Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Cricket Australia (CA) and England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are in active conversations to revive the Champions League T20, club based competition that was last played in 2014. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are the last winners of the competition as they defeated Kolkata Knight Riders in the final in Bengaluru.
Three teams from India, two each from Australia and South Africa and one team side from Pakistan, the West Indies and New Zealand had participated then in the Champions League. A total of six editions were played from 2009 to 2014 with CSK and Mumbai Indians winning it twice each. Australia's New South Wales and Sydney's Sixers won the glittering tournament once each.
Cricket Victoria CEO Nick Cummins confirmed the development who stated that finding out a window in the jam-packed calendar will be a massive challenge to revive Champions League. "I think the (earlier edition of) 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," he said during the announcement of its partnership with KheloMore to launch the Melbourne Cricket Academy in India.
In fact, there is also a case for the Champions League among women to be played as well with teams from WPL, The Hundred and WBBL taking part. Moreover, Cummins also stated that he is in talks with CA's CEO Nick Hockley. "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 (the case) that the first iteration of the Champions League will be of the women.
"(it may involve cricketers playing in the) the WPL, the Hundred and the WBBL. 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. There are talks about it. It's probably a question to ask Jay Shah (BCCI secretary). But certainly, from an Australia 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," Cummins added.
There are constant conversations or debates around the best T20 league on social media and the revival of Champions League might just shut that debate too. "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. Our great aspiration is to have the Indian players play in the Big Bash.
"(The) Champions League is well overdue. Look at what Champions League does for football, the World Cup is fantastic and the Champions League is there (too) every time. The idea of the Mumbai Indians playing the Melbourne Stars at the MCG would be just as exciting as India playing Australia at the MCG," Cummins further said.
