During IPL, children stay indoors even during summer vacations and adults suddenly have a sick stomachs and skip going to work so they can catch a game in their city. Nothing like that is happening with T20 Champions League cricket. I thought I will write down 10 reasons why this tournament is a flop show!
- No Lalit Modi: Love him or hate him. He did create a buzz and is a marketting genius.
- South Africa as Venue: Okay why would someone host the tournament in a place which has just hosted the FIFA World Cup. I means seriously is anyone in South Africa interested in Wayamba Elevens play Bangalore Royal Challengers after they have hosted the greatest show on earth?
- South African players are in IPL teams: Imagine if Sachin Tendulkar showed up for Lancashire and played against Mumbai in Wankhede!!! I think South African fans feel the same when Kallis and Steyn show up wearing red for Bangalore Royal Challengers.
- Unknown teams: Wayamba Elevens, Central Districts, Lions. Never heard of these teams and probably will not once this tournament is over.
- Countries Missing: Domestic teams from England and Pakistan are missing. Traditionally they would have added some spice.
- No match fixing scandal: Lets be honest! Now a days for a tournament to be successful it needs a few match fixing allegations to fly around.
- No Star Power: No Preity Zinta or Shahrukh Khan tweeting sadly about their teams loss. No bollywood stars pretending to be cricketing gurus. That obviously gets some people interested in watching the matches.
- No Sreesanth: Lets be honest we all look at Sreesanth wondering if he would rub some cricketer the wrong way again and get slapped on the face on national television.
- Sounds too similar to its Football version: T2o is growing in popularity but seriously I think I will choose UEFA Champions League matches any day over Airtel Champions League. Messi’s 3 goals are much better than Pollards 9 sixes.
- Too much cricket: If Indian public watches any more cricket chances are the economy will collapse. So people are getting their priorities right and giving this tournament a miss and working for a change.
So these are the reasons Champions League cricket is a flop show. I am waiting for India vs Australia Test matches next month. Now that is truly a competition between champions.