When the tournament’s title sponsor pre-maturely ends its deal citing low viewership, you know something’s amiss. It was very evident, a revamp was required. Whoever was responsible for writing the script for the 2011 Champions League T20 left no stone unturned to make sure it turns out to be a big blockbuster! So we have four IPL teams whereas some countries don’t even get one! It gets better when the final is an all Indian affair. Considering the second semi-final was played in front of an empty Chepauk stadium, this was perhaps the only way to get people to fill the stadium.
Bangalore witnessed some of the best matches. A ground where 99 was almost defended and scores of 200 plus chased down. Two IPL teams managed to pull off unlikely wins of the last ball. One featured a missed run out chance and the other a last-ball-six ala Javed Miandad. But not sure how many people will still remember a Arun Karthik , 20 years from now.
In between all the fours and sixes, SRK also managed to get huge publicity for his upcoming movie, Ra.One. This is was notably his biggest gain from KKR making it to main round of the tournament.
CLT20 is the brain child of the cricketing boards of India, Australia and South Africa. But no points for guessing who rules the roost. They get to host the tournament almost everytime and field the maximum number of teams. One reason why we won’t be seeing the tournament hosted by Australia in the near future, is that it compromises on India’s prime time viewing. As a cricket fan, I hope that the very motto of the CLT20 stays alive and it doesn’t turn out to be an IPL part 2, with a few foreign teams as guests.
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