Ten years after its previous edition, there are “active conversations” between the cricket boards of Australia, England and India to revive the Champions League T20 (CLT20) tournament. This comes from Cricket Victoria CEO Nick Cummins, who said finding a window in the jampacked cricket calendar for the tournament was a big challenge.
“I think the Champions League was ahead of its time. The T20 landscape was not mature enough at that time. I think it is now,” Cummins said at an event in Mumbai on Tuesday. “I know there are active conversations between Cricket Australia, the ECB and the BCCI about the Champions League.
“It’s trying to find a window of when you’ll actually play it, because you’ve also got all the ICC tournaments. The first iteration of the Champions League could be the women’s … (It could include) cricketers playing in the WPL, Hundred and WBBL.”
The tournament was played annually from 2009 to 2014 four times in India and twice in South Africa. The tournament was won twice each by CSK and Mumbai Indians (MI), and once by New South Wales and Sydney Sixers.
Cummins said he had held talks with Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley for the CLT20 revival and BCCI secretary Jay Shaw may be in a position to shed more light on the matter.
“I’m constantly talking to Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley about the Champions League, because I think it’s very important to bring it back,” Cummins said. “There are talks about that. That’s probably a question to ask Jay Shaw. But certainly, from an Australian cricket perspective, we’re very open to the idea of a Champions League. It’s just about finding a window in FTP, but I think that’s the next step in the evolution of cricket.”
Cummins drew comparisons with the club-based Champions League in football, saying cricket needs to find a similar balance between international and club-based competitions.
“There are no Indian players in any other competition. There are no Pakistani players in the IPL. So there is no competition with the best players in the world. The Champions League is a way for the best players to play against each other.”
Cricket Victoria CEO Nick Cummins
“We haven’t decided which league is better yet. IPL, PSL or Big Bash? The only way we can show that is by playing Melbourne Stars Karachi Kings or Mumbai Indians,” Cummins said. “The Champions League is pretty much over. Look at what the Champions League does for football, the World Cup is great and the Champions League is every time.
“The idea of Mumbai Indians playing Melbourne Stars at the MCG is as exciting as India playing Australia at the MCG.
“Football in the 90s really had big club versus country tension. And they found a way for international football to exist alongside the leagues. Cricket is going through that at the moment. Every country has the right to have a T20 league, whether it’s Nepal or Ireland, depending on how the members want to play cricket. We should not put control over it.
“The fact is there is no T20 competition in the world that has the best players in the world. The Champions League actually provides that. There are no Indian players in any other competition. There are no Pakistani players in the IPL. So there is. Any competition in the world that has the best players is the best way to play against each other.