Kapil Dev

Calcutta: It’s to be seen whether the Indian Cricket League (ICL) has to redraw strategy, but the Indian Premier League (IPL)-development doesn’t seem to have flustered chairman Kapil Dev.

“Well, good luck to the Board and the IPL… At this stage, I don’t wish to say anything else,” he told The Telegraph on Thursday night.

Will the Board’s announcement of a full-fledged Twenty20 league (and the moolah on offer) deter the fence-sitters?

This time, Kapil’s reply was guarded: “I don’t know… It remains to be seen…”

However, he quickly added: “My focus is wholly on the ICL… Things are on schedule and we expect to go public with the dates in a week or so…”

India’s only World Cup-winning captain said “good luck to them too” when his attention was drawn to the Board involving an outside agency, the International Management Group (IMG).

The IMG is to assist “in conceptualising and delivering” the IPL project.

No matter how attractive the IPL is, the ICL is bound to enjoy the first-movers’ advantage.

Of course, that’s something for the future.

Asked whether the ICL erred in not approaching the International Cricket Council to make a presentation before the chief executives (in Johannesburg) on Monday-Tuesday, Kapil replied: “Jab apne logon ne nahin bulaya, then what’s the point of approaching others?”

The ICL, it may be recalled, came up for discussion during the chief executives’ conclave.

Meanwhile, thanks largely to the ICL’s emergence, the Board is set to extend the terms and conditions of the players’ contracts, which were first drawn up for 2005-06, by another year.

“If at all, there will just be minor changes,” is what a key official pointed out.

Earlier, after a disastrous World Cup, the Board’s working committee had decided to get tough with the players. That’s to remain on paper only.

The Sachin Tendulkars, after all, can’t be made unhappy.