The Indian conglomerate behind proposed challenge to cricket's establishment have provided an insight into their intentions, confirming they plan to make a foray into the game by setting up a rival Twenty20 league.
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It has been two weeks since Fairfax Media exclusively revealed the registration of company names by the Essel Group in cricket-playing nations - in Australia they registered the company Australian Cricket Control Pty Ltd - sparking concerns about a breakaway organisation and leading to an ICC investigation.
Essel, owned by billionaire media magnate Subhash Chandra, previously ran the failed Indian Cricket League. After consistently having their broadcast wing Zee TV and its subsidiary Ten Sports frozen out of lucrative rights to televise cricket in India their ambitious plans have progressed from setting up a rebel T20 league to a parallel world governing body.
As reported by Fairfax Media last Friday discussions have included offering leading players, including Australia's Michael Clarke and David Warner, as much as $50 million in multi-year contracts in an effort to lure them away from their national bodies.
The initial plan, says Essel's head of finance and strategy Himanshu Mody, is to create an inter-city T20 league in India. The ICL folded after being strongly opposed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, who established the money tree for many international players that is the Indian Premier League.
"The format for what we are building will be the T20 format, home and away games, across 10-12 cities," Mody told the Times of India. "We are not looking at a short time frame. It could be a year away or even a little more. We know the timing is right but we are equally aware of the pitfalls where BCCI can hit us and are much wiser today.
"Besides the right time … the two main ingredients are players and grounds. We had four grounds in India during ICL and players," Mody added. "We got players even from Pakistan, so I do not see both as a problem at all.
"On the grounds front, during ICL, we fell short with just four grounds in four cities. Also, we learned we needed eight to 10 teams. So, this time round, we will have to ensure we have more grounds."
Chandra raised the possibility of players being given bank guarantees as a way to convince them to join his venture given Essel's record of not paying ICL wages. Between 40 and 50 players from that shortlived tournament remain out of pocket to the tune of $2m despite Essel recently settling with 12 of the players for a figure of $US280,000 ($352,000) in a Mumbai court.
