Is CLT20 moving abroad?

BEHIND THE NEWS

It is now more or less certain that the second edition ofthe Airtel T 20 Champions League will take place outside India thisSeptember. While T20 CL Commissioner and chairman Lalit Modi is notwilling to commit on anything just yet, he did tell sportzpower thatas many as four regions are in the hunt to host the tourney this year.Sportzpower has learnt that South Africa may be the frontrunner onceagain to stage the event.
With the IPL Governing Council warming up to the US CricketAssociation in Dubai late last week, the United States may emerge asone of the players. Though the acute lack of proper cricketinfrastructure will play spoilsport. Which leaves South Africa, theready to wear sporting and cricket destination, as also Australia andthe West Indies. With the Aussies scheduled to visit India thisOctober, Modi was forced to bring the CL T 20 schedule forward by amonth. Which also brings a rain threat to the cricket. This canjeopardise the matches in India.
Modi knowingly wants to avoid an overlap with monsoon rain and is thuscontemplating moving cricket's number one prize money franchiseoutside India. The problem is venues. With the Aussies touring Indiain October and the Commonwealth Games runnning in Delhi betweenOctober 3 and 14, security will also be an issue. The Aussiesthemselves will return and begin preparing to win back the Ashes intheir summer season. India tours South Africa after hosting theAussies and New Zealand, which leaves the window of CLT20 oepn forSeptember in the southern part of Africa.
Airtel which signed on as the CLT20 sponsor wouldn't mind the changein venue for the first edition in India was not exactly a blazingsuccess and by reportedly snapping up African and Middle Easterntelecoms Zain on Sunday for $10.7 billion, it would like to leverageits brand name further. The Bharti Airtel acquisition of Zain's assetsdoes not include Sudan and Morocco. Zain has a presence in 23 nationswith 73 million subscribers. It is still not known whether Zain willbe rebranded Airtel in Africa where it has operations in sevencountries in the Middle East: Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, SaudiArabia, Lebanon (as mtc touch), and Sudan and in 16 countries inAfrica: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republicof the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria,Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia.