BCCI to replace CLT20 with mini IPL

The Indian cricket board, BCCI is mulling over the idea of replacing its Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20), which failed to take off, with a mini version of Indian Premier League (IPL).

The Indian Express reports that the new venture is likely to include top four IPL teams that make it to the playoffs in the IPL same season. “The planning is on and we will have a meeting on this before this IPL gets over,” a BCCI official told the newspaper. It will played in a league-cum-knockout fashion.

“It (CLT20) was not serving any purpose, people weren’t attracted to it. We are looking at all possibilities of a substitute tournament to replace CLT20 and the initial idea is to have an IPL-2 so that Indian crowds could relate more to it,” the official further said.

The new BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur has already informed Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa, who jointly own the CLT20 along with BCCI, about the Indian board’s plans to ditch the tournament which involved top clubs from all nations.

The event is expected to take place in September.