Satire: All IPL teams to take part in next year's CLT20

After 3 out of the 4 IPL teams making it to the semi-finals of the Champions League, the organizers of the tournament have decided that every IPL team will get direct entry into the tournament from next year. The qualifiers stage will see teams from Pakistan, West Indies, England, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka fighting it out for the only available spot at the round robin stage of the tournament.

This move instigated by the BCCI is a ploy to make all overseas players choose their IPL franchise over their home team, as the chances of making it to the main stage are very less if they decide to stick with their home side.

The IPL teams will have both home and away games even in the Champions League and the tournament will extend up to 50 days. The non-IPL team which makes it to the round robin stage of CLT20 will have to face the Chennai Super Kings in a must win encounter in their opening tie, which almost ensures an all Indian tournament from then.

Reacting to this, ECB spokesperson said, “We invented the game of cricket and it’s a shame that we are also the slaves of the game. We are helpless.” Some reports say that this is BCCI’s revenge against the ICC for not providing a window for the IPL.

However, there was another twist in the tale. Mr. N Srinivasan also wanted to change the way foreign teams are selected for the qualifiers. “This time around, the teams need not have to win their domestic competition to qualify,” he said. Whichever team has a player who belongs to the Chennai Super Kings will automatically get selected for the CLT20 qualifiers, said the mailer.

In a contradicting tweet, Lalit Modi said that he had given this idea during the inception of CLT20 with the only difference being, the teams for the qualifiers would be chosen by drawing lots. N Srinivasan also addressed the press after the controversial announcement and said they are also considering auctioning the qualifier spots, which might help the cash rich BCCI get richer.

Among the other proposed changes, some of the interesting ones included umpires wearing lungis as a part of their uniform from the next CLT20 and the CID (TV Show) team heading the security at the venues. All announcements inside the stadium will be made by Big Boss, as per the proposed changes.

This brings us to one question, why do we call this tournament Champions League T20? Wouldn’t it be better off calling it ‘The BCCI League’?