Champions League T20 could return as BCCI and two other boards begin talks

A decade since its last edition, the Champions League T20, fondly known as CLT20 among cricket fans, could be back, Nick Cummins - Cricket Victoria CEO, hinted. The game’s three biggest boards – the BCCI, ECB and CA, have begun talks on bringing back the competition, which Nick feels was ahead of its time. However, the only challenge is to find a window for this.

Cummins said the T20 landscape wasn’t mature 10 years ago, but now it is, adding, for the first time, a CLT20 for women could also be introduced.

"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," Cummins said on the sidelines of an event in Mumbai on Tuesday.

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"I know that there's an active conversation 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,” Cummins added.

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Meanwhile, the introduction of CLT20 raised quite a few eyebrows back in the day, with six editions from 2009 to 2014 being successfully held, four times in India and twice in South Africa. The Indian Premier League’s defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) won the last edition against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Bengaluru in 2014.

At that time in the competition, three teams from India, two each from Australia and South Africa, and one each from Pakistan, West Indies and New Zealand were part of it.

While CSK and Mumbai Indians (MI) won the tournament twice, New South Wales and Sydney Sixers won it on the remaining two occasions.

Big 3 to decide CLT20 future

Cummins said he is in talks with Cricket Australia’s CEO Nick Hockley, with the BCCI secretary Jay Shah yet to have his say on this matter.

"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," Cummins said.

"There are talks about it. It's probably a question to ask Jay Shah. But certainly, from an Australian cricket perspective, we are very open to the idea of the Champions League. It's just about finding a window in the FTP, but I think that's the next step in the evolution of cricket,” he said.