Just like the UEFA Champions League in Football, the three cricketing boards; BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India), CSA (Cricket South Africa), and CA (Cricket Australia) launched a Champions League T20 cricket tournament in 2008 after the first edition of IPL (Indian Premier League). The idea was to have all cricketing nations’ top teams from their respective leagues play in one tournament. The league did happen till 2014 but didn’t go well as per the expectations of the organizers. Today, we will talk about all the things you need to know about Champions League T20 cricket, its inception, the failure of the tournament, and much more. So don’t go anywhere.
How the Champions League T20 cricket started?
The landscape of cricket kept changing after the arrival of the T20 format. In 2007, after Team India won the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup, the BCCI launched a franchise-based T20 cricket tournament called IPL in 2008. The fans loved the concept and the tournament shows glimpses of something big to come in the future. Also, the fans enjoyed by seeing the top players from around the world playing together, along with a local talent of India.
The IPL as a tournament was a massive hit in the first year. After the success of IPL, the three cricketing bodies; BCCI, CA, and CSA decided to launch another T20 tournament called CLT20 (Champions League T20 cricket) in 2008. In this tournament, two teams from four cricketing bodies (BCCI, CA, CSA, and ECB) were set to participate in a 10-day affair.
The postponement of the Champions League T20 and the addition of other teams
The Mumbai attacks in India caused the postponement of the CLT20 to the next year. The postponement of the tournament leads to the involvement of a few more teams from Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and the West Indies. Later, a team from Pakistan was also included in the tournament.
Clash with the ICL
When the Champions League T20 cricket launched, another T20 league called ICL (Indian Cricket League) was going on. But the BCCI-launched IPL tournament was more successful, attracting more sponsors, fans, and players. The BCCI didn’t even approve ICL, making it a separate tournament. They also didn’t allow those players who are participating in the CLT20 to participate in the ICL. That pressure by the BCCI caused the ICL to collapse in 2009.
The criteria of teams participating in the Champions League T20 cricket
In 2009, the first season of Champions League T20 cricket happened in India between October 08 and October 23. The top three teams from India’s IPL, and the top 2 teams from Australia’s KFC T20 Big Bash, England’s Twenty20 Cup, and South Africa’s Standard Bank Pro20 participate in the CLT20’s first season. Other than that, a top team from each; New Zealand’s State Twenty20, Sri Lanka’s Inter-Provincial Twenty20, and West Indies’ Stanford 20/20 also participated in the CLT20 2009.
The reason behind the failure of CLT20
In the beginning, lucrative prize money, and the concept of international competition between domestic teams create a lot of hype in fans’ minds. They showed interest in watching how things unfold. However owing to poor viewership, the sponsors kept pulling out of the tournament. The tournament does get new sponsors, but a lack of audience interest leads to them pulling out as well. Eventually, unstable sponsorships led to the cancellation of the Champions League T20 cricket. The three founding bodies announced the cancellation of the tournament in July 2015.
How many seasons of CLT20 happened before the cancellation?
A total of 6 CLT20 seasons happened from 2009 to 2014. Four times the tournament happened in India and two times, it happened in South Africa.
In those 6 seasons, Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) won the titles two times each. MI won the CLT20 titles in 2011 and 2013 while CSK won the titles in 2010 and 2014. New South Wales Blues (in 2009) and Sydney Sixers (in 2012) also won one title each.
Which player has the most wickets and most runs in CLT20 history?
Suresh Raina has scored the most runs (973 runs) in the tournament history. Lasith Malinga has the most wickets (69 wickets) in the CLT20, which is the most by any bowler.
Is the Champions League T20 cricket coming back?
The return of Champions League T20 cricket is not confirmed yet. But after the event in Mumbai on April 02, 2024, Cricket Victoria’s CEO, Nick Cummins talks about the revival of CLT20 after ten years. He said the big three cricketing boards; BCCI, CA, and ECB (England Cricket Board) are having an active conversation to revive Champions League T20. Cummins said if it happens, the challenge would be to find a perfect window in this jampacked FTP and ICC tournaments scheduling.
Conclusion
So this is all about the Champions League T20 cricket. As we all know, the fans love watching T20 cricket. Due to that, almost every big cricketing nation has its own T20 leagues. If CLT20 comes back, we can see the top teams from all those leagues playing against each other. Exciting no? Let’s see how things panned out.
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FAQs:-
(1) Who scored the most runs in the inauguration season of CLT20?
JP Duminy, while playing for Cape Cobras has scored the most runs (224 runs) in the first season of CLT20.
(2) Which bowler took the most wickets in the first season of CLT20?
DJ Bravo took 12 wickets in the first season while playing for Trinidad and Tobago (now Trinbago Knight Riders).
(3) How many teams will participate if CLT20 starts again?
It is still not decided. There are so many T20 leagues around the world like SA20, IPL, BBL, CPL, PSL, etc. The first preference might be given to IPL and BBL teams. And if needed, the qualifiers can also be held before the tournament.
