Indian Premier League chairman Lalit Modi is working tirelessly on his next brainchild Champions League that is scheduled to start in October, and is hopeful that it will be successful.

Champions League, which was scheduled for December last year, was postponed in the wake of Mumbai terror attacks. It was rescheduled and will now be played in October featuring best Twenty20 sides from India, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and West Indies.

“The Champions League is scheduled to launch on October 8 and finish on October 23. We’ll have a draw very soon and we’re working on that now,” he said.

If the Champions League would be a bigger event than the IPL, the man behind these cash-rich events said he was hopeful of the success and that there was enough anticipation in the market.

“It’s a different tournament. We hope it will become as big as the IPL and we could endeavour to try and do that. We haven’t played this tournament before. The anticipation is there in the market place and we are all looking forward to it,” he said.

“I would rather not get in to that. Everyone has his or her own views. There are some who say it’s not good, and others who like it. The IPL is here to stay. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t get to the finals this year and win the tournament. But there are many players playing in the tournament.

“I don’t agree at all. The players were fully prepared. In fact the IPL was a grounds for preparation. It was a Twenty20 tournament. They were able to prove their skills and their ability in the IPL against each other and the team’s they were playing against”.

He cited examples of Sri Lanka and South Africa to prove his point.

“The Sri Lankans played (IPL) and they reached the World T20 final. The South Africans performed extremely well. They didn’t make the finals, but they played extremely well all through the tournament,” he said.

Modi said it was not practicable and that the players would have to adapt to the rigours of international cricket as World Cups (ODI or T20) are happening every year.

” I don’t see top Indian players skipping IPL. It is not practicable. These days cricket tournaments are held throughout the year and players will have to adapt to the schedule. We are having a World Cup every year. So, it cannot be possible that no other cricket takes place and just the World Cup takes place,” he said.