Subhash Chandra-promoted parallel Indian Cricket League on Friday offered to join hands with the BCCI to improve the game's fortunes in the country.
NEW DELHI: At a time when the Indian Cricket Board is reviewing Team India's debacle at the World Cup and trying to revive the game, Subhash Chandra-promoted parallel Indian Cricket League on Friday offered to join hands with the BCCI to improve the game's fortunes in the country.
"We have sought their (BCCI) cooperation and support so that we can develop better cricketing infrastructure and a winning Team India," Essel Group spokesperson Ashish Kaul said.
He, however, contested BCCI's claims that the Essel Group would have to take the Board's approval for using the infrastructure and arranging the cricket series for the ICL.
"There is no question of any approval or any permission required from BCCI," Kaul said.
Earlier this week, the Essel Group had announced a parallel cricket league in the country to create a reserve pool of cricketers who could play for the country.
While announcing the ICL, Chandra had said the league was not in "conflict" with BCCI but would instead "complement" the Board by providing a rich talent reserve for the national team.
The league, to be held annually, would have its own contracted Indian and international players, apart from a paid selection committee. The league will start with the Twenty20 format, keeping in mind the World Cup of this new version in South Africa later this year.
Essel Group, which had announced a corpus of Rs 100 crore for the cricket league, said it was ready to invest in creating the infrastructure, research and development and other facilities to support the game.
"We have tied up with a financial institution IL&FS for this purpose," Kaul said.
On the issue of BCCI's approval, company officials said most of the infrastructure related to cricket was owned by the state associations and it did not belong to BCCI.
As many as 16 states are not affiliated with BCCI, they said.
Kaul, however, recognised the Board's efforts in this regard. "They (BCCI) have done a lot in the past... since we are also doing the same thing so let us join hands and do it together," he said.
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