NEW DELHI: A day after the Lodha Committee gave its verdict on the Indian Premier League betting scandal, the BCCI, Cricket South Africa (CSA) and Cricket Australia (CA) decided to discontinue the Champions League Twenty20 with immediate effect on Wednesday.
The Governing Council of the CLT20, comprising representatives of the BCCI, CSA and Cricket CA made the decision unanimously, the Indian cricket board said in a media release on Wednesday.
As a result, the 2015 edition of the CLT20 tournament which was scheduled for September and October will not go ahead as planned.
BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur said that the annual T20 tournament failed to garner interest and therefore it has been scrapped.
“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,” Thakur said.
“It was a fantastic platform for players from around the world to showcase their talent and the participating teams thoroughly enjoyed the experience over the last six seasons. 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.
“Further details associated with winding down the league including settling with the three nations that had invested time and effort in the competition, will be completed very soon.”
The competition was launched in 2009 by the BCCI with CA and CSA. The Governing Council determined that the discontinuation of the league was the most appropriate decision due to the tournament’s limited public following.
