BCCI agrees to Cancel Champions League Twenty20 after CSK’s ban

BCCI agrees to stop Champions League Twenty20 after CSK’s ban: Justice Lodha Committee’s verdict to ban CSK and RR from IPL for two years is finally stinging BCCI in the…. ( I don’t know where actually). As a result the cricketing authorities around the world decided to scrap the Champions League T20 tournament with immediate effect on Wednesday. According to the reports the decision was unanimous across the globe.

“The Governing Council of the Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) today confirmed that the CLT20 competition will be discontinued with immediate effect. The Governing Council of the CLT20, comprising representatives of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Cricket South Africa (CSA) and CricketAustralia (CA) made the decision unanimously. As such the 2015 CLT20 scheduled for September and October will not go ahead as planned,” a media release said.

BCCI agrees to Cancel Champions League Twenty20 after CSK's ban
BCCI agrees to Cancel Champions League Twenty20 after CSK’s ban

Analysts were always of opinion that this scenario was bound to happen as CLT20 was always on cards due to the poor response it generated. The Lodha Committee report was like a last straw for the CLT20 Governing Council after Chennai Super Kings, who are defending champions as well as one of the competitors after finishing runners-up were suspended for two years.

“The competition was launched in 2009 by the BCCI with CA and CSA. The Governing Council determined that the discontinuation of the league was the most appropriate decision due to the tournament’s limited public following.”

BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said, “This has been a difficult decision as the Champions League T20 provided added context to a number of domestic Twenty 20 competitions around the world such as the IPL in India, Big Bash League in Australia and South Africa’s Ram Slam T20.”

“It was a fantastic platform for players from around the world to showcase their talent and the participating teams thoroughly enjoyed the experience over the last six seasons.”

“Unfortunately, off the field, Champions League T20 wasn’t sustaining the interest of the fans as we had hoped. This decision was made, after consultation with all our commercial partners and meeting the contractual obligations of all parties involved.”

“The Governing Council would like to thank everyone involved with the CLT20 and all those who participated in the tournament. Further details associated with winding down the league including settling with the three nations that had invested time and effort in the competition, will be completed very soon.”

The decision to scrap CLT20 will also effectively mean that the BCCI and other stakeholders will find it difficult to organize a mini-IPL, which was being planned to fill the only vacant slot available in September. As far as one can manage, the plans for a replacement tournament would be shelved for now at least.