The dust hadn’t even settled when the chairman of the Indian Premier League came up with an announcement that will probably send shivers down the spine of any cricket purist, but act like an antidote to those who have already begun to miss the action!
Modi said that there is a reasonably strong possibility that there will be two versions of IPL in the future; one, a longer one in India, and another shorter version outside it.
Modi has also hinted at USA or Canada as being two of the favourites to host this short version of the game, despite accepting that there will be definite challenges in doing so.
However, there are more immediate pressing things to look at for Modi. For one, there was another piece of news that had filtered out from the BCCI stable and that was to do with the Champions League that will be played in India from 8th of October to the 23th of October. The previous season was supposed to have eight teams participate in the tournament, but this time around, there will be 12! These will include three from India – Deccan Chargers, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils for finishing winner, runners-up and top of the table respectively – two each from Australia, England and South Africa, and one from New Zealand, Sri Lanka and West Indies.
It must be added that the first season had been a no-starter after the terror attacks on Mumbai had taken place just a week before the scheduled start of the tournament.
It will be difficult to pin-point any team as favourites, but the one advantage that the teams from IPL may have is that most of the international cricketers, including the foreign players, will end up playing for the IPL teams over their own local sides. And then there are some who will benefit out of their IPL side having lost before making it to the knock-out round, but their own local side qualifying for the Champions League!
The Champions League will have four groups of three teams each, and two teams from every group will progress to the second round of the competition. The second round will serve as a feeder to the top four teams who will make it to the knock-out semi-final that will be followed by the grand finale.
However, before one gets too ahead of himself, there is a small matter of the ICC World T20, for which we should be back with our daily previews and action from England!