The Indian Premier League came into being as a reaction to the breakaway Indian Cricket League, which was started by a TV tycoon in India. If the ICL had not taken off, the BCCI would still be sitting on the huge sack of money it gets from the hard work of others, not knowing what to do with it.

Competition is the only way to enhance quality, thus the IPL's initiative is based on an emotional and almost irrational reaction. No long-term thought went into it. No one had even envisioned such a system a couple of years ago. One emotional reaction led to another.

The World Cup 2007 saw the early exit of the Indian team. Everyone was engaged in a vicious blame-game for some time. The players blamed the coach, the coach blamed the players, effigies were burnt, the coach resigned and a lot of money that was invested, based on the assumption that the Indian team would get quite far in the tournament, disappeared overnight.

'If the crowds get addicted to Twenty20, I see Tests playing to empty stadia'


The dust settled.

Zee TV, which did not get the TV rights for the World Cup, saw this as a great opportunity to start a parallel system. It was not out of a love of the game. It was about TV rights and money. There was a fear that many players would jump ship and abandon the traditional cricket system India was familiar with. The BCCI had to fight for its very survival. If a parallel cricket system evolved, then the BCCI would face the prospect of a return to the old days, where there was not much money and teams were filled with part-time, amateur players.

They needed something to cover up the gaping holes they had left unattended in the system. The threat of competition forced an immediate reaction.