Airtel Champions League

The first edition of the Champions League was cancelled without a ball being bowled because of the Mumbai terror attack. The second edition had a different set of challenges before it took off. IPL had evolved to become a very successful business model and everyone thought the champions league is a spin off from IPL to get much more from this nascent market. Well, going into the second phase, the tournament has produced very high quality matches, a chance for cricket buffs like me to observe emerging players at close quarters. I remember a Tri Nations A tournament in Nairobi between India, Pakistan and Kenya in the year 2004. The matches were telecast live and the one person who caught the imagination of many people was a young guy by the name of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He hit couple of centuries against Pakistan and truly announced his arrival. It was just a matter of time before he made his way in to the national team. Fast forward to 2009 and the Champions League is doing just that. We are able to see some very good talent from South Africa and Australia and see if the best of the rest from India can match up to them. I think Andrew Puttick, Corenlius de Viliers, Kieron Pollard and Mckay are all going to play for their national teams in the near future. We also saw some fierce determination from Robin Uthappa to showcase his talents at the highest level. However, other than the players, another thing which has contributed to the success of the tournament is the short and crisp format where each match is important and at each stage four teams lose out till the semi finals. We were all weary of the long and dreary format of IPL where each team play each other at home and away. I dread the day when the number of IPL teams are going to be increased post 2011. The one significant factor which has contributed towards the success of the tournament is absolute quality of the matches. To watch Kieron Pollard decimate the Blues the other day was pure bliss. Already, the pundits have come up the verdict that the tournament has legs and I also think so.