The cricket boards of India, England and Australia -the three most powerful bodies of the game- are keen on reviving the Champions League T20, or CLT20 as it was called, according to Cricket Victoria CEO Nick Cummins. However, with the men’s calendar being packed currently due to many bilateral series and ICC events, the first edition of ‘CLT20 2.0’ could feature a women’s tournament only, Cummins revealed.
“I’m constantly talking to Nick Hockley, Cricket Australia CEO, for a Champions League, because I think it’s pretty important to bring that back. 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 the Melbourne Stars play Karachi Kings or the Mumbai Indians.
“I think the (earlier edition) Champions League was ahead of its time. The T20 landscape wasn’t matured enough at that point. I think it is now. I know that there’s active conversations between Cricket Australia (CA), ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) and the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) about (reviving) 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 maybe that the first iteration of the Champions League will be of the women. So, (it may involve cricketers playing in the) the WPL, the Hundred and the WBBL,” Cummins said at the Cricket Club of India (CCI), at a KheloMore’s press conference announcing the launch of Melbourne Cricket Academy in partnership with Cricket Victoria.
