BPL - Some Thoughts

On the same lines of IPL, CICA has come up with an idea of BPL - Bloomington Cricket League. Before any further speculation and critic I want to congratulate CICA for this INNOVATION. Whether idea will succeed or Fail is topic of debate although everyone seems to admiring the initiative being taken here. I wonder if anyone has even thought of having this format for a tournament anywhere else in US. So first of all Well Done CICA !!!

Thoughts I am putting here are either my own or being written or based upon public responses heard around yesterday and today. Well let me tell you that the result is 50-50 i.e half the community is thinking that it would be a flop while others are living up to the challenge and ready to participate.

Biggest worry of all though is what about the people who are new in town or not being watched earlier followed by those who recently have not performed or never performed. Then there comes a batch of people who looks at this game more as a fun and for them winning-losing hardly maters. Who is going to bid for them or who is going to Choose them? To me answer to all these questions really depends on number of entries CICA will receive. If they receive sufficient entries then they will force Teams make a choice among available options and if the number of entries go up then it would be a challenge to organizers to accommodate everyone. I do not think CICA would say 'NO' to any player. Another question people are asking is what if number of entries are not even or such that players could not be evenly distributed among all teams ? Not really sure about this but MY OWN thought is in that case CICA can reduce or increase number of players per team. Since this is indoor any number from 9 to 12 could be decided to best accommodate available entries.

In spite of these Ifs and Buts basic idea of this format is very exciting and appealing. Thinking about it one can get an idea that this could be a opportunity to play with other team players which otherwise won't happen. Unlike in the past teams won't be a company or a region specific and different cricketing brains will get a chance to interact with each other. But someone can say that I don't give it a XXXX :)  Well then here is another thing, established teams like KlassicXI, Bloomboys, Titans, Zunjaar (Sarkaar), Veterans, ACC etc will be at a GREAT loss since there is hardly any chance for their players to play together. On the other hand level 2 & 3 teams might get a chance to play with their own. I believe this would give some solace to most of us :) Well this format will make sure that all the teams are equally strong and thus tournament will be more competitive. It will also ensure that players having a proven track record and those without one both will need to perform. Some players will build reputation and get good recognition if they perform. There could be also few Dark horses who can have more people witness their performance which would go unnoticed otherwise. With all this said it also becomes very important for Captains to provide an equal opportunity to his team mates. Captaincy will hold key since there has to be lot of thought put into deciding batting & bowling order.

New formation of the teams would be a great treat to eye for spectators and supporters. Not sure what will be the Team names but I am sure everyone will be more than excited to pick his favorite team. :)            

--Cricket Deewane