Indian Cricket League
Each team was coached by a former international cricketer and comprised four international, two Indian and eight budding domestic players. Essel Group also planned to set up cricket academies all over the country. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was assured that it was free to draw from ICL's talent pool. The league became active in November 2007 with matches in the Twenty20 format.Former international cricketers including KapilDev, TonyGreig, DeanJones and Kiran More were hired as board members of the Indian Cricket League.
The "Inverted Pyramid" cricket structure
The Indian Cricket League (ICL) was a privatecricket league funded by Zee Entertainment Enterprises that operated between 2007 and 2009 in India. Its two seasons included tournaments between four international teams (The World, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) and nine domestic teams notionally located in major Indian cities as well as the champions Lahore Badshahs who were based in Lahore,Pakistan. The matches were played in theTwenty20 format. There was also a planned domestic 50-over tournament, but this did not eventuate. While its establishment pre-dated theIndian Premier League, the ICL folded in 2009. Aside from commercial factors,
There is wide disparity between the facilities enjoyed by the national team and the regional ones. This makes the regional players far from finished products when they are called to represent their country, preventing a huge country like India from having adequate reserve strength in the national squad when key players are injured or retire. Also, the regional cricket boards depend on the BCCI for hand-outs of funds for infrastructure and grassroots development.