The Volts Are Everything That's Right & Wrong About CLT20

As T20 tournaments go, the Champions League T20 is one of the least glamorous T20 competitions going around. Despite being run by 3 of the 4 biggest cricket boards in world cricket, the tournament has never really gained traction among the fans.

Every edition, the tournament throws up a fairy tale story of a side full of players most people haven’t heard of, thrilling everyone with their performances. Trinidad & Tobago nearly won the inaugural edition, thanks mainly to Kieron Pollard. Interestingly, Pollard had failed to draw a bid from a single IPL franchise earlier that year. The next year, he went for $750,000 plus whatever secret winning amount the Mumbai Indians bid for him during the auction. In 2010, it was the Warriors from South Africa who made the final despite missing Jacques Kallis who was with his IPL side. 2011 belonged to the Trinidadians again, with Sunil Narine announcing himself on the world stage. Less than a year later, he was voted Player of the Tournament as his side won the IPL. Last year, it was the Lions who came through a group comprising the Sydney Sixers, Chennai Super Kings & Mumbai Indians. They even made the finals before falling to the Sixers who won every single they played in the tournament. The 2013 edition is yet to reach the main group stage, but the Otago Volts look a really good side. Sterner tests await the Kiwi side, but it’s the manner in which they’ve won their matches that shows they’re strong contenders for a semi-final place.

One might think that the prospect of watching the best T20 teams in the world would appeal to those who happily lap up domestic T20 competitions, but attendances and TV Ratings suggest something entirely different. It never had to be this way. Look at the UEFA Champions League. Granted it’s a property that has built its name over a period of decades, but then so did the various football leagues like the EPL, La Liga, and Serie A. In contrast, the Indian Premier League opened to packed stands and never before seen ratings for domestic cricket in India. The Big Bash League routinely sees bigger crowds than you would see when Australia play teams other England & India. Rightly or wrongly, the tournament is important enough for Cricket Australia to spend a considerable time talking about while its test team is playing the Ashes. Even the Caribbean Premier League was played in front of packed stands and the kind of fanfare one seldom sees at international matches in the West Indies. Why is it that people are happy to watch their domestic teams play in their domestic T20 league, but aren’t that excited about watching them play against the best T20 sides in the world?

One of the reasons might be that the tournament has over the years become more & more about ensuring teams from the IPL play as many matches as possible. The reasoning behind this is simple: India is the biggest market and this market wants Indian teams. One doesn’t quite know if less people would tune in if the organisers didn’t tweak the rules every year to ensure that IPL teams have the best chance of going as far into the tournament as possible. But it is farcical to have 4 out of 9 IPL teams making this tournament. It is also a joke that different sides get to play different number of overseas players, with the IPL teams being allowed to have twice as many overseas players in their XI compared to any of the other sides. This is especially damaging given that virtually every player has ‘chosen’ to play for his IPL side in the tournament ahead of his ‘home’ team. Let’s go back to the Otago Volts for a second. The Man of the Match in each of the Otago Volts matches – Brendon McCullum, Ryan ten Doeschate, Nathan McCullum, is contracted to an IPL team that isn’t part of the Champions League T20.

The official line is that it is always the player’s choice. But if a leaked BBM conversation between Kieron Pollard & Sundar Raman is to be believed, and it must be taken with a considerably large helping of salt given that it was Lalit Modi who leaked it, even when a player wishes to play for his home side which is willing to bear the cost of it, he is forced to choose otherwise. And when all else fails, the organisers make up rules on the go. Don’t have enough decent local players? No worries, just say one of them is injured & we’ll let you play 5 overseas players. Oh no, that player you said was injured just scored a hundred in a domestic game while your international stars are struggling? We’ll let you bring him back & you can go back to playing 4 overseas players.

It is difficult to tell if the average cricket fan even knows about these things, let alone be bothered by them. But it is clear that the tournament hasn’t struck a chord with cricket fans around the world. Would it have done so had the organisers put competitive balance ahead of what seem to be ill-conceived short-term plans? Would it have helped grow the sport if they could even give Associate Nations like Ireland and Afghanistan to send their national side & gain invaluable experience, and if one may say so cynically, a vote for the BCCI at the ICC table? We’ll never know. For now, all we have are the Otago Volts. Cherish them, because there’s a good chance the likes of Hamish Rutherford & Jimmy Neesham will be playing this tournament for their IPL side next year. That is, if there is another edition of the Champions League T20.

The Myth About MSD

It feels almost criminal to write what I'm going to write after Mahendra Singh Dhoni has taken India to another tournament victory. So let's get this out there before anything else: Mahendra Singh Dhoni is one of the greatest ODI batsmen of all time, and among the top two finishers in the history of the game.

But what position is he best suited to bat in this Indian lineup?

Dhoni has been batting at 6 for the last couple of years. It made some sense when the side had Tendulkar, Sehwag, Gambhir & Yuvraj. There was also Virat Kohli slotted in among these four & scoring hundreds for fun.

Now, Tendulkar has retired and the other three have been dropped for lack of form, leaving Rohit Sharma to open the innings & Virat Kohli at three. Dinesh Karthik has been unable to score consistently at four while Raina has struggled when he's batted at 5 outside the subcontinent. Coupled with the fact that India are now playing 5 bowlers, Dhoni has had to come in to bat knowing he cannot afford to lose his wicket. That he has managed to take the side home under such pressure only shows how great a batsman he is.

But does he really need to put himself under such pressure? A lot of people have said he enjoys the pressure. That he performs best when the match is tight. They ask what would happen if Dhoni were to come in higher & get out.

Well, his record seems to suggest something completely different. Not only does he have a better average & strike rate when he bats at 4 or 5, he remains unbeaten just as often when he bats there compared to when he bats at 6. Most importantly, India have won a lot more often (63.64 percent) when he's batted at either 4 or 5, compared to when he bats at 6 (49.41 percent). He also averages a lot higher & scores a lot faster when he bats up the order. One could say he's shown a tendency to promote himself when the side has been in good position, but the fact remains he's performed better than his teammates.

Position	Innings	Wins	Win %	Not Outs	Average	Strike Rate	% Not Outs
4	18	15	83.33%	5	70	103.4	27.78%
5	48	27	56.25%	13	54.57	85.53	28.24%
6	85	42	49.41%	24	42.36	81.1	27.08%

Coming to the role of the finisher, Dhoni has similar numbers when batting second. Once again, he has a higher average and strike rate and India have won a lot more often (67.86 percent) when he's come in at either 4 or 5 (67.86 percent) compared to when he's come in at 6 (52.08 percent). Once again, the argument can be made that he promotes himself when the side is in a good position. All I can say is with the pressure on in the World Cup final, he promoted himself ahead of the man who had had a dream tournament and who would later be declared Man of the Series.

Position	Innings	Wins	Win %	Not Outs	Average	Strike Rate	% Not Outs
4	8	7	87.50%	1	61.28	93.46	12.50%
5	20	12	60.00%	8	59.75	77.34	40.00%
6	48	25	52.08%	17	42.45	76.55	35.42%

Earlier I had made a point about the new look batting lineup. Look at the records of Indian batsmen at 4 & 5 since the 2011 World Cup. Kohli has now moved up to number 3, Sharma is opening the innings, Tiwary is injured, although going by the way the selectors have treated him he may not make the side anyway. Raina is the only one who's done reasonably well, and even his record is skewed because of the matches in the subcontinent (8 fifties in 15 innings in Asia, 1 fifty in 19 innings outside).

So that's all I have in support of Dhoni moving up the order. I'm not sure most people would agree. Most importantly, I know the team management don't & that's all that matters.