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Wednesday, 27 May 2015 00:54 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
A day after informally discussing the fate of the Champions League Twenty20 with Cricket Australia (CA) and Cricket South Africa (CSA), the other stakeholders of the tournament, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur dropped another hint that it may be scrapped. ESPNcricinfo understands that a meeting of the CLT20 governing council is likely to be convened soon to make the final call.
“We still have CLT20. We will have meetings on how to make it a better tournament, or something in place of that. We just finished the season eight of the IPL which has been very successful. We will now start thinking on those lines [fate of CLT20],” Thakur told a group of select journalists in Kolkata on Monday.
“If CLT20 cannot attract crowds in India or abroad, you need to sit down and think about other options. It’s in the interest of cricket. In the interest of cricket, you make changes. Like from Test cricket we switched to ODIs, then T20s and now we’ve the IPL. With time, you bring in changes so that the game does not die. There should be enough takers for the game. Tournament should be successful.”
For more than a month, the fate of CLT20 has been hanging in the balance. BCCI, the majority stakeholder of the tournament, and the broadcaster aren’t keen on hosting it, but they will need a formal consent from CSA and CA before cancellation. The South African board seems to have accepted that CLT20 is a history, having already announced Africa T20 Cup to be held in September, when the CLT20 usually takes place.
IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla had also said that the BCCI was planning to do away with CLT20, adding that they were exploring possible alternatives.
Sections in the media had reported of a tournament involving the top four IPL teams from this season. Although Thakur denied those claims, he admitted that the Champions League has been struggling to attract any takers.
“Would you like your product to go down?” he said “No. You will only get sponsors if you’ve a successful tournament. There will be no takers otherwise. Eventually, you will have to look for cricket first. For me, that one-month window has to be used properly in the interest of cricket and cricket board.”
