Champions League T20 CLT20 discontinued with immediate effect

Champions League T20
CLT20 discontinued with immediate effect
Tue, Jul 14 2015


The CLT20 was conceptualized in line with its footballing counterpart to bring together the best T20 sides . © Getty

The Champions League T20 tournament, on Wednesday, was officially discontinued with immediate effect ending months of speculation surrounding the tournament's future. CLT20, jointly hosted by the cricket boards of Australia, South Africa and India, had not found takers in terms of sponsors as well as fans and saw its value dwindle down over the years forcing the organizers to reconsider its future.

As per the decision, the 2015 edition of CLT20, originally scheduled for September and October, will not go ahead as planned.

The decision to end the tournament was taken unanimously by the governing councils of BCCI, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa, who had met on the sidelines of the IPL 2015 final to discuss the road ahead. The tournament was originally conceptualized in 2008 in-line with a similar football counterpart to bring together the best T20 sides from across the world.

It ran into trouble when it had to be cancelled in 2008 due to Mumbai terror attacks. Even after 2009, the tournament struggled to draw crowds, especially for the non-Indian team games and struggled to get sponsors on board.

"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," BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said in a media release.

"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," the release added.

In CLT20's six-year history, IPL franchises Chennai Super Kings (2010 and 2014) and Mumbai Indians (2011 and 2013) emerged as the most successful teams with two wins each won while Australian sides New South Wales Blues (2009) and Sydney Sixers (2012) picked up one tournament win apiece.

The announcement to scrap CLT20 comes a day after IPL franchises Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) were handed two-year bans in connection with the IPL betting and spot-fixing legislation. BCCI had originally mooted organizing a 'mini-IPL' to be played in the UAE instead of the now defunct CLT20. But such a move appears unlikely in the aftermath of the Lodha verdict that has, even if only temporarily, reduced the number of IPL teams to six.

© Cricbuzz

Am i the only one to think this bears some pertinence to the teams being banned ??
CSK has one of those biggest fan bases and has often been voted the best team.


of course CLT20 was another waste of money that didn't evoke any interest,but still,it leaves a lot of questions unanswered.


I reckon corrupt officials have a hand in everything.