Is the BCCI planning a mini-IPL to replace Champions League T20?

Is the BCCI planning a mini-IPL to replace Champions League T20?: If reports are to be believed, the Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI) has made up its mind to replace its unsuccessful venture the Champions League T20 (CLT20) with a mini version of the Indian Premier League (IPL). These reports appear days after we heard unconfirmed news of the BCCI looking at options to get rid of this little profit making league.

Tabloid The Indian Express reported today that the Board is planning to introduce a new version of the T20 league to replace the less endorsed CLT20 in which top domestic T20 teams from various cricketing nations participated to crown a champion of champions.

An anonymous BCCI official was quoted saying, “The planning is on and we will have a meeting on this before this IPL gets over,”

Earlier in the month it was reported that, the new BCCI General Sec, Anurag Thakur had informed Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa the two joint owners of CLT20 along with the Indian board that the BCCI was planning to scrap CLT20. Though the league did not bring in losses to any of the boards, it was reported that the television and on ground viewership’s were a concern for the authorities and broadcasters the Star Sports Network that had taken the rights has been suffering losses since the very first season of the league.

The Official further added, “It (CLT20) was not serving any purpose, people weren’t attracted to it. We are looking at all possibilities of a substitute tournament to replace CLT20 and the initial idea is to have an IPL-2 so that Indian crowds could relate more to it,”

It was also reported that the Indian Board was checking its options of organizing CLT20 in United Arab Emirates (UAE). As the UAE had hosted the first half of IPL last season which was termed a successful leg and the IPL teams have grown fans there by now.