MCL will be second home for legendary cricketers

Dubai: The Masters Champions League (MCL) is all set to be held in the UAE in February, 2016 with legendary cricketers to compete in this Twenty20 tournament for the next 10 years. After the successful launch of the tournament recently in the presence of cricketers like Brian Lara, Wasim Akram and Adam Gilchrist with Alan Border and Graham Gooch as governing council members, this event has become the most talked about cricketing contest.

Zafar Shah, the chairman of MCL who envisaged this tournament, spoke to Gulf News on the impact that this event is set to create in the international arena and his plans for the future:

How did the idea for a tournament aimed at the legends of the game emerge?

I have seen that over the years some of the legends of the game, immediately after their retirement, are totally forgotten. It was like out of sight, out of mind. I also realised that some don’t have enough money though they were big names. Very often when they are pushed out of the team and they don’t have enough financial reservoir for their family and I thought why not develop a concept where we can bring all these legends back into the limelight. So to start of we decide to create a tournament with six teams which will have 15 players each and will thus benefit 90 players.

So does it mean that through this tournament you are creating a platform for retired players?

About 15 to 20 years back nobody voluntarily retired from the game. They stayed on hoping they can get back into the national team. Now we have players like Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag hoping they can get back into the Indian team though their chances are very slim as youngsters are pushing them out. This tournament is a perfect platform for such players so that they can leave the space for the youngsters and join us as a second home. They will still be in the limelight again and will be playing in a relaxing tournament.

How did you get this idea rolling? Was it tough to convince people to believe that there is room for such a tournament?

This idea had been cooking for the last three years. I started brainstorming with a lot of my friends like Ameer Jamal, Sam Khan and my daughter Sarah. They started to believe in this project though they knew it is not an easy project. We made one small video to showcase our event to the legends stating it is for their welfare. I discussed it with Kiran More ((former Indian wicketkeeper) He was impressed and immediately jumped on board. We went for the MCC bicentenary celebration match at Lord’s in UK last year and met legends like Sachin Tendulkar, Shane Warne, Brian Lara, Graham Gooch and Muttiah Muralitharan. Lara was very impressed and joined us. Tendulkar too appreciated our plan but said he cannot commit to join due to his own endorsements and commitments with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Indian Premier League (IPL).

So what was the next step and why did you decide to launch it in the UAE?

Dav Whatmore, who was here, and I took the idea to Abdul Rahman Falknaz (Chairman of Dubai Cricket Council) and he fully agreed with our concept. Ameen Farouq, the secretary of the DCC also expressed his trust in our plan. We spoke to Sunil Gavaskar who was here as brand ambassador for Danube Homes. Nobody told us anything negative about it but some felt that bringing back retired players means players like Sunil Gavaskar or Clive Lloyd. This people are definitely legends but they cannot perform in Twenty20 now. It took me lot of time to make people to understand we are bringing in quality players and the matches will be competitive. Players like Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards will be part of it supporting the event. We will try and bring everyone and honour them during the opening match.

What prompted you to choose UAE for an event of such magnitude?

I have my club Grand Midwest team that plays in domestic tournaments here. When we contacted Emirates Cricket Board we did not pitch for Dubai alone but all the emirates and hence matches will be held in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. We named our website MCL Twenty20 as we wanted to be part of the vision of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in promoting Expo 2020. MCL will be part of promoting tourism through the event. Right now it is a very small vision but will definetly add value to Shaikh Mohammad’s objective.

By hosting the event here how much will it benefit UAE cricket?

There are a large number of expatriates here and 80 per cent of them are cricket lovers. We will be taking these legends to the schools and promote cricket. They will conduct net practice in some of the schools and one of our contracts with ECB is to use the services of some of the players in giving tips to the UAE team players.

There was lot of talk about this tournament clashing with an event that Tendulkar and Warne are to host soon?

The Tendulkar-Warne event has exhibition matches while ours is a tournament. In fact, Warne is ready to come on board and hopefully both will join us later. In fact, we are ready to offer any support they need from us and there is no rivalry. This is a tournament which is to benefit the players

Could you explain what will be the role of icon players like Lara, Akram, Gilchrist and Jacques Kallis?

Each team will have two icon players and they will be used for the branding purposes. We will be taking the legends to a lot of malls to meet fans and sign autograph. We want players to do interactive sessions with UAE fans. We are organising a golf day for the players as all cricketers are big fans of golf. We will stage a charity dinner and the money will be going towards the needy players that Federation of International Cricketers Association (FICA) and the governing committee will decide. We will take care of the players and this event is for the players by the players.

So who will select the retired players and when will there be a players’ auction?

Players interested in participating in the MCL can now access the registration form from the official website of MCL (http://www.mcl2020.com/). FICA will shortlist the players and pass it on to the governing body. We will make sure there are no ICC-banned players in it. Within two hours of opening the enrollment, FICA has got hundreds of applications. West Indies Wavell Hinds is among the first to sign up. Players’ auction will be held in September.