All about Champions League Twenty20

The Champions League Twenty20 is one of the leading T20 cricket tournament which features the top domestic Twenty20 sides of the world. After the grand successes of the Indian Premier League in its inaugural season of 2008 the cricket boards of India, Australia and South Africa got together to conceptualize Champions League Twenty20. Indian Premier League saw unprecedented success in its inaugural edition in 2008 and it was evident that Twenty20 format of cricket has huge potential to be commercially successful. Champions League Twenty20 was planned and its first edition was held in India and the second edition is to be hosted by South Africa in 2010.

How did the Champions League T20 originate?
The concept of an international tournament between major domestic teams from around the world was first the first conceived almost 2 decades back in 1990s but it was only possible with the advent of Twenty20 cricket. Indian Premier League was a huge success in its inaugural edition in 2008 and this propelled cricket officials of England, India, Australia and South Africa to conceptualize an international T20 tournament between all major domestic teams from around the world. The new concept took the game of cricket to a different level. The attempt was to replicate the popularity of club-based competitions in other sports, most notably football.

Problems faced by Champions League T20
The inaugural season of Champions League T20 was to be played in India in December 2008. The tournament had to be cancelled after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008. The first edition of Champions League T20 was eventually held in India in September 2009 but teams from Pakistan were not able to participate due to the political situation.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) refused to make Champions League T20 a part of the Future Tours Program (FTP) which made it difficult to find a window in the international calendar as all international players may not be available for the tournament.

The outcome of this decision of ICC had an effect which was felt in Champions League T20 2010 as the event schedule clashed with the end of the English domestic season which forced ECB to withdraw its counties from Champions League T20.

Teams of Champions League T20
In the inaugural season of Champions League T20 in 2009 12 teams participated in the tournament. The Champions League T20 2009 included:

• The top three from the IPL (Deccan Chargers, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils)

• The finalists of the Australian domestic Twenty20 (Victoria and New South Wales)

• The finalists of South Africa's Pro20 (Cape Cobras and Eagles)

• The finalists of England's Twenty20 Cup (Somerset and Sussex)

• Winners of the Stanford 20/20 from West Indies (Trinidad and Tobago)

• Winners of the HRV Cup from New Zealand (Otago)

• Winners of the Inter-provincial Twenty20 tournament from Sri Lanka (Wayamba).

The inaugural season of Champions League T20 was won by New South Wales, who defeated Trinidad & Tobago in the final. The second edition of Champions League T20 which is played in South Africa from September 10th will feature 10 teams. The Champions League T20 2010 teams are:

• Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore from India

• Victoria and South Australia from Australia

• Highveld Lions and Warriors from South Africa

• Guyana from the West Indies

• Central Districts Stags from New Zealand

• Wayamba from Sri Lanka

Tournament format for Champions League T20
The inaugural edition of Champions League T20 which was played in India in 2009 saw 12 teams participating which were split into four groups of three each, with two from each group proceeding to a league stage. The eight qualifying teams were put into two groups of which top two teams from each group were the semifinalists. Champions League T20 2010 has ten teams split into two groups of five each. The top two from each group will contest the semi-finals.