It is inevitable that comparisons will be drawn between the two city-based leagues plying their trade out of India. Sometimes some similarities between the two leagues seem spooky but are real.

One story that has caught my attention is probably two of the greatest batsmen in Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Charles Lara playing for the IPL and ICL teams respectively, representing the magnificent city of Mumbai.

When Lara aligned himself with the pioneering ICL by taking charge of the Mumbai Champs side, he had the pressure of maintaining Mumbai's supremacy in the new format of the game. After all he had taken over the helm of affairs of the side representing the nerve centre of Indian cricket.

Lara could not maintain Mumbai's supremacy to the T20 level. The dismal performance of the Champs was a major setback for the fans of ICL for whom the biggest draw in the first year was undoubtedly Lara. The second tournament of the ICL too received a setback with an untimely injury to the master southpaw and was probably the only disappointment for the ICL organizers and its ever-growing fan base at the Edelweiss 20s Challenge (ICL's 2nd T20 tournament). To its credit, the ICL has found new heroes and new champions (both in terms of players and teams) to catch the imagination of the domestic Indian cricket fan.

The IPL, which was a bigger platform, saw Mumbai represented by the Mumbai Indians and the other great batsman and a natural son of Mumbai at the helm of affairs. Almost in his spooky resemblance to his ICL and West Indian counterpart, Tendulkar was injured for the first half of the inaugural IPL season. Even as he set his foot in the arena of city-based T20 format, Tendulkar produced an under par display of his humongous talent. Like Lara, Tendulkar found it difficult to crack the T20 code.

In the larger picture though there can be no better metaphor for Mumbai cricket than Tendulkar and Lara at the helm of affairs of their respective teams. All three stand for great achievements, supreme dominance and pedigreed reputations. It is also important to note that Mumbai cricket; Tendulkar and Lara would be keen to crack the T20 code that has emerged as the latest vibrant phenomenon in the world of cricket.

Mumbai cricket and its patrons are proud of their rich history and its contribution to the game. A Mumbai cricket fan's vociferous and sometimes almost fanatical support remains unparalleled in the history of the game and it would be interesting to see how the two legends devise methodologies to crack the T20 code on both personal and team fronts in the future editions of the ICL and the IPL.

Also noteworthy may be the fact that with T20 expected to be the next big thing in the world of cricket; will Mumbai be able to register its dominance in the latest format of the game or will the mantle of nerve centre of Indian cricket pass onto a Chennai (strong teams in both ICL and IPL in the form of Chennai Superstars and Chennai Super kings), Hyderabad (Hyderabad Heroes) or Chandigarh (Chandigarh Lions and Kings X1 Punjab).