I am tracking the current IPL tournament on NDTV 24x7. It's practically impossible for me to watch a match everyday so the news channel is my best resort.
NDTV 24x7 came up with an interesting story on England's version of the IPL.
England is to launch a tournament to rival the Indian Premier League (IPL) jointly with an American billionaire who said Twenty20 cricket could replace football as the world's top sport, it was announced on Friday.
David Collier, chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), said the tournament, to be bankrolled by Antigua-based Texan billionaire Allen Stanford, will kick off in 2010 because of commitments in 2009.
"We've had some very positive and constructive discussions with Sir Allen during the last week. I think Sir Allen has certainly mentioned 2010 and I think that's the more likely (date)," Collier said on Friday.
However, the representative for England's cricketers - shut out of the IPL by their bosses - warned that an English Premier League would need the agreement of India, "because that is where the money is".
Collier said discussions with Stanford, who runs a Twenty20 championship in the Caribbean, were "well advanced" and also included plans for a one-off 10 million pound winner-take-all tournament between England and the West Indies.
"Twenty20 has the potential to be the most popular team sport in the world in maybe less than 10 years. But it's going to take a highly organized efficient management team to run it," he said.
Its a good thing these Cricket boards are catching on to the T-20 bandwagon. I wish the ECB all the best. Maybe a match between the teams of both the boards can be arranged in the future.
The news channel is available in the US only through DirecTV.
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