The Twenty20 Champions League, scheduled to be held in October this year, is facing trouble and could be postponed. Four member boards of the International Cricket Council (ICC) — BCCI, Cricket Australia (CA), England Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket South Africa (CSA) — had signed an agreement to jointly conduct the tournament, but have failed to reach a common understanding within the stipulated deadline.IPL commissioner Lalit Modi insisted that the Champions League, proposed by the IPL, would not be scrapped, adding that the dates for the tournament would be announced soon. However, he refused to comment on whether the tournament will be held this year. “We will decide on the Champions League after the Champions Trophy (in September),” he said.Starting troubleEven sources in the ECB said that plans were falling in place to host the event. “At present the ECB are in discussions with regards to a proposed Champions League. These negotiations are proceeding positively and we are at an advanced stage,” an official said. With only two months to go for the rare 14-day gap in ICC’s packed international calendar, there is too little time and too much discontent for the tournament to be conducted smoothly. Cricket Australia had been given the task of laying down the format and laws for the tournament, while the ECB and the BCCI were busy sorting out a few issues under the observation of the ICC. The Indian Express has learnt that there were three major issues that had been obstructing the tournament.Points of contentionFirst, the ICL hired a top legal firm in England to fight for the inclusion of their players in the Champions League and recently set up a high-powered committee to look into the issue. In fact, ICL sources say they were on the verge of preparing a case which they strongly believed could have led to the ICC being sued in the London High Court if county teams in England were forced to omit ICL players from the tournament. The ECB had been averse to the idea of keeping ICL players out as it wouldn’t have gone down well with the leading counties.Also, the ECB and Cricket Australia rejected the IPL’s concept of revenue-sharing, fearing that allowing Modi & Co to dictate terms would give the BCCI unprecedented powers in the Twenty20 version of the game. And, finally, there was the big country vs club hurdle that could not be crossed. Cricket Australia insisted that if the League was scheduled too close to Australia’s arrival in India for a four-Test series, top players such as Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden, Brett Lee and Michael Hussey would end up opting out.“Our priority is nation versus nation cricket,” CA chief James Sutherland has reiterated while Modi, it is learnt, was insisting all top players from across the world take part.
