 The
schedule for the Champions League of cricket tournament to be held in India
in October has been announced. The 12 teams will play 23 games over a period of
16 days over three different venues in the tournament. The matches will be played
in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi, which are also the three teams which have qualified
for the Champions League. M. Chinnaswamy, Ferozshah Kotla and Rajiv Ganghi
stadium in Uppal are said to be the hosting stadiums.
The tournament will see the 12 teams divided into four groups of three teams
each. Each of these groups will have a round-robin league, and the top two from
each group will advance to the second round, making it eight teams in this stage.
The teams that have advanced will further play two more games in the second
round, and the top four teams will then move into the semi-finals.
The semi-finals will be a knock-out round, played on 21st of October and 22nd
of October and will be followed by the all-important, grand finale on the 25th
of October. The 12 teams belong to different countries like India, Australia,
South Africa, England, Sri Lanka, West Indies and New Zealand.
There are three teams from India, whereas Australia, South Africa and England
will be represented by two teams each. West Indies, Sri Lanka and New
Zealand have one team each in the tournament.
Ten out of the 12 sides have so far qualified for the tournament. The IPL winners
and runners-up, Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers Bangalore will be joined
by the Delhi Daredevils, while the South African franchises are Cape
Cobras and Eagles. Australian sides Victoria and New South Wales will have Otago
from New Zealand, Wayamba from Sri Lanka and Trinidad and Tobago from the West
Indies. Trinidad and Tobago had won the Stanford T20, organised by the American
billionaire Allen Stanford. However, Stanford is now in police custody
for an alleged fraud of billions of dollars.
The two teams from England have to qualify, but their identity will
be known by the 15th of August, when their domestic T20 tournament ends.
Group A: Deccan Chargers, Trinidad and Tobago, English qualifier-1
Group B: Eagles, New South Wales, English qualifier-2
Group C: Cape Cobras, Otago, Royal Challengers Bangalore
Group D: Delhi Daredevils, Victoria, Wayamba
All matches will be played at 4pm and 8pm IST respectively. The finals will
be played in Hyderabad.
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