Champions League

ICC to hold tele-conference over Champions League T20

The ICC board will discuss on Wednesday the potential impact of the Champions Twenty20 League, which is being held from September 29 to October 8, on the ICC Champions Trophy that ends in Lahore on September 28.

Representatives from BCCI, Cricket Australia (CA) and Cricket South Africa (CSA), the founding partners of the Champions Twenty20 League, will reiterate that their tournament does not involve national teams and so does not devalue the Champions Trophy “in any manner”. They are expected to point to the tournament’s ‘domestic’ label, which bypasses the ICC guideline that bars any international competition from taking place within seven days of an ICC event.

The ICC had last week indicated, in an email sent to its member boards, its displeasure over the staging of the Champions League immediately after the Champions Trophy. The governing body was acting on a letter it had received from ESPN-Star Sports, its official broadcaster, which had expressed concern over whether the Twenty20 tournament would devalue the one-day tournament.

The ICC teleconference on Wednesday is expected to the “clear the air” over the issue, officials from the BCCI and CSA told Cricinfo.

Tags: bcci, CA, Champions League T20, CSA, icc, IPL