Champions League T20 to be discontinued with immediate effect

Chennai Super Kings with the 2014 CLT20 trophy

The Governing Council of the Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) on Wednesday confirmed that the CLT20 competition will be discontinued with immediate effect. The council consists of representatives of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Cricket South Africa (CSA) and Cricket Australia (CA).

The decision to do away with CLT20, which was scheduled for September and October, was being considered for some time now, and the call was taken unanimously by all the constituents of the Governing Council in view of declining interest in the tournament.

A difficult decision: BCCI

Mr. Anurag Thakur, Honourary Secretary of the BCCI said: “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. "

“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".

It had been previously reported that the BCCI authorities were thinking about a ‘mini-IPL’ in place of the CLT20.