The mushrooming of league cricket in India especially the Indian Sub continent in form of the ICL & IPL brings new dynamics the game is perceived and viewed by the fans.
Till now serious cricket was confined to only international matches or domestic competitions. Most other formats that were tried in form of super sixes tournaments or super 8s was confined to purely off-season entertainment cricket, therefore restricting the growth of cricket.
To its credit the ICL pioneered the city based format and stressed on the game being played with utmost seriousness by its players. The fact that they created 8 competitive sides with the right mix of domestic and international talent saw to it that level of cricket was at par with International standards.
One of the surprises emerging out of the league format of cricket is the dominance of Chennai across both leagues.
A UK based company (cricket 20.com), which has carried out a comprehensive study on all domestic cricket competitions across the globe has thrown up a few revelations.
And surprise-surprise, the two Chennai teams Chennai Super kings (IPL) and Chennai Superstars (ICL) stand in 5th and 6th position respectively in the top 10 world rankings for T20 teams around the world.
So does this mean a change in order as far as the nursery of Indian cricket is concerned; a shift from Mumbai to Chennai? I guess it would need more than year one to answer the question.
One glaring fact about both the Chennai teams is in the heavy Australian influence on both the teams. The Superstars has Michel Bevan (Coach) & Stuart Law (Captain) at the helm of affairs. On the other hand it is Kepler Wessels (former Australian& South African player, coach) & MS Dhoni (probably the most valuable player in India) at the helm of affairs.
The calming influence that Dhoni brings at the helm of the national team is what one of ICL’s main find R Sathish brings to the Chennai superstars stable, as deputy captain & captain of ICL-India.
While it has been a masterstroke by both Chennai teams to inculcate the Australian way of cricket into their respective city teams; the domestic players from both sides; Vignesh, Badani, Syed & Kumaran ( ICL ) & Ghoni, Balaji, Bhadrinath ( IPL) have raise their hand to be counted as proven performers at the big stage.
I guess the jury is out, the Chennai sides in both leagues have cracked the T20 code and set the bar in terms of performance level & success achieved, now it is for the other cities to follow suit.
Cricket Leagues of India 