DUBAI // The UAE are emerging as front-runners to host the Champions League Twenty20 later this year after impressing Indian cricket officials with their organisation of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The first 20 matches of the 2014 IPL were moved to the UAE because of the general elections in India and the huge turnouts at all three stadiums – Sharjah Stadium, the Dubai International Stadium and the Zayed Cricket Stadium in the capital – have pleasantly surprised officials.
"We have been absolutely blown away by the crowds that have turned up, even for the 2.30pm games," said Sunil Gavaskar, the interim chief of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
“We had initially thought that while the 6.30pm games would not have too much of an issue, we might not have a full house for the 2.30pm games, but we’ve had a full house.
“I think 19 of the 20 games have been sell-outs and that is a sure sign of how the IPL has caught the imagination of the cricket-loving public here in the UAE.”
Gavaskar, an Indian batting legend, lauded the country’s authorities for their support in making the IPL a success and he hinted that the UAE could be rewarded with the Champions League – a tournament jointly owned by the BCCI, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa.
“It’s not been an easy task to move an event of the scale of the IPL in the short time we had,” Gavaskar said. “The authorities and the stadiums have delivered exactly what they promised.
“The fact that it [the IPL] has been such a huge success here is certainly an encouraging sign, simply because it is an option that we will always have.”
Gavaskar expects a decision on the Champions League to be made as soon as the IPL comes to an end on June 1, with the final in Mumbai, “because then it gives us three to four months to prepare”.
Ranjib Biswal, the chairman of the IPL’s governing council, also seems enthusiastic about the chances of UAE hosting the event, which brought together 12 teams last year – the domestic Twenty20 champions of New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the West Indies, the champions and runners-up from Australia and South Africa, and the top four teams of the IPL.
“We are thinking about it,” he said. “We are very happy with the response here so far, but nothing’s decided yet.
“We will see how it goes.”
According to figures revealed by Gavaskar on Monday, this year’s IPL has been an unqualified success.
The average television ratings points (TRP) for this season is 4.4, an improvement on 2013’s 4.1
For the first seven days of the IPL, the number of people watching online has doubled from 6 million viewers in 2013 to 12 million.
The page views on IPLT20.com have increased by 50 per cent on 2013, with 89 million page views from April 1 to 26.
On Facebook, the IPL page has received 8.6m likes; the figure was 3.3m at the end of the 2013 season.
On Twitter, the IPL now has 1.4m followers – the first Indian brand to go beyond a million followers, which is what they had at the end of the 2013 season. Given those figures and the enthusiasm of the fans here, Ravi Shastri, a former India captain and member of the IPL’s governing council, believes the UAE deserves to host the Champions League.
"Of course, Champions League here in UAE cannot get any better than this," said Shastri, who is also here as a TV commentator. "The fans here are proof."
Over the past six years, the Champions League has been held in India four times and twice in South Africa, but it has not been as well received by the audiences as the IPL, both at the stadiums and on TV.
Shastri believes the UAE, with its diverse expatriate population, could be the perfect host for such an event.
“You will have four IPL teams, not to forget the team from Pakistan,” he said. “Other teams from the world will have takers, too. This [UAE] is an international hub.”
But the biggest prize for successfully hosting the IPL could be an India-Pakistan series. Biswal said the BCCI has received a request from Pakistan to play a few matches and the “BCCI general body will take a decision on when to play and where to play”.
Gavaskar said: “I am certain the success of the IPL will make the BCCI look at it [the UAE] in a much more different way than it has in the past.
“I do believe there are moves to have a series against Pakistan. When? That is something that I am not aware of.”
arizvi@thenational.ae
* With additional reporting by Kumar Shyam
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