5 best non-IPL teams in CLT20 history

The Champions League T20 (CLT20) tournament, as the name suggests, should ideally be considered the biggest T20 event in cricket today, given that it pits champions from various regional T20 leagues against each other, in a bid to determine the ultimate champion. However, for a variety of reasons, the CLT20 has not yet established itself as a premier event, and wanes in comparison to its football namesake, which, in all fairness, has been around much longer.The CLT20 has often been criticized for being a sideshow for the Indian Premier League (IPL) teams, given their dominant show across most editions of the league. While this is true for the 2013 and 2014 (currently ongoing) editions, the initial years of the marquee tournament witnessed an even tussle between the Indian and overseas teams, with the latter dominating on several occasions.This slideshow examines the strongest non-IPL teams who have graced the CL T20 tournament over the years, who not only ran the IPL teams close, but also overcame them many times.

#5 Highveld Lions (2012)

The Highveld Lions devoured three IPL teams en route to the final

The Highveld Lions stamped their pedigree on the 2012 edition from the onset, by completely outclassing IPL heavyweights Mumbai Indians (MI) in their opening fixture. After being put into bat, the MI batsmen were all at sea against the experienced new ball pair of Sohail Tanvir and Dirk Nannes. To make matters worse, the batsmen struggled to handle the Lions’ left arm spinner, Aaron Phangiso, a largely unknown element at that time.

MI did manage to scramble along to 157, a respectable total for a team possessing bowlers like Mitchell Johnson, Lasith Malinga, Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha. However, what followed was a master-class in batting by veteran Neil McKenzie and a fresh faced wicketkeeper-batsman no one had much knowledge of back then - Quinton de Kock, to achieve the target losing only 2 wickets, with several deliveries to spare.

The Lions’ appetite for IPL teams was not satiated – they next took on the most consistent team in the history of the Indian league, CSK, and beat them comfortably by 6 wickets, with 3 balls to spare. The South Africans found a new hero in Gulam Bodi, who continued to be their batting mainstay, scoring more than 200 runs in the tournament, while Phangiso easily out-bowled CSK stalwarts Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

In their only blemish during the qualifying stages, Phangiso’s fantastic spell of 3-14 off his 4 overs was not enough for the Lions to overcome the Sydney Sixers, arguably the strongest team in the history of CLT20. After easing past Yorkshire, the Lions feasted on their third IPL prey in the tournament, Delhi Daredevils, in the semi-finals. While the South Africans were restricted to only 139 by a disciplined Delhi attack, their bowlers, led by Phangiso, still managed to stop the star-studded batting line-up of the IPL team, which included David Warner, Virender Sehwag, Kevin Pieterson and Ross Taylor, 22 runs short.

The Lions however, lost the plot in the final; their batsmen collapsed to 9-4 before a middle-order consolidation effort saw them crawl to a score of 121. It was no match for the rampaging Sixers, who achieved the target in 12.3 overs without losing a single wicket, in one of the most one-sided finals in the history of the tournament.

#4 Warriors (2010)

The Warriors had to settle for the runners-up trophy in CL T20 2010

The Warriors from South Africa boasted a perfect blend of youth and experience in their 2010 CL T20 squad, lead by Test stalwart Mark Boucher. The team included, besides the captain, veterans like Makhaya Ntini, Ashwell Prince, Nicky Boje and Johan Botha, as well as rising stars like Colin Ingram and Lonwabo Tsotsobe. That said, it was the relatively unknown pair of Davy Jacobs and Rusty Theron, who with their opening bursts in batting and bowling respectively, brought the Warriors to the threshold of a tournament victory.

The South Africans were not expected to be challenged by their opponents in the first game, Sri Lankan Wayamba, but the ease with which they got past a strong Victoria, by a margin of 28 runs, set them up as a tournament favourite. Jacobs got them off to a brilliant start in almost every game, compiling a mammoth 286 runs at an average of almost 50 and a strike rate nearing 150. Healthy contributions by the captain, Prince and Ingram, ensured that the batting department seldom failed.

The Warriors’ bowling was equally lethal, with all strike bowlers getting among wickets, led by Theron with 8. On their home turf, the South Africans deployed pace and spin in equal measure to blow away most opposition, winning 4 out of 5 games to qualify for the finals – the high point of their performance would undoubtedly be a flawless performance against yet another strong team from Down Under, South Australia, who they defeated by 30 runs in the semi-finals.

Their only nemesis was the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) – more specifically the spin attack of CSK. During the qualifying stage, a close affair, with CSK winning by 10 runs, as well as the one sided final, where MS Dhoni’s men triumphed by 8 wickets, Ashwin and Muttiah Muralitharan shared 5 wickets between them. The men in green, who had to settle for the runners-up trophy, had no answer to the ‘wily old fox’ or India’s new found spin sensation, which took the sheen off an otherwise brilliant campaign.

#3 Trinidad & Tobago (2009)

Trinidad & Tobago won millions of hearts with their spirited performance

Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) came into the inaugural edition of the CL T20 as a largely unknown entity. Dwayne and Darren Bravo were the most famous of the lot, the latter more for his uncanny resemblance to Brian Lara than on-field exploits. Dinesh Ramdin, Darren Ganga and Dave Mohammed were other names which registered a recall in the average viewer’s mind, but the team as a whole was not expected to create much impact on a T20 league featuring the best in the world.

T&T’s convincing victory against a star-studded Somerset may have been considered beginner’s luck, but they forced the world to sit up and take notice when, after surviving an Adam Gilchrist onslaught, they edged past the IPL 2009 champions Deccan Chargers by a narrow margin of 3 runs, effectively knocking them out of the tournament.

Their next encounter, against the dominating New South Wales (NSW) team from Australia, was arguably one of the best matches in the history of CL T20, and showcased the abilities of a champion-in-waiting in the shortest format, for the first time on an international stage. Undoubtedly the strongest team in the tournament, NSW racked up 170 runs courtesy of aggressive half-centuries from Philip Hughes and Warner, before reducing the West Indians to 91-5 and a while later, 118-6, with the exit of their last recognized (at least to the world) batsman, Ramdin.

With 51 runs required off the final 4 overs, most considered the match to be beyond the spirited West Indians, but a strapping 6’4” Kieron Pollard, unknown in global circles back then, had other ideas. 27 runs, including 3 sixes and 2 fours, off the 17th over bowled by a stunned Moises Henriques, dramatically reduced the equation to 24 runs required off 3 overs. Though Brett Lee bowled a tight 18th, Pollard required only 3 deliveries in the 19th over, bowled again by a hapless Henriques, to wrap up the 16 runs required at that stage. T&T, or rather Pollard, had scored 51 runs off only 2.5 overs – the team had established beyond doubt that they were here to stay, and the man had just initiated a chain reaction, which in a few months time, would result in him becoming one of the highest paid cricketers in the world.

T&T went from strength to strength to reach the finals, where they once again ran into NSW, and were firm favourites after reducing the Australians to 83-6, but an all-round Lee show quelled their challenge at the final step. Seldom in the history of CL T20 has a team with relative newcomers combined with such aplomb to script an almost fairytale performance and win millions of hearts all across the world.

#2 New South Wales (2009)

New South Wales stamped their authority on the inaugural edition of the CL T20

With a formidable batting line-up comprising Warner, Hughes and Simon Katich, and the pace battery of Lee, Stuart Clark and Doug Bollinger, NSW started off as one of the favourites to win the tournament.

NSW relied heavily on their top 3, with both Warner and Hughes scoring in excess of 200 runs in the tournament, the former with a strike rate of more than 140. Lee and Clark leveraged their experience to pick up 8 and 9 wickets at frugal economy rates of 3.8 and 4.9, respectively. The surprise package was all-rounder Henriques, who had had an indifferent season with the Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2 a few months back.

Henriques scored more than 100 runs and topped NSW bowling charts with 10 wickets, at an economy rate slightly above 7. While the rate is perfectly acceptable in the T20 context, had his mauling at the hands of Pollard, which accounted for 43 runs in 1.3 overs, been discounted from his overall tally, the economy rate would have been in the vicinity of 5.

NSW crushed all their opponents with clinical efficiency, with the exception of T&T, who, aided by Pollard’s brilliance, got the better of them in the qualifying stages. When the two met again in the final, in a clash between raw talent and experienced professionals, for the first time in the tournament, NSW entered the arena with an opponent on an even keel.

In another first, NSW collapsed to 83-6 in a little over 11 overs, in the face of sustained aggression by the T&T bowlers. The Australians looked likely to wind up with a sub-120 total, but Lee, an underestimated batsman throughout the course of his career, had other ideas. After starting out cautiously, the fiery fast bowler opened out to smack 5 huge sixes in a 31-ball 48, forging crucial partnerships with the remaining batsmen to push the score to a respectable 159 at the end of 20 overs.

Brett Lee and David Warner were instrumental for NSW’s dominance

Lee returned to the take out two of the opening three T&T batsmen, and the West Indians could never quite recover. In spite of some resistance from the middle order, including a few lusty blows by Pollard, they capitulated to 118 all out in 15.5 overs. Experience had triumphed over spirit, Goliath had managed to defeat David, but not before a mighty scare.

#1 Sydney Sixers (2012)

Sydney Sixers were absolutely dominating en route to lifting the trophy

The 2012 Sydney Sixers team has been the most dominant in the history of CLT20, period. No other team, IPL or overseas, has managed to win all its matches en route to lifting the coveted trophy. In stark contrast to some of the other strong teams on this list, the Sixers did not secure huge victories on one day, and slump to defeat on another – most matches were hard fought, particularly with the IPL teams, and the Titans in the semi-finals, but the Australians managed to dig deep, and emerged on top every single time.

Michael Lumb (226 runs) and Mitchell Starc (14 wickets) topped the tournament’s batting and bowling charts, respectively. Starc combined with Pat Cummins and Josh Hazelwood to form the most fearsome new-ball attack in the tournament. Captain Brad Haddin, in a media conference prior to the tournament, had stressed: "My job is to tell them to go out there and bowl fast," when asked how he would manage the young trio. He certainly did, and they certainly complied, paying rich dividends for the team.

With all-rounders Shane Watson and Henriques (of NSW 2009 fame) chipping in with wickets regularly, the Sixers’ attack was the bane of most opposition batsmen. CSK were the only team to make a 170+ score against the team from Down Under, but still fell short by 14 runs in their chase.

Against MI, in spite of a batting collapse of sorts, which resulted in a total of only 136, the Sixers came back strongly to restrict the IPL team to 124, on the back of accurate, aggressive pace bowling.

Champions thrive in adversity, and the living proof of this adage came in the nerve-wracking semi-final between the Sixers and the Titans. After a late onslaught by David Wiese saw the South Africans reach a commanding 163, the second innings was an all-out scrimmage as both sides tried to wrest the initiative. Fortunes swung either way, and with the Sixers requiring 19 runs off the last 2 overs, and 8 off the final one, Cummins, wielding the long handle, got the Aussies over the line off the last ball.

Emerging from the Titan-ic semi-final battle appeared to have infused supreme confidence in the Sixers, which they demonstrated by thrashing the Lions in a hopelessly one-sided final, to become the only CLT20 winner till date to have had an unblemished victory run over the course of the tournament.