Top five reasons to watch CLT20 starring Tendulkar, Dravid and Dhawan

The Champions League T20 has snuck up on us without much fanfare. Unlike the IPL, the CLT20 has yet to inspire popular imagination in India and remains a work in progress. Unfamiliar teams and unfamiliar faces are among the challenges the organisers have to overcome – how many of us can honestly say we are itching to watch Otago (for the uninitiated, they are New Zealand’s T20 champions)? But there still are good reasons to watch the CLT20. In fact, here at Firstpost, we can think of five of them: [caption id=“attachment_1112317” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Can Sachin Tendulkar end his T20 career with a trophy? PTI[/caption] The last chance saloon to see Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid in T20s This is the final swansong for Dravid, who is hanging up his competitive cricket shoes after this tournament. While he will be remembered for being one of the best Test cricketers of all time, he has carved a niche for himself in T20 cricket, not least for his imaginative leadership of Rajasthan Royals in the 2013 IPL. His Royals team will also be dealing with the aftermath of the BCCI bans on three of their players, and the unavailability of a fourth, making Dravid’s task all the more intriguing. For Tendulkar, there is still the siren song of Test matches, but this is the last time he will be seen in coloured clothes. While Mumbai Indians mentor Anil Kumble wants the team to give Tendulkar a fitting farewell, the man himself missed the final stages of the Mumbai Indian’s victorious IPL campaign with injury, so he will want to make up for that. Their teams even get to play each other in the opening game of the main tournament. Shikhar Dhawan and Sunrisers Hyderabad Sunrisers were the surprise of the IPL. A team with new owners and a seemingly weak squad defied the odds to make the IPL playoffs. In this tournament, they must do without Kumar Sangakkara, who has chosen to play for the Sri Lanka’s Kandurata Maroons and will be led by India’s man of the moment: Dhawan. Can he make it two fairytale stories out of two? Sunrisers start in the qualifiers, but should be able to make it to the main tournament. A team from Pakistan gets to play in India It reportedly took an 11th hour intervention from the Prime Minister, but the Faisalabad Wolves were eventually given visas for India, giving the tournament the flair only a Pakistan team can provide. Then again, this is a team led by Misbah-ul-Haq, so flair might be a bit of a stretch. Still, cricket needs India vs Pakistan rivalries, in whatever way or form the sport can get them. Better quality of cricket The standard of cricket in the IPL tends to be watered down because of the large number of Indian players required in each squad. In contrast, the CLT20 showcases the strength of domestic teams the world over e.g. Kandurata, from Sri Lanka, has a half-dozen or so current or former internationals in their ranks. This makes for better quality cricket, even if the players aren’t household names. India vs the rest In the IPL, every team is an Indian team. India therefore can’t lose. That isn’t the case in the CLT20. So far Australian teams have won twice, with Indian teams picking up two titles as well. But this year the South African teams have been able to keep their stars, such as AB de Villiers and Morne Morkel, whose IPL teams have not qualified. That helps level out the playing field and will serve as a good measuring stick for how the IPL teams stack up against the rest of the world.