After an intense recruitment drive, the rebel Indian Cricket
League today announced the dates and the venue for its high profile inaugural
edition of the Twenty20 championship.
The League, which will have West Indies batting great Brian Lara and
some other recently retired international cricketers as its star attraction,
will be held in Panchkula, Chandigarh, from November 30 to December 16.
The tournament, to be played at Tau Devi Lal Cricket Stadium,
will have 20 matches in all and will carry a prize money of USD 1 million.
The dates and venue were finalised at the ICL's Executive Board
meeting here, giving the rebel body a head start over the BCCI's proposed Indian
Premier League, which is scheduled to be held in April next year.
The tournament, a brainchild of Subhash Chandra-owned Essel Group, will have
20 matches, which includes 15 round robin matches and five classification ties.
The Grand Final preceded by three classification matches will be played on
December 16.
"The ICL Twenty20 championship will be held as promised,
later next month at Chandigarh. We are working hard to deliver a very exciting
tournament for the viewers.
"I am confident that the public in this country will witness
for the first time a fully professionally organised cricket extravaganza,"
ICL Chairman Kapil Dev said.
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