A decade after the last edition of the Champions League T20 tournament was held in India, the cricket boards of the Big Three — India, Australia and England, are mulling at reviving the tournament, revealed Cricket Victoria CEO Nick Cummins.

Cummins, however, pointed out that the biggest hurdle in the process, is the lack of a window in the jam-packed cricket calendar.

“I think the Champions League was ahead of its time. The T20 landscape wasn’t mature enough at that point. I think it is now. I know that there’s active conversations between Cricket Australia, the ECB, and the BCCI about the Champions League,” Cummins said.

“It’s just trying to find a window as to when you actually play that, because you’ve also got all the ICC tournaments as well. It may be that the first iteration of the Champions League will be of the women… (it may involve cricketers playing in) the WPL, the Hundred and the WBBL,” he added.

Cummins said he has been constantly discussing the tournament’s revival with Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley, and BCCI secretary Jay Shah could add more on the topic.

“I’m constantly talking to Nick Hockley, Cricket Australia CEO, for a Champions League, because I think it’s pretty important to bring that back. There are talks about it. It’s probably a question to ask Jay Shah. But certainly, from an Australia cricket perspective, we are very open to the idea of the Champions League. It’s just about finding a window in the FTP, but I think that’s the next step in the evolution of cricket,” he said.

Drawing comparisons with the club-based Champions League in football, Cummins said cricket needed to find a similar balance between international- and club-based competitions.

“We still haven’t made out which league is the best. IPL, PSL or the Big Bash? The only way we can show that is by having Melbourne Stars play Karachi Kings or Mumbai Indians. Champions League is well overdue. Look at what Champions League does for football, the World Cup is fantastic and the Champions League is there (too) every time,” he said.

“The idea of Mumbai Indians playing Melbourne Stars at the MCG would be just as exciting as India playing Australia at the MCG.

“Football had a really big club vs country tension in the 90s. And they found a way for international football to exist side by side with leagues. Cricket is going through it at the moment. Every country has the right to have a T20 league, whether it is Nepal or Ireland. We shouldn’t place controls on how members want to play cricket.

“The reality is there is no T20 competition in the world which has the best players in the world playing in it. Champions League would actually provide that. No other competition has Indian players. The IPL doesn’t have Pakistan players. So there is no competition in the world with the best players. The Champions League would be a way for the best to be playing against each other,” he further said.

India hosted the last edition of the CLT20 in 2014, with Chennai Super Kings pocketing the title after defeating Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the final in Bengaluru. The tournament, then in its sixth year, involved three teams from India, two each from Australia and South Africa, and one each from Pakistan, the West Indies and New Zealand.

The tournament was played annually from 2009 to 2014, four times in India and twice in South Africa. The tournament was won twice each by CSK and Mumbai Indians (MI), and once each by New South Wales and Sydney Sixers.