23 June,2011 08:35 AM IST | | Harit N Joshi
Following reports that the league could start again, players and coaches slam it citing outstanding payments and mismanagement
Himanshu Mody, who was in charge of the now defunct Indian Cricket League (ICL), may have ambitiously said that the league could "start again", but players and coaches, who were part of the ICL feel no one will want to be associated with the tournament again.
In happier times: The ICL teams during an official group photo session
at Chandigarh in 2007.
Kiran Powar, who played for Mumbai Champs, said he felt betrayed by the tournament's organisers. "ICL betrayed us (players). They have not given our match fees till now. Kapil Dev would ask us to call the (ICL) office where no one answered our calls. This has hurt us a lot," Kiran, brother of India offie Ramesh, told MiD DAY.
The all-rounder said that the ICL had left him in the lurch as he had no source of income. "The ICL deserted us and I could not approach the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) for any support either. I was stranded.
There was no money (coming) from anywhere. It was a very tough moment for all the cricketers. I don't think anybody would play in the ICL now after the kind of treatment they have meted out to their players," he said.
"Besides the IPL is doing so well. So, why will any youngster associateu00a0 himself with something like ICL. Even if ICL wins the ongoing court case against the BCCI and gets official recognition, I don't see anyone choosing to play for ICL over IPL," added Powar, who now runs a Public Relations firm at Oshiwara.
Former India bowler Karsan Ghavri, who was assistant coach and mentor of Chennai Superstars, felt the ICL experience very disappointing.
"It is not just players, but also coaches and the support staff, who have not got their dues. They still owe me around Rs 25 lakh. Initially, for the first couple of years it was all good, but later on it started getting very bitter. The salaries were delayed, training sessions were irregular ufffd it was all in a mess. Everyone in the ICL management failed to keep their word. The whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth. It was very kind of the BCCI to bring us back into the fold," said Ghavri.
The ICL management was unavailable for comment.
On Wednesday Mody told a national daily that the ICL could start again if "everything falls in place."
"If we are able to get more evidence, it will certainly make our case stronger against the BCCI. If everything falls in place, we may start our league again," Mody said following the series of tweets by the former Indian Premier League (IPL) chief Lalit Modi on how the ICL was scuttled by the BCCI's global arm-twisting tactics.
