Cricket Boards of Australia, England and India, the Big Three, are looking to revive the Champions League T20 (CLT20) tournament ten years after its previous edition.
According to Cricket Victoria CEO, Nick Cummins, “active conversations” are ongoing while a final decision hasn’t been taken. The biggest challenge would be to find a window in the jampacked cricket calendar for the tournament to reoccur.
Cummins informed the masses at an event in Mumbai: “I think the Champions League was ahead of its time. The T20 landscape wasn’t mature enough at that point. I think it is now,” as he also added, “I know that there’s active conversations between Cricket Australia, the ECB, and the BCCI about the Champions League.
“It’s just trying to find a window as to when you actually play that, because you’ve also got all the ICC tournaments as well. It may be that the first iteration of the Champions League will be of the women… [it may involve cricketers playing in] the WPL, the Hundred and the WBBL.”
The last edition of CLT20 was held in India, 2014, where IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings won the title after defeating Kolkata Knight Riders in the Final in Bengaluru.
That tournament involved three teams from India, two each from Australia and South Africa, and one each from Pakistan, the West Indies and New Zealand.
The tournament was played annually from 2009 to 2014, four times in India and twice in South Africa. CSK and Mumbai Indians won the tournament twice each, while New South Wales and Sydney Sixers, each, won it once.
Cummins reiterated: “We still haven’t made out which league is the best. IPL, PSL or the Big Bash? The only way we can show that is by having Melbourne Stars play Karachi Kings or Mumbai Indians,” while also adding, “Champions League is well overdue. Look at what Champions League does for football, the World Cup is fantastic and the Champions League is there [too] every time.”
