The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Stars add spice to ICL

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Wednesday, Nov 28, 2007
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Stars add spice to ICL

Chandigarh: Stage is set for the Indian Cricket League’s (ICL) Twenty20 tournament to take off from November 30 here with a host of former international stars promising to add spice to the rebel series.

The tournament, which is spread over two weeks, will have Delhi Jets taking on Chandigarh Lions in the inaugural match at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula.

Besides these two teams, Mumbai Champs — led by legendary Brian Lara — Kolkata Tigers, Chennai Superstars and Hyderabad Heroes will be vying for a place in the semifinals of the tournament, which will have a round-robin format.

Top players

Apart from Lara, the other top players to watch out for will be former Sri Lankan skipper Marvan Atapattu, who will be captaining the Delhi Jets team, former Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq, former New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns, Nathan Astle, Chris Harris, Abdul Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, Dinesh Mongia, Lance Klusener, Imran Farhat, Nicky Boje, Vikram Solanki, Paul Nixon, Hamish Marshall, Andrew Hall and Daryl Tuffey.

Though tickets for the event have been moderately priced at Rs. 100 for a single match and Rs. 150 for two matches on the same day, the response from the fans has been lukewarm.

Fingers crossed

ICL Executive Board chairman Kapil Dev said, “We are keeping our fingers crossed. At the moment, we are excited and nervous. ICL is our baby and we hope everything will go off well.”

Executive Vice-president of the Essel (Zee) Group, Ashish Kaul said that in addition to the live broadcast of the tournament on Zee Sports, they would also try to have live feed on regional channels owned by the media conglomerate.

The event will have commentators like Tony Greig, Dean Jones, Pat Symcox, Jeffery Thomson, Mike Whitney and Ayaz Memon. — PTI

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