I'm going to offer my thoughts on this league and my plans for it in this post. But before that I'd like to thank
@Aislabie for his monumental work at every step so far from the premise to preview and especially with the team names, identities, player data and info which isn't an easy thing to do considering the lack of information for some of them. Words can't express how helpful he has been for so many times till now and he's a true legend and someone this forum is lucky to have.
So first, why? Why this IPL knockoff in the 90s? I've always been intrigued by the possibility of the 'what if' ever since the book on the early IPL was released that revealed Lalit Modi's plans for an IPL style tournament way back in the 90s. There was also a part of me that wondered how it would have been to have had Kapil Dev and Srikkanth as players in the IPL. Whilst I've done variations of this in the past personally with the most notable one being the pre-T20 league that I conducted with a bunch of friends they didn't have the restrictions that a league like this would have and weren't rooted in realism either. The first concrete step was probably
@wasteyouryouth's own idea for fictional IPL teams in the 1990s that he wanted to create in Cricket 19. Whilst it sadly never happened the idea stuck with me and I'm glad that it has developed to this extent today.
The main theme and principle I wanted to have as this league was to be played is for it to have a basis in reality. That does mean that the league keeps adjusting to international cricket scheduling demands for the most part as that was the main money maker in the 90s. It also means that I won't deviate much from what actually happened out there in the cricket world at large. This will be an alternate historical scenario for sure but the ICL will be a bubble and outside events will progress as they did in real life for the most part. What I shall try to do is create links and stories that make sense and tie into what was happening in real life cricket. That means certain international teams may be inspired to copy what an ICL side did with their player to bring the best out of them and then it lines up with the same thing happening in real life. And while I may not change significant results like the World Cup wins or a famous series victory, there may be smaller deviations and new events compared to real life to keep some sort of internal consistency. Certain cricketers may stick around for longer than they did in reality because the ICL kept their career going. Maybe the Indian side gets better players due to them gaining valuable experience from the ICL. Perhaps we see Tendulkar even becoming a good cap.... okay that's a step too far.
It also means that I have some decisions to make regarding certain real life events that were a significant part of shaping the cricket landscape in the 90s and even the 2000s. There were conflicts between India and Pakistan during this time and there were instances of both teams pulling out of tours/tournaments or causing hassle in general for the other because of frosty relations. There was the big match fixing scandal that threatened everything the sport had built towards the turn of the century. There would be a Zimbabwean crisis in the 2000s. I haven't fully decided as to how I shall incorporate all of these events and other ones I'm probably forgetting now. It wouldn't feel fair to both countrymen to brush aside events that did happen in reality and affected a lot of things and I shall include consequences from it in some way (completely open to feedback for this too). I'm planning to have the match fixing scandal be a big event just like in real life and have it affect proceedings in the league given that it involved some big names in Indian cricket as well as the global one. It should also make sense with how murky 90s cricket was in several regions and how dark it could get. This is still a very real threat in today's world involving many smaller leagues and it will most definitely be something that has a big impact in the ICL with big consequences.
My main plan for the league is for it to be a slow burner. It may take months for me to progress between seasons or I may do it in a single week depending on how IRL stuff goes by. What I do want is for this to not be abandoned so I shall take it as slow as it needs me to be. It's also why I didn't want to have it as a league involving other members which would have been a lot more fun as it wouldn't have been fair for me to ask time from others without putting in the same effort consistently. Having it as a story ensures that I can keep coming back to it whenever I can to have it running. The second big plan is for it to run till 2008 at the least with multiple smaller stories happening that add to the overall one. This means that things will be dynamic, we may have new teams enter and older ones fold just like in the real life version but at perhaps a faster rate to mimic the volatility of the 90s. There are plans to continue it after 2008 if everything works out well with the cricket world entering full on 'alternate reality' at that point but the first priority will be to ensure that it traverses the 90s and the 2000s till 2008 as a natural stopping point to tie into the real life IPL. And if it does smoothly... you never know where this may go next...
With all of that said and done, I welcome you all to this journey and hope you enjoy it with me.
Micky Stewart
