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Circa April 2007 It was the time when the first city based cricket league was pioneered with its foremost objective of identifying and nurturing talented domestic Indian players, in form of top class training & exposure to produce champion cricketers & in turn strengthen Indian cricket.

Setting a solid foundation The ground work was laid in carefully building of city based teams, which were formed on basis of the amalgamation of internationally experienced cricketers with promising domestic talents, to form well balanced sides. Training facilities, support staff (coaches, trainers, physiotherapists) and cricket gear were set on international parameters to deliver a vibrant cricket product, never before achieved, in the history of domestic Indian cricket.

The meteoric rise of domestic Indian players

• Indian Cricket League 20-20 Indian Championship ( December 2007)
  The standards of cricket were set from the inaugural ICL 20s series, where one saw some of the illustrious international stalwarts like Chris Cairns, Ian Harvey & Marvan Attapatu setting the tone for high standards of cricket. Some of the Indian players also grabbed the opportunity winning applauds from the cricket pundits for performing at a level of cricket, they were not exposed to before. Some of them were medium pacers Thiru Kumaran, Taduri Sudhindra & spinner Ali Murtaza. The top five leading run scorers were international stalwarts with the sole Indian being the stylish Delhi Giants  left hander Abbas Ali (A third generation Indian cricketer & grandson of the great Mushtaq Ali). Two things that caught notice of the cricketing world at the inaugural ICL 20s Indian Championship was the standard of competitive cricket on display & the top of the drawer fielding standards.
• Indian Cricket League 50s (January 2008)
  he ICL inaugural 50s tournament held for the domestic players, achieved dual purpose of testing all the domestic players at a keenly contested tournament between the six city sides & at the same time, kept the players match fit for the forthcoming ICL tournaments. The Championship threw up new impressive performers like Eklak Ahmid (left arm pacer, Kokata Tigers), R Jesuraj (Chennai Superstars) with the ball & batsmen like Dheeraj Jadhav (Mumbai Champs), Abhinav Bali (Delhi Giants), Mohnish Mishra (Delhi Giants), amongst Indian internationals like JP Yadav, Dinesh Mongia & Hemang Badani.
• Indian Cricket League Edelweiss 20s Challenge
  The Edelweiss 20s Challenge was the grand tournament which saw an improved player base, multiple venues & two new teams in the formidable Lahore Badshahs & Ahmedabad Rockets. The tournament featured players of the repute of Shane Bond, Damien Martyn & Jason Gillespie amongst a galaxy of stars, adding muscle to the already formidable presence of International stalwarts plying their trade on the vibrant ICL platform. The defining point of the Edelweiss 20s Challenge was the emergence of domestic players, who not only proved their competitive mettle, but played decisive roles in the results of the matches with some sterling individual performances. It was clear from that point that for any of the Indian city side to come out on top, they needed their domestic boys to fire in the company of their acclaimed international stalwarts and that is what probably resulted in sides like the Chennai superstars (3rd position at Edelweiss 20s Challenge) & Hyderabad Heroes (eventual champions of Edelweiss 20s Challenge) deliver better performances than their other opponents.
  
  The biggest challenge for the Indian boys was a formidable Lahore Badshahs side that set the standards with some exhilarating performances and included test stalwarts like Imran Farhat, Saqlian Mushtaq, Azhar Mahmood, Imran Nazir & the great Inzamam ul Haq.  The Badshahs looked invincible throughout the league stage of the tournament & in the end it was the fantastic domestic boys in the Hyderabad Heroes line up led by the prodigal Ambati Rayudu, Stuart Binny with the bat & Inder Shekar Reddy & Alfred Absolem with the ball, not to forget the magnificent glove work of Ibrahim Khaleel that turned to be the decisive factor in the Heroes, defeating their far more illustrious opponents. What made the win far more significant was the fact that the victory came against a side, which included a big consortium of international test players, majority of whom had played the game with distinction at the highest level for Pakistan since their under 19 days.
• Indian Cricket League Edelweiss 20s Challenge
  The ICL 20s World Series was launched as a result of an overwhelming response of the entire global cricket fraternity & the stupendous performance of the domestic Indian players on a very competitive platform. The ICL 20s World Series 2008 was formulated as a tri-series tournament featuring three teams - ICL India, ICL Pakistani & ICL World.  It was the big stage for the domestic Indian boys who faced their stiffest challenge of facing two formidable opponents bestowed with a consortium of international superstars. The boys had to soak in the pressure of the great Indo-Pak rivalry on one hand & take on some of their acclaimed international mentors representing the World side.
  
  In the end, the boys translated all the efforts invested in them in terms of exposure & training into one of the most heartwarming performances in the recent history of the game. The ICL 20s World Series was the swansong of a underdog side play out of their skins to produce some of the best twenty over cricket witnessed by cricket fans all across the globe. The ICL 20s World Series had some of the cricket expert’s marvel at the performance level of the young Indian side & predicted that it was only a matter of time before some of them would walk into the coveted Indian national team.

The ICL–India team:

• R. Sathish (Capt.)
• G. Vignesh
• Abbas Ali
• Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (Vice-Capt.)
• TP Singh
• Raviraj Patil
• Rohan Gavaskar
• Ibrahim Khaleel
• Stuart Binny
• Ali Murtaza
• Thiru Kumaran
• V. Sarvanan
• Love Ablish
• T. Sudhindra
• Abu Nechim
• Syed Mohammed
• Ambati Rayudu
• Steve Rixon (Coach)
• Bharat Reddy (Team Manager)

A Brief Profile of the ICL India Team

• R Sathish (Captn.): One of the most exciting batting talents in the country, Sathish has proven his class, playing match winning knocks for the Chennai Superstars & ICL India at a stupendous Avg of 42.5. Sathish has also shown some great leadership qualities, leading the formidable Chennai Superstars side to victory at the ICL 50s in Jan 2008. Sathish faced his toughest challenge of leading the ICL–India side at the ICL 20s World Series. His leadership qualities came to the forefront; especially his exemplary fielding standards that acted as a catalyst for the young side to win the coveted title in their maiden appearance in an international tournament.  Rated highly by most cricket experts, Sathish is one player set to knock on the doors of the Indian team in the near future.
• G. Vignesh: Groomed under the watchful eyes of Michael Bevan (Coach Chennai Superstars), the young Vignesh has already earned the reputation of being one of the most dangerous all-rounders in the world. Vignesh opens both the batting as well as bowing for both the ICL-India & the Chennai Superstars. Known for his fearless stroke play against some of the best bowlers in the world, marked his arrival on the big stage. At the ICL 20s World Series finals, a match winning half century topped by two crucial wickets won Vignesh the coveted man of the match award. Temperament is an area where Vignesh needs to put in some work to convert his explosive starts into more match winning innings on a more consistent basis. An ideal limited over format player Vignesh has all the makings of a future cricket star.
• Abbas Ali: Abbas Ali is an accomplished stylish left hand batsman who has achieved the distinction as the mainstay of the Delhi Giants batting citadel, which includes the likes of Marvan Atapattu, Avishka Gunawardene & Dale Benkenstein. This pedigreed cricketer, grandson of the legendary Mushtaq Ali, has played two match winning innings recently giving proof of his batting prowess. The first game was at the Edelweiss 20s Challenge when Abbas walked into bat when his team (Delhi Giants) was in a delicate position against the Mumbai Champs.  Showing tremendous confidence Abbas stood tall against some of the most reputed international bowlers of the likes of Kasprowicz, Best & Van der Wath, displaying an array of breathtaking strokes evoking praise from some former international greats like Dean Jones in the commentary box. His cracking 44 off 36 balls in the fourth game of the ICL 20s World Series was further proof of his humongous talent.
• Abhishek Jhunjhunwala: The prodigal Jhunjhunwala is one of the most stylish batsman present on the ICL platform. Abhishek has been playing the role of the sheath anchor to perfection for both the Kolkata Tigers & ICL–India side. His technical competency against some of the best bowlers in the world had the great South African Daryll Cullinan rate him as good a batsman as any other promising youngster playing in the national Indian team. Having accumulated over 214 runs at the Edelweiss 20s Challenge earned Abhishek the coveted Vice-Captainship of the ICL–India team.
• TP Singh: One of most attractive batting talents at display on the ICL platform, TP marked his arrival on the big stage with some sterling performances with the bat for the ICL-India side. His fighting innings of 63 in the first match against the formidable ICL-World attack on the backdrop of an Indian batting collapse, proved the class of the dashing Punjabi left hander. TP followed his fighting knock with another stupendous batting display in match 5 of the World Series, with a cracking half century against the world class ICL-Pakistani bowling, to emerge as one of the top batsmen at the competitive ICL 20s World Series.
• Raviraj Patil: The pocket dynamo all of 5ft 2 inches, has consistently delivered "La-Tendulkar" innings for the Mumbai Champs side, who have had an indifferent outing at the Edelweiss 20s Challenge. Small in frame but big in heart Patil, has scored over 212 runs in his 7 innings at a phenomenal strike rate of 142.28. The young Maharastrian thrives under pressure situations and has nearly won matches single handedly for the Mumbai Champs. With inside-out lofted shots over the bowlers head or back-foot punches to the offside, Patil has been drawing unfair comparisons to the great maestro, but his hand-eye coordination and brute power may help him scale great cricketing heights like another modern great of the game, Virendra Shewag.
• Rohan Gavaskar: Rohan brings with him the rich experience of having played the game with distinction for Bengal & has displayed great flexibility in the batting order as per his teams’ requirements. His late onslaught in last overs has often tilted the game in favor of the Tigers at the Edelweiss 20s Challenge.  A complete team man, Rohan does for the Tigers what his illustrious dad did for India.
• Ibrahim Khaleel: The soft spoken Hyderabadi keeper first came into prominence when the great Jeffrey Dujon spotted his clinical glove work during the Edelweiss 20s Challenge. Dujon was of the opinion that in Khaleel India had one of the best upcoming wicketkeepers in the country. It was however, the ICL 20s World Series that marked Khaleel’s arrival on the big platform. When the Indian coach Steve Rixon bestowed the opener’s responsibility on the young Khaleel, he grabbed the opportunity with both hands producing some stupendous batting performance against some of the finest test bowlers in the world, to register a healthy Avg of 36.5, making him one of the top batting performers at the competitive ICL 20s World Series. 146 runs in four innings & 6 dismissals with the gloves, helped Ibrahim win the coveted man of the series award at the ICL 20s World Series.
• Stuart Binny: All of 24 yrs old "Stu", as he is fondly called by his mates has undoubtedly emerged as the most improved domestic player in the 2008 ICL season. It was Binny’s innings against Kolkata Tigers during the early league stage that acted as the catalyst for the change of fortunes for the Hyderabad Heroes at the Edelweiss 20s Challenge. And if his batting was not enough, he bowled two magnificent spells with the ball (his side on bowling action reminiscent of his illustrious father), in the two finals helping the Heroes claim their maiden title on the ICL platform.  Stuart carried his good form into the ICL 20s World Series displaying all round skills with the bat, ball & in the field, to help ICL–India win its maiden international tournament on debut.
• Ali Murtaza: All of 18yrs, this spin magician is the spearhead of the Giants bowling arsenal, which includes the likes of the great Shane Bond. A consistent performer since the inaugural ICL 20s, Murtaza has caught the eye of some of the most astute readers of the game like Dean Jones & Erapalli Prasanna, who predict him to be a player to look out for in the near future. Ali bowls for both Delhi Giants & ICL–India in the crucial death overs and it is his performance that has been the deciding factor in the final result of the match. Ali’s maturity as a player is best exemplified by the legendary Dean Jones who described him as an 18 year old with the head of a 30 year old. According to most experts, Ali in his present form can walk into any international team in the role of a spinner, on merit of his talent & performance.
• Thiru Kumaran: Dubbed as the "bald assassin" Thiru, is an exponent of line & length bowling, who according to many experts is one of the best middle overs bowler in the world for the twenty over format of the game. A promising start into the Indian team, which was cut short due to indifferent selection policies, saw Thiru left in the oblivion. With the ICL, Kenny (fondly addressed by his mates), has grabbed the opportunity with both his hands claiming the leading wicket takers position in both the ICL 20s & Edelweiss 20s Challenge. A remarkable feat especially looking into the fact that he competes with the likes of Shane Bond, Abdul Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood & Jason Gillespie on the competitive ICL platform.
• V. Sarvanan: The right hand lower middle order batsman, V. Sarvanan is one of the talented batsmen who has made most of his limited opportunities in both the supremely talented sides, ICL–India & Chennai Superstars. His innings of 32 off 20 balls against the Chandigarh Lions at the league stage of the Edelweiss 20s Challenge was a glimpse of his talent in one the best Twenty over run chases. With a healthy average of 47.5 at the ICL 50s, where he has had maximum opportunity, makes Sarvanan one of the bright batting prospects of the future.
• Love Ablish: He is one of the finest exponents of the slower ball which has proved to be the most potent weapon in the medium pacers arsenal, especially in the twenty over format of the game. His spell of 3/19 against the Chennai Superstars at an economy rate of only 4.75, decided the match in favor of the Chandigarh Lions. His performance was all the more significant looking into the fact that the match witnessed nearly 400 runs being scored in 40 overs. A perfect understudy to the impressive Thiru Kumaran, the 25 year old has emerged as one of the best bowlers in the crucial death overs in the twenty over format.
• T. Sudhindra: This young 24 year old fast bowler has been an epitome of disciplined line & length bowling at the Edelweiss 20s Challenge. Sudhindra has proved to be the perfect bowling partner for the superstar, Shane Bond. While Bond has been rattling the opposition with his pace & bounce, it is Sudhindra who from the other end has been picking the crucial wickets with the new ball for the Giants. In the match against the formidable Hyderabad Heroes defending a modest target of 138, it was Sudhindra who struck the initial blow with 3 wicket,s to eventually help the Giants scamper home by only 7 runs. Sudhindra has stamped his mark as a bowler at the competitive Edelweiss 20s Challenge, amongst a galaxy of some of the fastest & craftiest fast bowlers in the world.
• Abu Nechim: One of the most exciting aspects of cricket is the view of a tear away fast bowler running up to crease and the ICL, which hosts a galaxy of fast bowling stars from Shane Bond to Nantie Hayward, one new exciting prospect stamping his mark is the young Abu Nechim who has been clocked in the early 140kmps. Abu relishes the big match situation and has been an outstanding performer for India in the Under 19's level. In a few years, with all the physical conditioning under the watchful eyes of the Tigers support staff, Nechim "The Slinger Tiger" is expected to touch the 90miles per hour pace bracket, becoming one of the fastest bowlers of the country.
• Syed Mohammed: One half of the famous twin spins of the ICL-India line up, Syed has been one of the outstanding performers who bowls in the crucial middle overs containing opposition batsmen as well picking up crucial wickets. His match winning spell off 1/10 in 4 overs was what turned the match in favor of ICL-India in the final of the ICL20s World Series.
• Ambati Rayudu: Recognized by one & all following Indian cricket as one of the exceptional batting talents, Ambati’s performance at the recently concluded Edelweiss 20s Challenge was made of fairy tale stuff. After an indifferent start to the tournament Rayudu came into his own in the 2 finals by playing back to back match winning performances with his bat. The Second final where he single-handedly stood tall against the famed Badshahs bowling was what metamorphosed the young prodigal batsman into a proven match winner. The vociferous chanting of his name by a 30,000 Hyderabadi supporters was one of the defining moments of the overwhelming response received by ICL from the cricket fans of the country.