games so far

The size of the audience at the Champions League T20 (CL T20) matches so far has been a bit of a dampener, but that has taken nothing away from the manner in which the teams have gone about their business. The games have by and large been edge of the seat nail-biters with spectacular finishes.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) kicked off the inaugural season of CL T20 against the South African Cape Cobras with a flurry of runs. They posted a competitive score of 180 against the Cape Cobras with Ross Taylor gracing the innings with trademark swishes over mid-wicket. A rejuvenated Robin Uttappa, who had a below par IPL season, played some staggering shots to lift the team to a respectable score. RCB would have fancied their chances at this stage of the game, never suspecting an onslaught from the opposition.

The South African T-20 champions came hard at them. J.P Duminy played a Bevanesque knock that fell one short of a well deserved century. It was stroke-filled and well executed to the point of perfection. The Royal Challengers would have considered themselves favourites with the Cobras having to chase 117 in 70 balls. In a gut wrenching final over, with Duminy clobbering Vinay Kumar for a six, the Cobras sealed the match.

Despite the loss, RCB along with Cape Cobras has managed to graduate to the next level of the tournament by comprehensively beating New Zealand’s Otago Volts.

In this tournament, the Indian Premier League (IPL) sides seem to follow each other when it comes to choking in the last couple of overs. The Deccan Chargers (DC) followed suit against the Somerset. After barely managing to put up a formidable score of 157 in the 20 overs, thanks to a cameo by Venugopal Rao and an unusually brisk start from V.V.S Laxman, the Chargers had Somerset on the mat by the 17^th over. With the prospect of an exhilarating finish to the match in the last over, Somerset began with a loss of a wicket. This unfolded into a last ball slog into the boundary by the number ten batsman Alfonso Thomas.

The incapability of the bowling attack to go for the kill must be demoralising for teams like RCB and DC, considering that they lack accomplished stand-bys. The Challengers will have to sacrifice a top order batsman to include Dale Stein to comply with the four-overseas-players-in-a-team rule.

The Deccan Chargers on the other hand are the most skilled bunch on paper yet the most uncoordinated. Their survival will depend on the ferocity of Gilchrist’s form. Between Rohit Sharma’s fluctuating form and Andrew Symonds’ failed sobriety tests, Gilchrist has very few options but to rely on providence.

The teams from India have the faculty to register themselves in the annals of T20 history. It is only want of collective execution that could deny them the crown of champions.

Different League

Last year’s 26/11 terror attacks ended all hopes of the much awaited inaugural Champions League T20 (CL T20) competition to be conducted in India. But, the tournament this year is anticipated to be a heady concoction of hyper cricket and instant fame. With many of the international players like DeVilliers, Pietersen and Collingwood out of action due to injuries , the CL T20 is bound to be an arena for youngsters to blossom into champion cricketers. The Indian Premier League (IPL) has thrown up surprises in the two years of its exhilarating existence. It facilitated the entry of greenhorns in teams that comprised primarily of the game’s giants and in return the old hands have got an opportunity to learn a format distant from their beginnings in the game. This cosmopolitan version of the IPL is sure to be a revelation of potential.

Although, Champions League has been accused of being another sinister, money-making plot of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), it nevertheless attracts a lot of takers for its gala cricket events and competitions. Many of the players have protested strongly at the prospect of being denied permission to play in this well paying Indian T20 format. And why shouldn’t they?

This year includes the top T-20 teams from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, England and Sri Lanka. Many of the visiting international players look familiar to the crowds from their IPL stint earlier in the year, but they have switched loyalties to their respective state sides.

The opening ceremony of the tournament on October 9 is expected to be an over the top affair with music and gizmos that would convert the austere looking Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore into a theatre of splendour. The sensational A.R Rehman has composed the theme song for the League, whose performance in the opening ceremony will be embellished with dancers and acrobats.

The Indian diaspora the world over has helped create a wonderful aura around the IPL which will certainly rub off on the Champions League. But the extent to which Lalith Modi Chairman and Commissioner of IPL, can achieve his dream of developing club loyalties in cricket with constantly switching players from IPL teams to their state sides is yet to be seen.

If the Champions League is as explosive and well received as the IPL, it will in all likelihood transform into a tournament bigger than the T-20 World Cup. IPL and the Champions League draw bigger audiences and revenue worldwide than any other cricket tournament in history.

Both these tournaments will emancipate local cricket in all participating countries through their inclusive and youthful formats. They have made the game at the grass roots level a lot more competitive.

The winner of this $2.5 million tournament will be at the centre of envy and adulation for obvious reasons.

The Champions League should be a spectacle to behold.

In the succeeding post I will be commenting on the various matches in the Champions League.