The ICL, in fact, failed to even live up to its own previous standards; and a total crowd of 500 at the Tau Devi Lal stadium in Panchkula told the entire story of the evening. And having set aside this debate now, the opening match of the second edition where Ahmedabad Rockets registered a 19-run victory over Chandigarh Lions can be put in proper perspective.

Rockets’ openers Wavell Hinds and Sachin Dholpure made optimum use of their skipper Damien Martyn's decision to bat first with a sensational stand of 122 inside 15 overs. The left-hand right-hand combination complimented each other perfectly --- Hinds did not take long to assess conditions and used the depth of the crease to perfection in the initial overs. The first sign of that intent was seen on the fifth ball when Hinds drove through covers to mark the first boundary of his innings off the bowling of Andrew Hall. From thereon, Hinds only increased his area of attack and array of strokes as Dholpure, at the other end, played in a more conventional manner as the two put on 84 runs in the first ten overs, that also saw some quick scrambles for singles and doubles.

It was the left-arm spin of Dinesh Mongia that accounted for the fall when Dholpure holed out to Mathew Elliot at mid-wicket. A slew of wickets followed with Martyn departing in the same over after failing to read a slow delivery while a brilliant throw by TP Singh from mid-on limited Hinds’ aggression to 59. Chris Cairns struck twice in the 17th over, first picking up S Sriram and then accounting for Murray Goodwin off the very next ball to peg Rockets’ hopes back but some hard hitting by Heath Streak, who hit three consecutive fours off the last three balls, helped Rockets end the innings at 158 for 5 in the allotted 20 overs. The chase was always going to be difficult for the Lions’ given the gradual slowness of the wicket and losing opener Lou Vincent cheaply made matter worse. Mathew Elliot and young TP Singh conjured up 54 runs off 44 balls --- the latter picked up more pace with three fours before stumped by Rockets’ wicketkeeper Vora on second attempt off the bowling of Heath Streak in the 11th over.

Mathew Elliot’s efforts to accelerate ended straight into the arms of bowler Sriram after contributing 39 off 32 balls. The dangerous pair of Chris Cairns and Dinesh Mongia showed maturity by dealing in singles and occasional boundaries to take Lions within 50 runs of the target but Jason Gillespie provided the vital breakthrough by dismissing Lions' skipper Cairns. And when Mongia holed out to Bhima Rao at long off, it was all but over before Lions ran out of overs and ended with 139 for 6.