At an event packed with representatives of top Test-playing nations and cricketing stars, BCCI announced it will launch in April next year its own Twenty20 championship - Indian Premier League (IPL).
This will not only counter the fledgling Indian Cricket League (ICL), but also lead on to a Global Champions Twenty20 league, on the lines of soccer's hugely successful Champions League.
The global league will kick off in October 2008. It will have eight teams - the top two domestic teams from India, Australia, England and South Africa. To be played over nine days, it will have prize money of $5 million, the highest ever for any cricket event, with the winners alone getting $2 million. IPL itself will offer prize money of $3 million.
In another blow to ICL, BCCI also announced that Australian greats Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath as well as former Kiwi skipper Stephen Fleming, all of whom were being doggedly wooed by ICL, have decided to align with IPL. McGrath and Fleming were present at the press conference, as were Indian mega stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble.
Asked about the prospect of an 'amnesty' being declared for players who have joined ICL, as was recently suggested by The Times of India, highly placed officials within BCCI said they were keen on the idea but no decision had been formally taken yet.
BCCI's ambitious Twenty20 plan means that the two legends of Indian cricket, Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, will once again be pitted in rival corners. While Kapil heads ICL, Gavaskar has been roped in to be part of IPL's governing council.
