Champions League T20 2011

IPL considering CLT20 qualifying stage

The IPL governing council is considering holding an additional qualifying stage for the 2011 Champions League T20 a few days before the main event, which would give a fourth IPL team a chance to play in it.

"Fourth team may have the opportunity to play CLT20," Sundar Raman, the IPL chief executive, tweeted on May 22. "But they need to play a qualifier tournament a few days before CLT20 with 3 other teams."

According to Raman's twitter feed, the tournament proper is scheduled to be held from September 23 to October 9 in India. The qualifying event - if it gets the green light - will have to be shoe-horned into the tightly packed international schedule, in the week following India's tour of England, that ends on September 16.

Bangalore v Chennai, 1st qualifier, IPL 2011, Mumbai

Bangalore favourite in fight for final

It began with a last-ball thriller, meandered in the middle, and ended with perhaps the most exciting match of the season. The IPL league phase is over, and though there were some spirited contenders, the four teams who looked strongest from the start are the ones that have progressed.

Amid the randomness of the prolonged qualification period Royal Challengers Bangalore have provided some stability. With eight wins in their previous nine games, they are undoubtedly favourites, a concept so vital to most sporting contests, but considered taboo in the IPL. They have earned the tag, and not just through the belligerence of Chris Gayle. S Aravind and Virat Kohli have been consistent, Daniel Vettori has been effective in his unassuming manner, Zaheer Khan has shown glimpses of his abilities and, perhaps, most importantly they've been relatively safe with their catching in a tournament plagued by poor fielding.