An irrelevant review of an irrelevant tournament

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – OCTOBER 28: (SOUTH AFRICA OUT) Brad Haddin (R) of the Sixers receives the trophy from Dean Kino after the Karbonn Smart CLT20 Final match between bizhub Highveld Lions and Sydney Sixers at Bidvest Wanderers Stadium on October 28, 2012 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

In a one-sided affair that looked like Justin Bieber taking on Freddy Mercury in a lyrics writing contest, the Champions League T20 ended. The Sydney Sixers wrote out the two stanzas of the song with ease while the Lions had difficulty even writing two lines for the chorus. It could be that their batting line-up didn’t click on the day or perhaps they were lucky on their path to the finals. Either way the finals and the entire tournament seemed as irrelevant as six-pack abs in a pie eating contest.

It began with the organizers admitting that the success of the CLT20 depended on the Indian market. With a population of over a billion people, the success of almost any cricket tournament depends on the Indian market. Unfortunately, the IPL teams performed terribly. Apart from the Delhi Daredevils, the other teams were knocked out pretty early in the tournament. Blame it on the foreign conditions, seam movement or just the pretty cheerleaders, the Indian contingent disappointed the few who were watching the league. They were supposed to win matches with their hands tied behind their backs. Clearly, they did play with their hands behind their backs. In the meanwhile, Mitt Romney took on Barack Obama in the US Presidential elections. While Romney attacked Obama’s financial policies, Obama reiterated that he killed Osama Bin Laden.

Speaking of Osama, Cricket Australia acted like a big dictator pulling Shane Watson out of the tournament midway. The decision was completely justified and indeed correct. It effectively also suggested that Cricket Australia doesn’t consider this a tournament worth risking their finest for, or heck, even a tournament at all. Even without Watto, the Sixers comfortably won the league and pocketed a cool $2.5 million. The Lions received a cash prize of $1.3 million. With this kind of money floating around, it’s hard to see this tournament not succeeding at least financially. Though it was good to see some of the money being put into the games, at least as far as the cheerleaders were concerned.

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRCA – OCTOBER 18: Shane Watson of the Sydney Sixers during the Karbonn Smart CLT20 match between bizbub Highveld Lions (South Africa) and Sydney Sixers (Australia) at Sahara Park Newlands on October 18, 2012 in Cape Town, South Africa.

During this period, Kevin Pietersen was reintegrated into the English squad, Starbucks opened in India, another scam was revealed and Kingfisher Airlines got their license suspended – things that were bound to happen. Also, the first match of the Champions League cricket tournament scored an average television rating point (TRP) of 0.9% on ESPN Star Sports channel on 8 October, according to Audience Measurement and Analytics Ltd – another thing that was bound to happen.

There was some respite for the fans as some of the matches got washed out. Cricket lovers were never happier to welcome the rains. In a desert of cricket drivel, rain was the novelty of intelligence which prevailed only a few times. One more topic that seemed to lie somewhere in between the nonsense-shrewd continuum was the selection of the India A team which plays a practice match against England. India have decided to not afford the English any practice against spin by not including even a single spinner. At the same time, they are also robbing the spinners of a chance to stake a claim for a spot in the Indian team. R Ashwin may rest easy knowing his spot has no competition.

The Champions League, on the other hand, is simply not a competition. It is the brainchild of a few overfed administrators who believe in milking a sport till the udders of every cricketer run dry. It is also an attempt to fit the audience with a funnel and forcing them to drink adulterated lactic acid until they turn lactose intolerant and avoid the sport all together. Thank God it’s over!