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Champions League Twenty20 2009
League will make domestic cricket stronger - Modi
October 8, 2009
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Lalit Modi, chairman of the Champions League Twenty20's governing council, is certain the tournament will result in the "rapid growth" of club cricket around the world. Modi also said there was a strong chance the Champions League would be taken to non-cricket playing countries as a means to expand the game's reach and get other countries to embrace cricket.
"The Champions League has been developed to embrace club cricket all round the world," he said on the day of the tournament launch in Bangalore. "It's a place where we can find young cricketers who then play for their national sides. The IPL is a great example of a domestic club-level tournament, and similarly nations around the world have club tournaments. The objective here is not to make money, it is to build the game, to build club-level cricket, to find and nurture new talent. Money is not the criteria. The objective here is that we have some of the best players around the world and we hope that in years to come the Champions League comes to symbolise what the UEFA [version] is to football.
"From this year itself the tournaments in countries like Sri Lanka, New Zealand and West Indies will become more competitive. You'll see players who were not participating in domestic tournaments who will now take part and do well. Before, once players graduated from their clubs, they became international players and if at all they went back to their clubs they hardly played a few games. But the rules of the Champions League are that you have to play for your club, and your club must win to participate here. You won't get a chance to be here unless you've not played for your club."
Dean Kino, head of business and legal affairs for the Champions League, said one positive fallout of this competition would be to give context to domestic cricket. "It increases the passion of grassroots cricketers to be involved for their states and provinces. If you look at the interest in the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash in Australia and the IPL over the last six months, you will see that the result of going to the Champions League has been hugely stimulating. At the domestic level it will drive young cricketers to the game and that will build on domestic cricket and make it stronger."
Modi felt there was no better format than Twenty20 to draw new audiences and one way to do so was to broadcast matches across the world in different languages. While the current focus is to take the Champions League to participating nations, there is a definite plan to expand the competition. "That is a definite possibility. The immediate future is that we have South Africa, Australia and New Zealand as leading candidates and the objective would be to move within the participating countries," he said. "But we must make the competition more broadcast-friendly and show it to countries that have never seen cricket before. Like the IPL did, we have to get more women and children hooked onto this game."
The governing council has definite plans to take the tournament on the road, with Modi confirming that future editions will move from country to country. Kino said the concept was to move the competition around as much as possible. "We will look at newer, cricket-playing countries primarily but beyond the next ten years a decision will be taken as to whether it is appropriate to bring the game to non cricket-playing countries. We want to take the grassroots level of cricket to as many countries as possible."
To make the Champions League more prestigious, one change could be to increase the number of participating teams, something the governing council will decide on after the inaugural tournament. Modi and Kino ruled out a home-and-away format, like in the IPL and other domestic tournaments, because of the obvious difficulties in flying teams across the world on a daily basis. "As a global league it is very important to get crickets playing all around the world and give them the opportunity to play on different surfaces, in front of different fans and cultures," Modi said.
The IPL, run by the BCCI, has been extremely successful and Kino was hopeful the Champions League would blossom with the inputs of Cricket Australia and other boards. "The Champions League doesn't arise from the IPL," he said. "Representatives of Cricket Australia, the BCCI and Cricket South Africa talked about the possibility of a Champions League even before the concept of the IPL was invented. We've been talking about this for years and it's been a matter of getting the right time and place to launch. Whereas the IPL certainly helped leverage interest in the event, the Champions League stands by itself as an international event. It becomes the apex of all domestic events around the world; its context and relevance is through domestic events."
Jamie Alter is a senior sub-editor at Cricinfo
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© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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Jamie Alter
Senior sub-editor While teachers in high school droned on about Fukuyama and communism, young
Jamie's mind tended to wander to Old Trafford and the MCG. Subsequently,
having spent six years in the States - studying Political Science, then
working for an insurance company - and having failed miserably at winning any cricket converts, he moved back to India. No such problem in Bangalore, where he
can endlessly pontificate on a chinaman who turned it around with a flipper,
and why Ricky Ponting is such a good hooker. These days he divides his time
between playing office cricket and constant replenishments at one of the city's many
pubs.
Tournament Results
Cape Cobras v Trinidad & T at Hyderabad (Deccan)
- Oct 22, 2009
Trinidad & T won by 7 wickets (with 4 balls remaining)
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Trinidad & T won by 7 wickets (with 4 balls remaining)
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Lalit does not need foresight for his announcements or perceptions. 20/20 cricket brings excitement and has elevated cricket (not for the purists) to a major sporting event...at the same level of Soccer, American Football, NHL etc. There is a huge cricketing public who like the excitement of 20/20 cricket. More importantly they can enjoy the game within the same time frame as some of the other major sporting events i.e. today people do not have the luxury of time see 5 day test series or maybe set aside a whole day to look at 50 overs matches. This is not to say that test cricket and 50 overs matches will disappear. However, there share of the market will be reduced. As a purist I enjoy test cricket, as a realist 20/20 cricket is here to stay. This is where the real money is. Our young people are following the money and this can be considered a career. Young cricketers would be plucked from Colleges etc. We must recognize change and accept realities. Cricket is now a world sport.
Posted by Saadi69 on (October 10 2009, 08:02 AM GMT)I dont agree with Lalit Modis comments, " the objective is not to make money". If he and the ICC wanted to really develop club cricket then simply they should have recognized the ICL which in my mind was where it all started. It was only after the ICL had started (a league which was taking sponsors and players) that the organizers started the IPL. It was the fear of loosing sponsors. They have forced the ICL to discontinue by shameful tactics and have the audacity to say they want to develop the game. It is just about the money, they have to admit that. If they want really develop the game then allow competetion, where was the IPL before the ICL, and believe me it wouldnt have come about hadnt they had any competetion. If they really want to improve cricket allow competetion between different organisers and that too fair competetion.
Posted by Shahzad_Tirmizi on (October 10 2009, 06:53 AM GMT)I don't agree with mr Modi as I don't think future of the cricket is private domestic leagues. Any domestic league can never create charm of International cricket and it cannot be as competetive as International cricket.
Posted by Herbet on (October 09 2009, 17:22 PM GMT)It really depends who you want to watch and who you want to benefit. If you want middle class Indian families to watch and Bollywood Moguls to benefit, then yes 20/20 is the future. If you want cricket to be watched by traditional fans everywhere else then Test matches are they way to go. The thing is, us outside of South Asia have other sports if we want speed and adrenalin, such as Football, Rugby, Motorsport and so on. Those of us who want something else of a slower pace and a test of minds choose cricket. 20/20 compared to Football just looks like a slow sport forced out of its comfort zone. Its enormously popular in India, and we know thats were the money is, but it doesn't mean the rest of us like it. Its just not cricket. If I want glamour and dancing girls I'll go to a strip club.
Posted by uppy on (October 09 2009, 12:18 PM GMT)@leggetinoz - Excellent question. Now that you mention it I agree that more Indian fans would mention money than fans from say Australia. Here is my two bits on the issue. Given the state of Indian economy, sports as a full time career has been very difficult. If as a talented cricketer in 80s and 90s you decided that you wanted to play cricket and you were unable to break into the Indian team, then the odds are that you are doing very modestly financially. When India toured NX< there were reports of Chatfield driving a taxi to make a living. In India that would mean that the person is not well off at all. So when Indian fans stress on the money aspect, most of them I believe are saying that IPL allows many young Indians to make a choice of playing cricket and still not be destitute later in life. I imagine conditiions may not be very different in Pakistan, SL, bangladesh and even WI. Moeny in sports in our countries is a precondition for developing a deep talent pool.
Posted by getmedj on (October 09 2009, 11:01 AM GMT)I've heard so many people saying Test cricket is good but how many of you watch the match for five long days. You just watch it for few minutes or few hours. Let the players play test, let the icc organize the matches. Just entertain ourselves by watching the new changes in formats. IPL has done a lot in terms of money, entertainment, local players and government too. I don't know how many of you know, IPL pays more than 100 crore to indian government for a month in tax. IPL has a rule not to allow more than 4 foreign players in a team to promote new indian talent. Obviously, if you are doing so much and are earning money. What is wrong in this. After all its Mr. Modi who has delivered IPL all over the world now. So chill guys... just entertain yourselves....
Posted by chaypee on (October 09 2009, 09:22 AM GMT)No doubt the T20 format has been very successful and has added a different dimension to cricket, but I sincerely believe that the test matches & the 50 over ODIs' provide a unique set of thrill, evident from a very successful icc champions trophy & Ashes held recently. I disagree with people here saying that it is 'great' for everyone simply because Modi has been organizing IPL & champions league etc for the sake of money and cricket is not benefiting from this. IPL conists of indian players mostly and their poor performances in the T20 WC and ICC champions trophy (same for SA) justifies my point. Cricket has always been associated with national identity and such formats as ipl/c l are good for these businessmen & should not be supported by ICC. Only International T20 should be held and that should be organized by ICC not Modi, like other international events. Its time now ICC strenghtens its position and doesnt let individual boards influence their goals.
Posted by Wrong-un on (October 09 2009, 08:40 AM GMT)In heaven they play cover drives. In hell they switch hit. Viva Test Cricket!
Posted by SunilPotnis on (October 09 2009, 05:48 AM GMT)I am very sure test cricket, one days and T20 have their own place. That said T20 has become more of entertainment and money making machine instead of the skill development program. We still need longer formats like Tests and one day games for all round development value to a cricketer.
Posted by fanofteamindia on (October 09 2009, 03:21 AM GMT)I see many people saying test cricket is the best.I feel it is not often the case.Only some series between sides like australia,england,india,southafrica generate interest.If these sides play the other 5 test nations it is often a boring game.Still T20 also is not the best.I feel it is the odis which are the best because all the test playing nations are competitive and also there are some qualities like innings building,biding your time when the opposition is bowling well like the aussies did in champions trophy final,tactical mind games in the mid overs,etc which are lacking in both T20s and test matches.