

Sometime in early 1993​

MORE NEWS​

Bombay Tatas and Hero Delhi Nationals have opted to hire their former players Ramakant Desai and Bishan Singh Bedi as their coaches respectively. Sunil Gavaskar has also confirmed that he will act as the team mentor for the Bombay team. Prestige Bangalore have managed to hire former West Indian captain Clive Lloyd as their coach and it has already been acknowledged that it is a huge coup for a new team to lure a legend of such expertise. Wills Classic Calcutta have also confirmed Ray Illingworth as their coach for their first season although it is unsure how long he will hold the role due to his other commitments. This leaves only two teams yet to confirm their coaches. Madras Rubbers have said that they will focus on hiring a coach that fits with their team philosophy only after the auction while Tollywood Cricket Nagar have said they will hopefully have their new coach by the time the auction is conducted.

A few Indian cricketers who had previously stepped back from most forms of active cricket have also put up their name for the auction. It is unclear if teams will be signing these players for a sporting reason due to their lack of playing but the presence of at least one such figure for experience may prove to be invaluable. A list of notable Indian cricketers who have signed up for the auction is given below.

Spoiler: Domestic Players

Mohammad Azharuddin
Sachin Tendulkar
Navjot Sidhu
Vinod Kambli
Dilip Vengsarkar
Arun Lal
Ajay Jadeja

Manoj Prabhakar
Kapil Dev
Chetan Sharma
Ravi Shastri
Woorkeri Raman
Ajay Sharma
Sandeep Patil
Mohinder Amarnath
Roger Binny
Madan Lal Sharma
Kirti Azad

Javagal Srinath
Anil Kumble
Venkatapathy Raju
Maninder Singh
Arshad Ayub

Sanjay Manjrekar
Yashpal Sharma
Syed Kirmani
Kiran More

 

[Verified Enigma]

Indian Cricket League

Hmmmm where have I heard this before....

 

[Bevab]

February 1, 1993​

ICL AUCTIONS​

Get yourself some nice chai as we bring you live radio coverage of the first ever ICL auction!

​

Spoiler: Round One

Kris Srikkanth (ODI Avg - 29.01, SR - 71.74)

After some intense bidding between Delhi and Madras, we have our first ever official ICL player who goes to Madras Rubbers for 45 lakhs. He is certainly past his peak but Madras will not care as they get a local favourite of theirs.

Navjot Sidhu (ODI Avg - 39.34, SR - 70.41, ICC Ranking - 19)

A three way bidding war between Madras, Bangalore and Tollywood gave way to a showdown between the last two which was won by Tollywood for 60 lakhs. Fateh Maidan will be raining sixes in April!

Arun Lal (ODI Avg - 9.38, SR - 52.58)

Delhi Nationals get the gritty Arun Lal for 11 lakhs with Tollywood the only other side making a serious bid.

Mohammad Azharuddin (ODI Avg - 33.60, SR - 70.55, ICC Ranking - 15)

In a repeat of the Sidhu bidding war, the same three sides engaged in an even bigger clash for signing the Indian captain. Tollywood's reluctance to again spend a lot in quick succession however meant that they lost out on signing their local hero and will have to grudgingly watch him play for Prestige Bangalore after a winning bid of 80 lakhs.

Anshuman Gaekwad (ODI Avg - 20.69, SR - 52.84)

Looks like nobody was interested in the opener who hasn't played a game since January 3rd last year. Bit of a sad moment as we have our first unsold player.

Dilip Vengsarkar (ODI Avg - 34.73, SR - 67.73)

It looks like teams were interested in a bargain price for the maestro whose last appearance was almost a year ago in a Ranji Trophy semi-final. After Tollywood again rose the price similar to Lal's bid Calcutta swooped in to sign him for 20 lakhs. The question is; can he still do a job?

Sachin Tendulkar (ODI Avg - 34.35, SR - 75.58, ICC Ranking - 6)

The most anticipated player of the auction for many. The nineteen year old wonderkid has already nearly fifty ODIs under his belt and seems to be getting only better and better. He's even sparked a previously slumbering Bombay Tatas group into the action! A fierce bidding war began that had only Madras and Bangalore decline to bid with the next team to pull out being Delhi but only when Bombay had the bid at 75 lakhs, already only five short of the highest bid till now. It would then be a three-way battle between Calcutta, Tollywood and Bombay to try and sign the wonderkid. Bombay's absolute persistence to want and sign a local player won in the end though as they managed to sign him for an incredible 1 crore rupees! One has to wonder how the young star will cope with the huge burden that comes from having a team spend a quarter of their budget on themselves.

And that concludes the first round of the ICL Auction! We will resume with round two shortly...

(Sachin Tendulkar tops the earnings in the first round of the ICL auction)​

 

[Pinch hitter]

Prestige Bangalore bought solid batsman and captain material player for 80 lacks... Very solid buy there... Hope they rope in agressive batting all-rounder Sourav Ganguly too...

 

[Bevab]

Prestige Bangalore bought solid batsman and captain material player for 80 lacks... Very solid buy there... Hope they rope in agressive batting all-rounder Sourav Ganguly too...

Azharuddin is probably the best Indian batter at the moment you could buy as Tendulkar famously took his time to become a force in ODIs (didn't hit a single hundred until his 79th ODI) and as you've said he's a good captain too. As for Ganguly he has so far played only one ODI in which he failed to make an impression but has a decent domestic record and at twenty years of age the sky is the limit for him.

Hmmmm where have I heard this before....

View attachment 277975

Can't have a rebel league if you make the rebel league your own official league.

 

[Pinch hitter]

@Bevab this league take place after 1992 world cup right?...

 

[Bevab]

@Bevab this league take place after 1992 world cup right?...

Yeah, it’s supposed to be in April 1993.

 

[Bevab]

February 1, 1993​

ICL AUCTIONS​

Spoiler: Round Two - Overseas Bowlers

Bruce Reid (ODI Avg - 34.94, Eco - 4.06)

The tall and injury prone left arm quick becomes the first foreigner to be signed up by a ICL team as Bangalore sign him for just nine lakhs. Perhaps injury concerns have made teams cautious about wanting to sign him?

Gavin Larsen (ODI Avg - 42.90, Eco - 3.54, ICC Ranking - 13)

A miserly medium pacer, Delhi have won a fairly non-competitive bidding process for him by spending four lakhs. He will be valuable as a utility player as he can also bat.

Gladstone Small (ODI Avg - 33.48, Eco - 4.17)

No one seemed interested in bidding for the swing bowler with doubts over the availability of English players due to the strong TCCB statement. The first unsold foreigner in ICL history.

Champaka Ramanayake (ODI Avg - 28.38, Eco - 4.25, ICC Ranking - 14)

Only a last minute bid from Tollywood would spark Bombay into action and they managed to sign this Sri Lankan medium pacer for three lakhs. Will he prove to be a bargain?

Phil DeFreitas (ODI Avg - 31.81, Eco - 3.87, ICC Ranking - 6)

He avoided Small's fate on account of being an active international cricketer who was also seen as Botham's heir in some circles and managed to get Madras Rubbers to sign him for 17 lakhs. Being able to also bat certainly helps.

Willie Watson (ODI Avg - 29.94, Eco - 4.14, ICC Ranking - 9)

Another one of New Zealand's medium pacers, he attracted plenty of interest due to a low starting price with only Bombay and Madras choosing to not bid initially. Tollywood managed to sign him in the end for 14 lakhs.

Craig McDermott (ODI Avg - 25.40, Eco - 4.13, ICC Ranking - 5)

In the absence of other big name top five pacers like Ambrose, Wasim and Waqar... McDermott was expected to be a big beneficiary. The bidding didn't disappoint with Delhi the only side to refrain from it and everyone else trying with a bid but concerns over his availability and fitness meant that Bombay were left unchallenged with a bid of 30 lakhs. With two overseas pacers already Bombay look strong.

Patrick Patterson (ODI Avg - 25.52, Eco - 4.39, ICC Ranking - 12)

Expected to be another beneficiary due to his fellow countrymen being unavailable, Patterson who was recently dropped from the test squad attracted plenty of attention from every team not named Bombay. Calcutta would win the bidding for him with 20 lakhs, perhaps a bargain if they can keep his form up.

Malcolm Marshall (ODI Avg - 26.96, Eco - 3.53)

The currently Natal based West Indies quick bowler was the subject of fierce interest from Prestige Bangalore, no doubt heavily influenced by their coach Lloyd who managed him once. He ended up going to their side for 40 lakhs, the highest in this round.

(Malcolm Marshall ended up being the most expensive player of the second round)​

Spoiler: Round Three

Sanjay Manjrekar (ODI Avg - 32.76, SR - 64.30, ICC Ranking - 28)

There wasn't too much interest in the son of the legendary Vijay Manjrekar and Bangalore were all too happy to let Bombay Tatas have him after initially submitting an opening bid that was followed by a counter bid of 20 lakhs.

Chandrakant Pandit (ODI Avg - 20.71, SR - 72.50)

The first full-time Indian keeper in the auction is the subject of a bidding war between Bangalore and Delhi but Delhi manage to sign him for 13 lakhs in the end.

Saba Karim (List A Avg - 12.87)

Except for Tollywood all the other teams submitted a token bid for Karim whose only experience internationally till now has been as reserve keeper for the 1989 tour of West Indies where he played a warmup game. He'll certainly be surprised and happy that Calcutta signed him in the end for 6 lakhs.

Pankaj Dharmani

The U19s keeper batsman with an excellent record till now failed to attract a bid despite his potential. Being only 18 there is still hope for him in the upcoming years.

Yashpal Sharma (ODI Avg - 28.48, SR - 63.02)

With his last List A game nearly a decade ago nobody expected Yashpal to get a bid of any kind despite being a World Cup hero then and it was proven true.

​

 

[Verified Enigma]

This is some interesting sheez going on here.

 

[Till Valhalla]

Come on Tollywood.

 

[Bevab]

February 1, 1993​

ICL AUCTIONS​

We have 'off the record' information that says the next two rounds will have all-rounders. These might be the biggest rounds of the auction.

Spoiler: Round Four

Franklyn Stephenson

The all-rounder with a wide domestic and no international experience had everyone interested initially, possibly because of his mysterious delivery that has been a nightmare to deal with and because he can hit the ball hard. Once the bidding got into the range of 30 lakhs everyone except Bangalore and Bombay gave up and those two continued till the bid doubled in value and Prestige Bangalore signed him for 65 lakhs. Only time will tell if it was worth spending so much on an uncapped player.

Steve Waugh ( Avg - 30.27, SR - 72, ICC Ranking - 27. Avg - 31.01, Eco - 4.42, ICC Ranking - 27)

The talented but inconsistent all-rounder would end up being bought by Hero Delhi Nationals for 40 lakhs after they had to fend off late interest from Tollywood. Quite unexpected for someone who may be leaving early in the end.

Allan Border ( Avg - 30.63, SR - 70.60, ICC Ranking - 23. Avg - 29.28, Eco - 4.63, ICC Ranking - 64)

A World Cup winner and a legendary captain. Doubts over his availability and interest meant that no team was too keen on bidding for him after initial token bids but Madras have still signed him up for 35 lakhs, perhaps due to his role in the famous 1986 tied test.

Arjuna Ranatunga ( Avg - 34.34, SR - 76.56, ICC Ranking - 12. Avg - 46.85, Eco - 4.82, ICC Ranking - 48)

More of a batsman than a bowler, the Sri Lankan captain nevertheless was the subject of a bidding war between Calcutta and Bombay Tatas with the latter signing him in the end for 25 lakhs.

Clive Rice ( Avg - 13, SR - 70.27. Avg - 57, Eco - 4.95)

Don't let those statistics we said fool you, Rice was a feared all-rounder in his prime. However he is also 43 years now. Not that it mattered as Wills Classic Calcutta fought off interest from Tollywood and Madras to buy him for 45 lakhs, perhaps overpaying after feeling the pressure of missing out on Ranatunga. For their sake let us hope that he can still bowl well.

Greg Matthews ( Avg - 16.72, SR - 67.94. Avg - 35.15, Eco - 4.28)

Recently retired internationally, his availability for the whole tournament was enough to make Delhi bid twice for him and get him at 5 lakhs.

Aravinda de Silva ( Avg - 30.24, SR - 80.92, ICC Ranking - 8. Avg - 50.70, Eco - 4.94, ICC Ranking - 68)

After missing out on both Waugh and Rice, Tollywood Cricket Nagar wanted a player from this round and they made their intentions clear with a flurry of counter bids to ward off interest from first Madras and then later on Bangalore who took it beyond 50 lakhs but the entertainer ended up being a Tollywood cricketer for 75 lakhs. Very ominous signs for opposition bowlers if they can get Aravinda and Sidhu firing.

Imran Khan ( Avg - 33.41, SR - 72.65. Avg - 26.61, Eco - 3.89)

As a legendary World Cup winning captain last year, Imran would have been the subject of many bids even before his enthusiastic declaration of wanting to play one last time in this tournament. Even if he was a very different player to his prime teams did not care as the bids kept flying just for his sheer aura and leadership factor. Delhi and Calcutta engaged in particularly fierce bidding but somehow Wills Classic Calcutta managed to sign him in the end for 65 lakhs after it seemed like the bidding would go on forever. With both Rice and Imran in the same XI they have a lot of flexibility if they can get these two bowling.

Ian Botham ( Avg - 23.21, SR - 79.10. Avg - 28.54, Eco - 3.96)

Another larger than life all-rounder, Botham's fitness is questionable and his county contract means he won't remain for long. These factors did not deter Calcutta, Bombay and Delhi from engaging in a bidding war for him that Delhi won in the end for 55 lakhs. Have they got the better end of the deal?

Spoiler: Round Five

Ravi Shastri ( Avg - 29.04, SR - 61.07. Avg - 36.04, Eco - 4.21)

Recently retired internationally, Shastri's glamour alone would have got him bids and it ended up being the case as Madras Rubbers got him for 65 lakhs. Strangely though teams did not pursue him as aggressively as expected after the initial bids with only Bombay and Calcutta trying with a few more bids. Has the glamour factor fallen off?

Laxman Sivaramakrishnan ( Avg - 35.86, Eco - 4.26)

The former wonderkid who lost his bowling talent and was forced to reinvent himself as an all-rounder did not even attract a token bid and went unsold.

Chetan Sharma ( Avg - 25.27, SR - 90.81, ICC Ranking - 72. Avg - 34.50, Eco - 4.93, ICC Ranking - 57)

It was a surprise to everyone when Tollywood Cricket Nagar bought him for 20 lakhs with only a counter bid after Bombay started proceedings. He adds to their entertainment quota at least.

Manoj Prabhakar ( Avg - 17.15, SR - 58.13, ICC Ranking - 58. Avg - 27.07, Eco - 4, ICC Ranking - 7)

Madras wanted their second Indian all-rounder and they were relentless, fending off initial interest from Tollywood and Bangalore for the extremely talented Prabhakar who is in his prime. What they did not account for was Calcutta coming in with some late bids to drive the price up to 70 lakhs. At that price point the Bengali team would buy him. Will Madras rue missing out on him after bidding for so long?

Kapil Dev ( Avg - 24.93, SR - 96.50, ICC Ranking - 34. Avg - 26.37, Eco - 3.70, ICC Ranking - 2)

Arguably the most anticipated Indian player at the auction. Kapil's feats are legendary and even now he has been a world class bowler. Four teams would engage in the bidding for him with Bangalore being the first to pull out. Madras decided to leave after seeing that the bidding would go up to a crore and then it was a straight shootout between Delhi and Bombay. Bombay were not willing to give up and took the active bid to 1 crore, showing that they were not afraid of spending half of their budget on two domestic players they deemed worthy. However they did not anticipate Delhi coming back with a bid of 1.1 crores. This made them reevaluate their position and they decided to give up to focus on other targets instead. Delhi Nationals finally have their big name Indian player and it is the biggest of them all.

Roger Binny ( Avg - 16.12, SR - 60.13. Avg - 29.35, Eco - 4.58)

Nobody seemed interested in Binny as he hasn't played a serious match in more than a year. Perhaps it was sentiment or perhaps it was because he played in one unofficial thirty overs match a year ago and had some experience of what to expect but Prestige Bangalore decided to bid for him at 5 lakhs. Every other team was only too happy to let them have him.

Sandeep Patil ( Avg - 24.51, SR - 82.17. Avg - 39.26, Eco - 4.06)

Only playing in Ranji Trophy these days, eyebrows were raised when Tollywood Cricket Nagar bought him for 15 lakhs. While he was an entertainer in his prime can he still do a job now?

Mohinder Amarnath ( Avg - 30.53, SR - 57.70. Avg - 42.84, Eco - 4.33)

More than three years have passed since his last cricket match but that did not stop a flurry of initial bids that would end with Madras Rubbers actively bidding for him till he was signed for 17 lakhs. A very risky investment for someone who hasn't played in a long time.

(Is it a surprise that he wound up being the most expensive player in the auction so far?)​