There is quaint irony in the fact that in a tournament based on the shortest format of cricket, two of the main draws are the oldest players playing the sport. Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, both pushing 41, will be seen for the last time in T20s which gives the Champions League a dimension and romance of its own.
But while there is nostalgia and international flavour to this league and T20 is the acknowledged choice of the masses, I dare say the Challenger series which is being played concurrently, should be watched as keenly: certainly by the national selectors and fans interested in what the new season holds for Indian cricket.
This is, as we know, a packed and bumper season, replete with the (growing) melodrama around Tendulkar’s 200th Test, controversy surrounding the tour of South Africa and of course, the future of stalwart cricketers currently sidelined.
The last mentioned aspect is what makes the Challengers particularly crucial. Remember, the team to play seven ODIs against Australia beginning mid-October is to be chosen by the end of this month, so the next 10 days will see a lot of careers at stake.
Barring Harbhajan Singh, a key player for Mumbai Indians in CLT20, all the other big stars who lost their places in the national team last season — Viru Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan — will be seen in action in this series.
Add Yusuf Pathan, Robin Uthappa and a few others who have been part of the Indian team at some stage in the not-too-distant past, then add young hopefuls like Unmukt Chand (to name just one) and you have a tournament that whets the appetite as these players jostle for national honours.
Debate on whether the selectors should look ahead or behind when choosing the ODI and Test teams this season has raged for a while now. As I understand it, the selectors are happy with the team makeover of last season, but have not shut the door entirely on the ‘old’ pros.
For instance, Yuvraj Singh’s all-round utility in limited overs cricket — despite the success of Ravindra Jadeja — was never to be discounted if he regained fitness. Likewise, nobody — not fellow player or selector — disputes that Zaheer Khan can be of enormous value in Tests if his body holds up to the rigours of the five-day game.
In an effort to prolong their careers, both these players spent a couple of months in France undergoing a strict fitness regimen under a specialist. In Yuvraj’s case, this effort already seems to be bearing results if his brilliant touch versus West Indies A recently is any indication. If Zaheer too succeeds, it will give Indian cricket more options.
The argument is not dissimilar in the cases of Sehwag, Gambhir and Harbhajan even if the hardship quotient for their return seems higher. It will not be easy for Harbhajan to dislodge Ashwin while places in the batting order are truly at a premium.
All of this makes the next fortnight frenetic. But that is only as far as action on the field goes.
This has acquired a new dimension following the chargsheet filed by Mumbai Police against Meiyappan Gurunath, N Srinivasan’s son-in-law. The voluminous chargesheet was filed in court Saturday afternoon and as I write this piece, my information about its contents are sketchy but it smells of problem nonetheless.
However the BCCI president, going by TV reports, expressed confidence that he will not only chair the AGM next Sunday, but also resume office.