This will be a historical moment in the annals of Indian cricket. This is the first time a private entity has organized something on such a big scale that directly takes on the all powerful and cash rich Indian cricket Board.

The 20-match event is looking to hook in the crowds through the presence of big names like West Indian batting maestro Brian Lara and Kiwi all rounder Chris Cairns. At the same time ICL is shrewdly looking to cash in on the Twenty20 fever that has gripped the country after India won the T20 World Cup.

Essel Group EVP Ashish Kaul says that to give a push to the event, the first half hour of each match will air on all the Zee channels except for the movie channels Zee Studio and Zee Cinema. This is because the timings of a movie channel are not that easy to adjust.

In terms of marketing, Essel allocated a budget of around Rs 150 million. Over the past few weeks it has been doing a variety of activities. One of these being mobile roadshows done in the cities whose teams are participating in ICL. A team bus traveled to various locations There is an element of interactivity where fans can, among other things, win tickets. The company is also using print, outdoors across the country. For radio it has tied up with Big FM. It is also using the concept of flash mobs. Here you have a group of people congregating in a place to stir up excitement about the ICL.

The teams: The ICL teams whose names appear to have been chosen to reflect the characteristics of each city are Delhi Jets, Kolkata Tigers, Mumbai Champs, Chandigarh Lions, Hyderabad Heroes, Chennai Stars.

Format: The format works like this. There will be 15 League matches where the six teams play each other once, followed by five classification matches.

The big day is being billed as a 'Super Sunday' on 16 December where besides the Grand Final there will be the fifth/sixth place and the third/fourth place deciding matches will take place.

Venue: Finding a venue was no easy task considering that the BCCI was doing all it could to put hurdles in ICL's way. The Tau Devi Lal stadium has been renovated to meet international standards. The last stage of refurbishment was still going on today and when the event kicks off on Friday promises to look great. New stands were constructed for the event. Of course there are floodlights.

Going forward the ICL will also make a foray in creating nationwide infrastructure (cricket academies) which will be equipped with state of the art facilities headed by international / domestic coaches under the supervision of a national director of academies, BS Sandhu.

The players: There will be domestic players in action along with international stars. Since T20 is a spectacle, who better to entertain and enthrall than the likes of Brian Lara and Chris Cairns is the reasoning of Zee.

Also, as ICL executive board chairman Kapil Dev notes, the youngsters can pick up a lot by training and playing alongside the great international players. It is pertinent to note that Mohammed Yousuf went back on his contract. Kaul informs Indiantelevision.com that the hearing in the case comes up on 15 December. He expresses confidence that Yousuf will not be able to play in either ICL or the BCCI's upcoming IPL.

ICL project head Himanshu Mody notes that the domestic players benefit from the proper infrastructure, guidance and training to compete at the highest level.

If ICL does take off then there is the chance that the domestic players like Dinesh Mongia, Ritendu Singh Sodhi, JP Yadav can become stars in their own right as what has happened in EPL and NBA. It is a question of how well the tournament is nurtured. The plan is that in a year the international players will be involved in 30-40 matches. The domestic players will be engaged in 8-9 months of cricket.

The Lure of lucre: Zee is tightlipped when asked about the nature of contracts. Mody has this to offer, "I wouldn't like to confirm on the commercial contracts of each player." But with BCCI sweetening the pot for Ranji players, ICL obviously lured the cricketers with big sums of money.

Word has it that Brian Lara's fee was doubled to convince him to stay with the ICL.

And what of the BCCI's upcoming IPL? Kapil Dev says that the ICL has nothing against the BCCI. "Our boys are free to play for the country." Kaul notes that the two events have different pulls. He adds, "If the BCCI was looking after its domestic players so well then why have so many of them jumped at the first opportunity?"

Commentators: To provide the proper perspective to viewers the ICL roped in six former cricketers Tony Greig, Dean Jones, Pat Symcox, Jeff Thomson and Mike Whitney, and Kapil Dev.

Glamour: When one thinks of T20 one thinks of cheerleaders dancing away to music. Zee has plans up its sleeve in the glamour area. The new media czar Reliance Entertainment's Anil Ambani will grace the opening ceremony with his presence. Also present will be reclusive superstar Aamir Khan. He is quite a coup as he normally does not attend functions. Other Bollywood stars present are Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor. The Essar Group's Shashi Ruia will also be in attendance to savour the excitement of the event.

Also, the 'rebels' will use the opportunity to show the political blessing for their venture. "Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and railways minister Lalu Prasad Yadav will also attend the function," Modi has been quoted as saying.

Leaving nothing to chance: The last thing any event wants is controversy and Zee is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that this does not happen. The ICL is in a deal with Ranbaxy Laboratories for anti-doping testing. It has also taken security measures to monitor the players' dressing rooms and umpires area during the matches.

Finally whatever the outcome of ICL might be one has to give credit to Subhash Chandra for sticking to his guns. Even when BCCI started to make a noise the ICL smoothly went about its business proving naysayers who thought the event might be a non starter to be wrong.