DHAKA: The Governing Council of the Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) on Wednesday confirmed that the ill-fated competition will be discontinued with immediate effect.

Launched in 2009 as a top-tier multinational T20 tournament for domestic Twenty20 champions from India, Australia and South Africa, CLT20 was a joint initiative among the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Cricket Australia (CA), Cricket South Africa (CSA).

This year, CLT20 was scheduled for September and October for a seventh season, reports the Zee news.
 
In a media release, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said, “This has been a difficult decision as the Champions League T20 provided added context to a number of domestic Twenty 20 competitions around the world such as the IPL in India, Big Bash League in Australia and South Africa’s Ram Slam T20. "

Dwindling fan interest has been cited as the reason for the cancelation of the competition.

“It was a fantastic platform for players from around the world to showcase their talent and the participating teams thoroughly enjoyed the experience over the last six seasons... Unfortunately, off the field, Champions League T20 wasn’t sustaining the interest of the fans as we had hoped," he added.

The release also said that the decision was an unanimous one by the BCCI, CA and CSA. Anurag said, ”This decision was made, after consultation with all our commercial partners and meeting the contractual obligations of all parties involved."

BDST: 1339 HRS, JULY 15, 2015
RS/SMS