The Essel Group is ready to tackle any hurdles put up by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) before its newborn cricket league that has already signed up many veteran players for its administrative council.
Essel has signed up the legendary Kapil Dev to head the ICL council, which will work to identify talent, nourish the talent, and then offer the players opportunities to play at the city, national and international levels.
Ashish Kaul, Essel’s executive vice-president, said: “I have no doubt that BCCI can offer more money than anyone else — after all they are the richest cricket club. However, ICL is not just about money. It is a collective effort to promote cricketing talent.”
Kaul was reacting to reports that the BCCI has threatened to cut off Kapil Dev’s pension if he works for Essel, and that the BCCI has offered to pay more to Kapil, who captained the only Indian team to have ever won the World Cup, and who is now chairman of the BCCI-run Indian Cricket Academy.
“The talent pool will not just play cricket but win matches on every turf. Let BCCI compete with us there,” said Kaul.
He dismissed the possibility of the ICL being denied the use of the cricketing stadiums.
“We have factored in all possibilities and we are working accordingly. Stadiums are not the property of BCCI but government property managed by the states or state cricketing associations. Various privately managed stadiums are also available in major Indian cities,” Kaul said.
Essel has already tapped players like Brian Lara and Shane Warne, who are ready to join hands with the ICL, he said.
Himanshu Mody, project head for the ICL, said: “Our goal remains to identify the best talents available in the country and tune them to play at the highest level.”
Kaul said Lara has told Essel officials that he would join the ICL. “it gives me great pleasure to join the ICL. No one can keep me too far from cricket and hence I return to the game in this exciting new avatar that the Essel group has launched,” Lara is said to have told Essel.