All about T20 Champions League 2009 and opening ceremony, Fixtures, Squads and Venues

T20 Champions League cricket opening ceremony will be kicked-off on 8 October at Bangalore on October 8. Which two teams are going to celebrate the opening, lightning and anticipated evening. Well, none but IPL second season runners-up Bangalore Royal Challengers and South African Cricket club Cape Cobras will take on each other. Twelve teams will play a round league by dividing in four groups. Among them three Indian team of IPL teams are included. Twelve clubs from seven cricket playing counties are ready to meet in the rivalry tournaments. The name and groups are below.

Group A: Deccan Chargers (India), Somerset CCC (England), Trinidad & Tobago (West Indies)

Group B: New South Wales (Australia), Diamond Eagles (South Africa), Sussex Sharks (England)

Group C: Royal Challengers Bangalore (India), Cape Cobras (South Africa), Otago Volts (New Zealand)

Group D: Delhi Daredevils (India), Victoria (Australia), Wayamba (Sri Lanka)

With the match Group-C another most exciting the ceremony will be unfolded just after a few days of champions’ trophy. It is the last event where the players of different countries will be seen at a time. Later this year and in the first quarter of 2010 two important money making games will be take place. One is Twenty20 World Championship and other is IPL T20 season 3. Every year the cricket loving people will get opportunity to enjoy this tournament.

http://www.clt20.com/fixtures.pdf

Date and Time	Match
Thu Oct 8 20:00 local | 14:30 GMT	Group C – Royal Challengers Bangalore v Cape Cobras M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Fri Oct 9 16:00 local | 10:30 GMT	Group B – Diamond Eagles v New South Wales Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
Fri Oct 9 20:00 local | 14:30 GMT	Group D – Delhi Daredevils v Victoria Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
Sat Oct 10 16:00 local | 10:30 GMT	Group C – Cape Cobras v Otago Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad
Sat Oct 10 20:00 local | 14:30 GMT	Group A – Deccan Chargers v Somerset Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad
Sun Oct 11 16:00 local | 10:30 GMT	Group B – New South Wales v Sussex Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
Sun Oct 11 20:00 local | 14:30 GMT	Group D – Delhi Daredevils v Wayamba Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
Mon Oct 12 16:00 local | 10:30 GMT	Group A – Somerset v Trinidad & Tobago M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Mon Oct 12 20:00 local | 14:30 GMT	Group C – Royal Challengers Bangalore v Otago M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Tue Oct 13 16:00 local | 10:30 GMT	Group D – Victoria v Wayamba Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
Tue Oct 13 20:00 local | 14:30 GMT	Group B – Eagles v Sussex Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
Wed Oct 14 20:00 local | 14:30 GMT	Group A – Deccan Chargers v Trinidad & Tobago Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad
Thu Oct 15 20:00 local | 14:30 GMT	League B – TBC v TBC (C1 v D2) M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Fri Oct 16 16:00 local | 10:30 GMT	League A – TBC v TBC (A2 v B2) Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad
Fri Oct 16 20:00 local | 14:30 GMT	League A – TBC v TBC (A1 v B1) Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad
Sat Oct 17 16:00 local | 10:30 GMT	League B – TBC v TBC (C2 v D2) M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Sat Oct 17 20:00 local | 14:30 GMT	League B – TBC v TBC (C1 v D1) M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Sun Oct 18 16:00 local | 10:30 GMT	League A – TBC v TBC (A2 v B1) Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad
Sun Oct 18 20:00 local | 14:30 GMT	League A – TBC v TBC (A1 v B2) Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad
Mon Oct 19 20:00 local | 14:30 GMT	League B – TBC v TBC (C2 v D1) Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
Wed Oct 21 20:00 local | 14:30 GMT	1st Semi-final – TBC v TBC (Winner B v Runner up A) Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
Thu Oct 22 20:00 local | 14:30 GMT	2nd Semi-final – TBC v TBC (Winner A v Runner up B) Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad
Fri Oct 23 20:00 local | 14:30 GMT	Final – TBC v TBC Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad

Here is a list of the TV channels that will show the matches Live in different countries of the world. This is the first time, the tournament’s commentary will telecast in 12 different languages. Beside some familiar voices some new commentators will be debuted them in this jobs this season such as Kumar Sangakkara, Ricky Ponting.

Television:

Star Cricket: India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia

Star Sports: India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia

ONE HD: Australia

British Eurosport: United Kingdom

Directv: USA

CBN, ATN Cricket Plus: Canada

Willow Tv: Internet North America

Three international cricket grounds as well as Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad, Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi and M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore has been selected as venue.

These are the probable 15 men squads who will take part in Champions League Twenty20 2009.

Delhi Daredevils (India)Virender Sehwag (capt), AB de Villiers, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Gautam Gambhir, Dirk Nannes, Dinesh Karthik, Daniel Vettori, Ashish Nehra, Amit Mishra, Paul Collingwood, Owais Shah, Pradeep Sangwan, Aavishkar Salvi, Rajat Bhatia, Mithun Manhas.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (India)Anil Kumble (capt), Rahul Dravid, Robin Uthappa, Jacques Kallis, Ross Taylor, Dale Steyn, Manish Pandey, Praveen Kumar, Jesse Ryder, Roelof van der Merwe, Mark Boucher, Vinay Kumar, Virat Kohli, Akhil Balachandra, Rajesh Bishoni.

Deccan Chargers (India)Adam Gilchrist (capt), VVS Laxman, Rohit Sharma, Andrew Symonds, Fidel Edwards, Scott Styris, Chaminda Vaas, RP Singh, Ryan Harris, Pragyan Ojha, Y Venugopal Rao, T Suman, Azhar Bilakhia, Harmeet Singh, SM Shoaib.

Cape Cobras (South Africa) Graeme Smith (capt), Herschelle Gibbs, JP Duminy, Justin Ontong, Charl Langeveldt, Claude Henderson, Monde Zondeki, Vernon Philander, Henry Davids, Ryan Canning, Rory Kleinveldt, Richard Levi, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Derek Brand, Francois Plaatjies.

New South Wales (Australia): Simon Katich (capt), Phillip Hughes, Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Moises Henriques, Nathan Hauritz, Doug Bollinger, Aaron Bird, Stephen O’Keefe, Ben Rohrer, Steve Smith, Daniel Smith, Dominic Thornely, David Warner.

Trinidad & Tobago (West Indies): Daren Ganga (capt), Sherwin Ganga, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Lendl Simmons, Dave Mohammed, Kieron Pollard, William Perkins, Samuel Badree, Rayad Emrit, Navin Stewart, Sunil Narine, Adrian Barath.

Otago (New Zealand): Craig Cumming (capt), Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Aaron Redmond, Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Greg Todd, Hamish Rutherford, Derek deBoorder, Nick Baird, Warren McSkimming, Neil Wagner, Matt Harvie, James McMillan.

Wayamba (Sri Langka): Jehan Mubarak (capt), Mahela Jayawardene, Ajantha Mendis, Rangana Herath, Farveez Maharoof, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Jeevantha Kulathunga, Mahela Udawatte, Thisara Perera, Sameera Soysa, Shalika Karunanayake, Isuru Udana, Ishara Amerasinghe, Chanaka Welegedara, Michael Vandort.

Sussex (England): Michael Yardy (capt), Dwayne Smith, Luke Wright, James Kirtley, Piyush Chawla, Ed Joyce, Joe Gatting, Robin Martin-Jenkins, William Beer, Andrew Hodd, Christopher Nash, Ben Brown, Rory Hamilton-Brown, Yasir Arafat, Chad Keegan.

Diamond Eagles (England): Boeta Dippenaar (capt), Dillon du Preez, Morne van Wyk, Mthandeki Tshabalala, Adrian McLaren, Ryan McLaren, Victor Mpitsang, Ryan Bailey, Jandre Coetzee, Cornelis de Villiers, Dean Elgar, Reeza Hendricks, Alan Kruger, Rilee Rossouw, Shadley van Schalkwyk.

Victoria (Australia): Cameron White (capt), Brad Hodge, Peter Siddle, David Hussey, Andrew McDonald, Jon Holland, Clint McKay, Rob Quiney, Matthew Wade, Aiden Blizzard, Aaron Finch, Shane Harwood, John Hastings, Damien Wright, Bryce McGain.

Somerset (Australia): Justin Langer (capt), Marcus Trescothick, Zander de Bruyn, Omari Banks, James Hildreth, Craig Kieswetter, Pete Trego, Arul Suppiah, Alfonso Thomas, Max Waller, Charl Willoughby, Wes Durston, Mark Turner, Jos Buttler, Ben Phillips.

Champions League and ESPN's Broadcast Rights

The Champion League’s inaugural Twenty20 club-cricket tournament was scheduled from 3 December 2008 but is was postponed for the terrorist attack in Mumbai. It is hoping to make preparations on the earlier next year but I am not sure about it because of ICC’s tight schedule. Although, it a club to club game where the players will take part on behalf of the different club of England, Australia, Pakistan and India but form India IPL T20 team Chennai Super Kings will take part.  

Aiming to make popular the club cricket, BCCI scheduled to organize The Champion League’s inaugural Twenty20 club-cricket tournament and ESPN Star Sports secured the telecast right for next 10 years. But Mumbai attack stopped all plans.  

Business Standard reported on 7 December 2008 “At least, Rs 280 crore of ad-revenue was expected from the first Champions League tournament for which ESPN Star Sports paid $975 million as the telecast rights fee for the next 10 years. It was expecting to recover more than half of Rs 430 crore (Rs 4,300 crore for 10 years) from the inaugural tournament from advertising revenue, ticket sales, among other options.” 

In the inaugural Champion League’s inaugural Twenty20 club-cricket tournament eight teams will take parts and the match will be held in selected three venues. Chennai Super Kings is one of he popular and strong club of the Indian Premier League and champions of the inaugural IPLT20 Rajasthan Royals and the other hand Middlesex very popular in English Premier League.  Sialkot squad is form Pakistan Victoria and W. Australia are from Australian. 

Champions League’s inaugural Twenty20 club-cricket tournament on 12 December 2008

In the previous articles I wrote that the inaugural Champions League’s inaugural Twenty20 club-cricket tournament will be held earlier in the next year 2009. In a meeting on 8 December 2008 BCCI has taken the final decision that it will be held on 12 December 2008 that was designed to inaugurate on 7 December 2008. 

Indiantelevison.com reported

Earlier, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had decided to hold a meeting with the board members of Cricket Australia (CA) and Cricket South Africa (CSA) on 7 December for fixing up a possible date for the Champions League Twenty20. The meeting, however, could not be held.

Said Emerging Media CMO Raghu Iyer, "There is a window open in January. After that, it will be difficult to slot the event." 

Here is a question to BCCI, how did they schedule at that time? Did they break the Future Tour Programmes rules? Or is it meaning that India will not go to their scheduled tour in Pakistan? In stead of Pakistan tour, BCCI is inaugurating the Champions League’s inaugural Twenty20 club-cricket tournament?

Fixtures and time schedule of Champions Twenty20 League

The inaugural Champions Twenty20 League will suppose to add more attraction in the T20 tournament in the cricket media that will be taken place in the different play ground in Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore. It is the extended of IPL T20 cricket tournament that was setup to decrease the popularity of ICL T20 championship.

The extended parts of IPL T20 will be taken place form the 3 December 2008 that has been named to Champions Twenty20 League 2008/2009. Beside the champion and runner of the first IPL T20, Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Chennai Super Kings another six squads will be the participant of the tournament. Pakistan, England, Australia are all set to take parts in the so called Champions Twenty20 League.

 

According to the declared Fixture the matches will be started from 3 December. The committee has scheduled two matches in the first day and according the local time it will be grounded at 16:00 hours and the second math is 20:00 hours at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai and M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. 

 

Fixture and Time table of Champions Twenty20 League:

December 2008

Wed 3

16:00 local, 10:30 GMT        Group A - Middlesex v Victoria

Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai

Wed 3 

20:00 local, 14:30 GMT        Group B - Dolphins v Rajasthan Royals

M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore

Thu 4

16:00 local, 10:30 GMT        Group B - Sialkot Stallions v Western Australia

M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore

Thu 4 

20:00 local, 14:30 GMT        Group A - Chennai Super Kings v Victoria

Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai

Fri 5

16:00 local, 10:30 GMT        Group A - Middlesex v Titans

MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai

Fri 5 

20:00 local, 14:30 GMT        Group B - Rajasthan Royals v Sialkot Stallions

Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai

Sat 6

12:00 local, 06:30 GMT        Group B - Dolphins v Western Australia

M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore

Sat 6

16:00 local, 10:30 GMT        Group A - Titans v Victoria

MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai

Sat 6 

20:00 local, 14:30 GMT        Group A - Chennai Super Kings v Middlesex

MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai

Sun 7

12:00 local, 06:30 GMT        Group B - Dolphins v Sialkot Stallions

M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore

Sun 7

16:00 local, 10:30 GMT        Group B - Rajasthan Royals v Western Australia

MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai

Sun 7 

20:00 local, 14:30 GMT        Group A - Chennai Super Kings v Titans

MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai

Mon 8 

20:00 local, 14:30 GMT        1st Semi-Final - TBC v TBC

M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore

Group B winners v Group A runners-up

Tue 9 

20:00 local, 14:30 GMT        2nd Semi-Final - TBC v TBC

MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai

Group A winners v Group B runners-up

Wed 10 

20:00 local, 14:30 GMT        Final - TBC v TBC

MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai

 

The Champions Twenty20 League will be close on 10 December. After playing a robin round league the four teams will compete for the final of the champions tournament. So, the cricket lover all over the world are getting an opportunity to enjoy the matches.