Dhoni is the Obama of Indian Cricket!

Mahindra Singh Dhoni has transformed Indian Cricket the way Barack Obama has transformed American politics. This 27 years old young man from Ranchi, Bihar is as cool as Barack Obama under pressure. He is a rare all-rounder that Indian cricket has seldom seen. Kapil Dev is the only other Indian cricketer that comes to mind. But here is the big difference, Dhoni is a wicket-keeper and has a much better sense of the situation than Kapil Dev ever had being a bowler-batsman. But the bigger implication is Dhoni’s personal background. Kapil Dev came from a relatively affluent background and a much richer state. Mahindra Singh Dhoni was born in Bihar, the poorest state of India and with least amount of sports infrastructure. To compound the problem Ranchi became a part of Jharkhand State an even poorer entity.

When Kapil Dev led the team-India, it was an urban sport dominated by Bombay-Delhi cricketers. Dhoni has inspired the rural youth of India with his unpretentious small-town disposition. I have never been to Bihar or Jharkhand but still it is not difficult to imagine the boost that Dhoni’s elevation as the captain of the Indian Cricket Team must have provided to the youth in those states. Bihar, Orissa and now Jharkhand have not produced too many national cricketers since the Indian Independence. It is not the people’s fault that their political leadership has ignored the development of these and many other North-Indian States. Every Dhoni and Mohammad Kaif would become a development symbol of their respective state in the time to come. Dhoni is an unusually aggressive cricketer because of his State.

Not so shy Dhoni in a Pepsi Ad

The Pathans of India…

Yusuf Khan (born on November 17, 1982) and Irfan Khan (born on October 27, 1984) are the two Pathan brothers who have fired the imagination of Indian Cricket in the 21st century. Born to Mehmood Khan and Shamim Bano, the brothers grew up in a mosque in Baroda. Mehmood Khan worked as the muezzin. The impoverished Muslim family wanted their sons to become Islamic scholars, instead the brothers took interest in cricket. The family had no welfare checks coming. Like so many millions in India, they had their grit, determination and simple hard-work.

Although Yusuf is the older one, Irfan made his Test debut in the Second Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval in December 2003. He was introduced as a left-arm fast-medium swing bowler, reminding some of the legendary Wasim Akram of Pakistan. Irfan improved his batting skills to become a bowling all-rounder. This was the birth of ‘Irfan Pathan’ the Indian pride after the renowned all-rounder and former skipper Kapil Dev. How did Irfan Khan become Irfan Pathan? Shamim Bano, his mother, laments “Tum logo ne uska naam badal diya hai” (you media people have changed his name). Does it matter? It suits him, anyway.

Yusuf Pathan, the elder brother (half-brother) is a hard-hitting right handed batsman and a right-arm off-break bowler. He was selected for the Indian Squad for the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship, held in South Africa in September 2007. He made his Twenty20 international debut in final against Pakistan. His performance was hardly noteworthy, but India pulled off the last ball victory and the rest is history. Yusuf Pathan became a part of history-making win for India. Subsequently, because of a good domestic season, he was signed by the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League for $475,000. In the 2008 IPL season, Yusuf scored 435 runs and took 8 wickets. Shane Warne, the captain for Rajasthan Royals, placed great faith in Yusuf Pathan. He was the Man of the Match in the final against Chennai Super Kings. Yusuf Pathan has arrived.

Indian Cricket League (ICL)

Indian Cricket League (ICL) is a private cricket league, promoted by Subhash Chandra of the Essel Group. The announcement of the launch was made by Chandra on April 3, 2007. Subhash Chandra is also the founder and chairman of Zee TV. In 2003, the telecast rights for the Cricket World Cup were denied to the Zee Telefilms. Subhash Chandra lost the bid again in 2004. Zee TV made another attempt for the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy. They were once denied the broadcasting rights and therefore decided to create their own content. That was the logic behind creating ICL.

Indian Cricket League was set up with a Rupees 100 crores corpus fund with prize money of one million US dollars, for the winning team in the first tournament scheduled for November 30, 2007. Some famous international cricketers were invited on July 24, 2007 to sign the most lucrative deal to play for ICL. Brian Lara, former West Indian Captain, Jason Gillespie from Australia, Andrew Hall and Justine Kemp from South Africa, Imran Farhat, Abdul Razzaq, Taufiq Umar and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan from Pakistan and many cricketers from other countries signed-up to play for ICL. Former Indian Skipper Kapil Dev, Kiran More, Tony Greig and Dean Jones were hired to run the league.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) immediately reacted and refused to recognise the ICL. To counter the ICL, the BCCI announced its own version called the Indian Premier League to play Twenty20 cricket tournament from April18, 2008.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) supported the BCCI decision and refused to recognise ICL as an official league. Other boards from Test playing nations went along with BCCI and imposed bans on their players to participate in rebel Indian Cricket League. In December 2007, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) banned those Pakistani players who appeared in the ICL, from playing their national and international cricket. This decision provoked  worldwide condemnation.  Imran Khan  and  Javed  Miandad  criticised the  PCB decision.