BCCI plans to introduce mini IPL in place of Champions League T20

BCCI plans to introduce Mini IPL in place of the scrapped Champions League T20, the latter was discontinued due to low turnout in viewership.

BCCI is planning to make a mini IPL type tournament to take place of the discarded Champions League T20. It was discontinued after 2014 and ever since its window has remained vacant.

Champions League T20 (CLT20) was an inter-franchise annual T20 league which was co-owned by BCCI, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa.

Teams from the leagues like IPL and BBL used to participate in the tournament but it was scrapped in 2014 after a decision made by all three boards due to lack of sponsors and poor viewership.

The first season of the league started back in 2008 and it used to be functional during the window of September and October. After the tournament got abandoned in 2014, the window remained vacant.

Although, now the Asia Cup is played during the same window and the upcoming T20I World Cup 2020 held in Australia is going to be organized in the same window.

Also read: IPL 2020 Auction: 5 players who can be the most expensive buy of IPL 2020 auction

But now, BCCI is planning to get back their two-month window and stage a mini IPL. Hemang Amin, Indian Premier League’s chief officer informed about the concept.

“Since the Sep/Oct was CLT20 window, BCCI should look at utilizing this as a 2nd IPL window so the existing teams can have a longer participation instead of the two months and this will also entail that BCCI creates a new revenue stream which will be beneficial for the teams, BCCI and extension of brand IPL,” He said.

With this, BCCI is also looking to exploit the market abroad, which was the drawback of CLT20, as the viewership was limited outside India. But with Indian diaspora residing across the west, BCCI plans to bring franchise T20 to them.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

Read More