The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : ICL set to go the whole hog

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Wednesday, Apr 09, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

ICL set to go the whole hog

V.V. Subrahmanyam

Sequel to crowd response to Edelweiss 20s Challenge Trophy

HYDERABAD: Cashing in on the craze?! Buoyed by the tremendous crowd response inside the wonderful floodlit Lal Bahadur Stadium, organisers of Indian Cricket League (ICL) are all set to go ahead with their inaugural concept of the tri-series featuring India XI, Pakistan XI and the World XI (April 9-15) with much more enthusiasm.

Anyone who witnessed the dramatic victory of Hyderabad Heroes over Lahore Badshahs to clinch the Edelweiss 20s Challenge Trophy could have gone back home with a strong belief that he or she was part of cricketing history with a difference.

For, rarely any event outside the purview of the BCCI (remember ICL is banned by it) evoked such enthusiasm amongst cricket fans.

Fan frenzy

Old timers recall not since the India-Pakistan hockey ‘Test’ in 1986 when Mohd Shahid scored that fabulous goal at the Lal Bahadur Stadium did one see such crowds – some of them perched perilously on the roof-top of the stadium.

Even inside the packed stands, there was plenty of noise. But, some things have not changed like the discourteous behaviour of the policemen on duty with the spectators and media personnel. Ignoring the media cards being flashed for entry, some of them were rudely turned back by a police official at the main entrance of Fateh Maidan Club.

There were also hundreds of fans with valid entry passes who had to go back home disappointed as the stadium was near-full an hour before the start of the match.

It is said that the organisers are partly to be blamed for the avoidable inconvenience as about 6,000 accreditation cards were issued under different subjects.

The organisers also surprised everyone by distributing the national flags of India and Pakistan. “We just can’t understand the logic in this,” said a shocked Ch. V. H. Murthy, who watched the second final. A senior police official too said national flags should have been avoided.

“Fortunately, nothing went wrong. Let us not give any scope for trouble,” was his word of caution. Official flags of the teams should have been distributed instead, he suggested.

Parking was another irritant. By directing almost everyone to the Nizam College the traffic woes got compounded.

“Alternative parking slots should be there to ease the pressure on the roads for normal public,” observed L. Venkatram Reddy, APOA secretary.

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