Modern day cricket is many things. It’s fast, it’s glitzy and full of action. But having all those elements in this day and age of instant gratification comes at a price, and that is overload.
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The players are constantly on the road, playing one series after the other and hauling their kits across every T20 league they can fit in their schedule.
International teams now have three formats to take care of, there is the World Cup, the lucrative World T20 and tournaments like the Indian Premier League and Big Bash.
There is so much cricket nowadays, players are either retiring from one of the formats to concentrate on the ‘important ones’ (according to their abilities) or skipping series to keep themselves fresh. And they can’t complain as they are paid handsomely for their efforts.
But where does that leave the fan? He or she now has so much cricket to choose from, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep a track of all that is happening at any given point.
Take the last few months for example. An Indian fan first saw his/her team being walloped in Australia at the start of the year in the Test series, then saw them lose in the ODI tri-series, before the Indians revived their fortunes in the World Cup, where they reached the semi-final.
And barely a week after the World Cup ended, they geared up for 45 days of the non-stop T20 carnival called the IPL. Where is the time to even breathe?
I am for all cricket but there is too much around, sadly always Championship Cricket is decreased for the money men https://t.co/xr9fuB7cFe
— Geoffrey Boycott (@GeoffreyBoycott) May 7, 2015
It is therefore surprising that one tournament has been a regular feature of the cricketing calendar without a lot of merit – the Champions League T20.
The tournament was designed on the model of its football counterpart, an ultimate face-off between the best T20 teams from around the world.
After the spectacular launch of the IPL in 2008, a competition between the best T20 sides in the world seemed like the next logical step.
So Star Sports, who couldn’t get on the IPL bandwagon, paid nearly $1 billion to win the hosting rights of the event. It was assumed fans would take to a fortnight of worldclass T20 action with glee.
Sadly, it was not the case. From the first edition in 2009, it has become evident that CLT20 isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
The tournament, launched by the cricket boards of India, Australia and South Africa, was banking on Indian fans following it on TV with the same passion as they did for IPL.
But non-Indian franchises failed to garner any eyeballs and that became a huge problem. In order to make the tournament sustainable, four Indian franchises were guaranteed a spot in the league but even that didn’t raise television ratings with CLT20 failing to attract even a title sponsor.
Even so, a billion dollars had been committed and six editions were held in the hope that something might click somewhere. But unfortunately, it hasn’t.
The Indian cricket board has made it clear that they don’t want to continue hosting the tournament. IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla said last week that the board will consult with the Australian and South African bodies to work out the modalities of pulling the plug on the tournament as apparently Star Sports too are not keen on broadcasting it.
The fans don’t have much time for CLT20, nor do the boards or the broadcasters. The only stakeholders who want to wait a little longer are the franchises.
Indian franchises formulate their individual sponsorship deals taking into account the guaranteed games they get in CLT20, while non Indians teams are assured of an appearance fee of $200,000. With so much money involved, it’s no surprise that the teams want to keep going, even if no one else does.
But it is clear the CLT20 experiment has failed spectacularly. Whether teams win it or get knocked out in the first round makes no difference, it doesn’t stay in the minds of the fans. It makes sense to therefore put an end to it and free up some space in the international calendar.
The BCCI says it is planning to have some other league in its place but I feel it should be utilised to host the Champions Trophy one-day tournament (which is being revived) and the World T20 every alternate year.
That way, both those events will come around every four years, like the 50-over World Cup, and fans will get an opportunity to actually look forward to a major event.
The CLT20 organisers had thought that having a T20 tournament on TV would eventually succeed because of the notion that if it’s on TV, people will watch it. But that plan has not worked and it’s in everyone’s interest to cut the losses.
If they can come up with a thrilling tournament in its place, all well and good. Otherwise, please give the fans some breathing space.
