The second edition of the CCL, a Twenty20 tournament

The CCL pitches for glamour, entertainment and exposure. Will it become a route for aspiring cricketers to enter tinsel town?

The Indian Premier League may not be grabbing the eyeballs. Public response to the latest edition is on a downswing and so too are the TRP ratings. But this diminishing marginal utility does not seem to curve towards the Celebrity Cricket League (CCL). This law of economics says that the more you have of something, the less likely you are to want some more of it.

Passage to cricket

The second edition of the CCL, a Twenty20 tournament that features celebrities from tinseldom, turned out to be a huge hit and aspiring cricketers are attempting to jump on to the CCL bandwagon. Professional club cricketers are now being squeezed into films providing them a passage to the CCL in the coming season. Many fear that this will dilute the charm of the league. People watch the CCL not for copybook cricket but to see the stars in action, even if cricket is not all that good.

“Look at this in two ways. So many youngsters long to get into films. This is one way to fulfil that ambition. For good cricketers the CCL provides a platform to extend their cricketing careers. And if they are interested in films this is their best chance. But this does not mean that the teams will be packed with cricketers. The CCL rules are clear. Only four players can be included and even they should have acted in a minimum of four films with at least 10-minutes of dialogue. It may not be all that easy,” says D. Chandrasenan Nair, former state cricketer and coach of Amma Kerala Strikers, one of the two teams added to the league in 2011.

Self-destructive

But Chandrasenan understands that making the CCL more competitive by relaxing the existing rules to include more ‘professional' cricketers could be self-destructive. “We have put forward a few suggestions like insisting that the icons of the teams, most of them superstars, play at least one match. They must not only play but also bat, or at least bowl one over in the match. The league has become so popular that many actors, who have played cricket, have asked if they could be included. Some of them are not members of Amma, which again is a technical problem. Kerala Strikers plan to conduct open trials before picking the team for the next edition.”

Actor Indrajit, vice-captain of Kerala Strikers, also believes that the CCL should not move away from its original concept. “In fact, I discussed this with our team and the franchisees at the end of the event. There is an attempt to bring in cricketers into the league. This number has to be restricted. The crowds that packed the Kochi stadium, I'm certain, did not come to judge us as cricketers”

Many hardcore cricket fans have found the whole event ‘ridiculous.' “Here we have celebrities, some of them obese, unable to move, some hardly able to run, make a mockery of cricket,” feels Vinod, a college student.

But there are many others who prefer to believe that the CCL is good entertainment with exciting cricket thrown in. Many felt it was foolish to compare the CCL to the IPL and felt that they should be approached and appreciated differently.

“Don't look at only those who are slow on the field. For every such player there is a Rajeev Pillai or Manikuttan or Rajeev and Bhaskar, Srikanth and Rishi in the different teams. I saw some of the matches and I found that there were players who could hit the ball hard and far, strike the odd cover drive, bowlers who did well, and some outstanding fielders,” avers Rajesh, a marketing executive.

Lissy Priyadarshan, joint franchisee owner of Kerala Strikers, along with actor Mohanlal and entrepreneur P. M. Shaji, is upbeat about her team's performance in its first year. She confesses that they did not make a profit, but were satisfied to be part of a unifying event. And, of course, there was the happiness and pride of fielding a spirited side in the league.

Good for some

“The team played really well. The league did a lot of good to some of the actors who were otherwise struggling to get projects. Take Rajeev Pillai for example. He is much-sought after by producers now, has a growing fan following that includes filmmakers and technicians. He has signed a few good projects after his fine show in the CCL. Regarding inclusion of cricketers in films, just to make them play for the CCL is not that easy. We are not going to bend the rules to suit them. If cricketers comply with the rules I find no harm in them playing,” says Lissy.

There is more cricket in store for the celebrities before the next CCL.

“A Super Sixes cricket tournament for celebrity teams will be held in Malaysia sometime in July. Kerala Strikers will surely take part in it. We'll have a good team for the Malaysia event and surely a well-prepared unit for the next CCL edition,” informs Lissy.

With celebrity cricket on a roll it won't be a surprise to see more and more cricketers making a beeline to films.