Ten years after its previous edition, "active conversations" are on between the cricket boards of Australia, England and India to revive the Champions League T20 (CLT20) tournament. This comes from Cricket Victoria CEO Nick Cummins, who also said the biggest challenge would be to find a window in the jampacked cricket calendar for the tournament.
"I think the Champions League was ahead of its time. The T20 landscape wasn't mature enough at that point. I think it is now," Cummins said on the sidelines of an event in Mumbai on Tuesday. "I know that there's active conversations between Cricket Australia, the ECB, and the BCCI about the Champions League.
"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 may be that the first iteration of the Champions League will be of the women… [it may involve cricketers playing in] the WPL, the Hundred and the WBBL."
The last edition of the CLT20 was held in India in 2014, with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) winning the title after defeating Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the final in Bengaluru. That edition of the tournament, then in its sixth year, involved three teams from India, two each from Australia and South Africa, and one each from Pakistan, the West Indies and New Zealand.
The tournament was played annually from 2009 to 2014, four times in India and twice in South Africa. The tournament was won twice each by CSK and Mumbai Indians (MI), and once each by New South Wales and Sydney Sixers.
Cummins said he had been in talks with Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley for the revival of the CLT20, and that BCCI secretary Jay Shah might be in a position to shed more light on the topic.
"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," Cummins said. "There are talks about it. It's probably a question to ask Jay Shah. 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 drew comparisons with the club-based Champions League in football, saying that cricket needed to find a similar balance between international- and club-based competitions.
"No other competition has Indian players. The IPL doesn't have Pakistan players. So there is no competition in the world with the best players. The Champions League would be a way for the best to be playing against each other"
Cricket Victoria CEO Nick Cummins
"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 Melbourne Stars play Karachi Kings or Mumbai Indians," Cummins said. "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 Mumbai Indians playing Melbourne Stars at the MCG would be just as exciting as India playing Australia at the MCG.
"Football had a really big club vs country tension in the 90s. And they found a way for international football to exist side by side with leagues. Cricket is going through it at the moment. Every country has the right to have a T20 league, whether it is Nepal or Ireland. We shouldn't place controls on how members want to play cricket.
"The reality is there is no T20 competition in the world which has the best players in the world playing in it. Champions League would actually provide that. No other competition has Indian players. The IPL doesn't have Pakistan players. So there is no competition in the world with the best players. The Champions League would be a way for the best to be playing against each other."
