Delhi players not committing yet

NEW DELHI, August 18: Unlike Hyderabad or UP, the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) is not losing sleep over the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) issue.
According to sources, some big players who have been approached are not willing to risk their careers just yet. However, it's also true the ICL game is being played out with cards extremely close to the chest, and so most are not willing to be quoted on the issue.One exception is Delhi skipper Mithun Manhas, who told TOI that he was not ready to take the plunge.
"I still have two or three years of good cricket left in me and I am concentrating on that," he said on Saturday. A senior Delhi pacer also said the same thing, adding: "The only thing I am looking forward to is the next season. The ICL might be a tempting offer money-wise but there are other factors."
Sources suggested that opener Aakash Chopra, pacers Ashish Nehra and Amit Bhandari and recently-retired wicketkeeper Vijay Dahiya were all approached but have decided not to commit just yet. All-rounder Rajat Bhatia too is reportedly mulling an offer.
However, a former cricketer who has recently joined the ICL ranks told TOI that there were a lot of fence-sitters in Delhi, and the rebel league was also on the lookout for younger players. But he wouldn't take names. "A lot of players, just like in Hyderabad, are fed up with the DDCA's politics and I wouldn't rule out players joining us. Why isn't the BCCI, or the state associations, saying exactly why they are opposed to the ICL? We would have had no problems working with them.
"Indian domestic cricket is in the doldrums and the people with so-called official powers don't have a clue how to get things right. The only thing they have produced in the name of bench strength is a lot of frustrated cricketers. Why do you think there are hundreds of Indian cricketers playing for small clubs in England?"
One Delhi cricketer, however, rebuffed the idea that the ICL would recruit lots of young talent, saying: "They are only interested in Ranji-level players and have no time for aspiring cricketers".
A senior DDCA official admitted the ICL offers had got the cricket fraternity worked up but added that most young cricketers wanted to play for their state or country and would struggle to make up their minds in the wake of the BCCI decision to ban defectors.
An announcement from the ICL is expected on Monday.
MOVEMENTS
Who've joined: Ibrahim Khaleel, Indershekar Reddy, Kaushik Reddy, Shashank Nag, D Vinay Kumar, Ambati Rayudu, Anirudh Singh, Alfred Absolem (all Hyderabad), S Sriram (Maharashtra), Shalabh Srivastava, Ali Murtaza, Avinash Yadav (all UP), V Devendran, Ganapathi Vignesh (all Tamil Nadu)
On the fence: Amol Muzumdar, Nilesh Kulkarni (all Mumbai), Dinesh Mongia, Pankaj Dharmani, Karan Goel, Reetinder Sodhi (all Punjab), Sanjay Bangar, JP Yadav (all Railways).