Dhoni likely to miss Champions League final.

Chennai Super Kings, the IPL team that has qualified for the Champions Twenty20 League in December, is likely to release captain MS Dhoni in the later stages of the tournament to help him prepare for India's Test series against England, a top franchise official has said.

The Champions League, jointly organised by the BCCI, Cricket Australia (CA) and Cricket South Africa (CSA), will be held from December 3-10, and will be sandwiched between the India-England ODI and Test series.

The first Test begins on December 11 and VB Chandrasekar, director of cricket operations for Super Kings, suggested Dhoni might make himself unavailable for the final to turn out for India. "More weightage should be given to Indian team," Chandrasekar told Cricinfo.

The Australian and South African players taking part in the Champions League - Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey and Makhaya Ntini for Super Kings and Graeme Smith for Rajasthan Royal Challengers - will also be involved in international encounters till December 2, one day before the Twenty20 tournament starts. While Hayden and Hussey are expected to be part of the Australian Test squad in a Test series against New Zealand, Smith and Ntini are likely to be involved in a home series against Bangladesh.

Chandrasekar said the franchise expected the event to be held in Mohali, Delhi and Jaipur, the venues that were announced last month before the tournament organisers put that decision on hold to evaluate other offers.

Looking ahead to the team's chances and preparations for the Champions League, Chandrasekar said, "I would rate all teams equal. Any team can win a Twenty20 game on their day. We might hold a preparatory camp without the key players like Dhoni, Michael Hussey and Matthew Hayden."

He also said that it's highly unlikely that Super Kings will recruit new players for the tournament as most of the big players would be available to play.

Apart from Chennai Super Kings, the IPL runners-up, the inaugural Champions Twenty20 tournament comprises Rajasthan Royals, the IPL winner, Western Australia and Victoria, Australia's domestic twenty20 finalists, Nashua Titans and Dolphins, the South African finalists, Middlesex, England's champion, and Pakistan's Sialkot Stallions.

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3 cities to host Twenty20 Champions League matches.

Organizers for the Twenty20 Champions League picked Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai as venues for the inaugural tournament.

Lalit Modi, chairman of the Champions League board, announced the selections for the Dec. 2-10 event in a statement Thursday.

The Champions League will feature the leading provincial teams from India, Australia, South Africa, England and Pakistan.

The top two teams from the domestic Twenty20 competitions in India, Australia and South Africa will feature in the US$6 million tournament. One team each from England and Pakistan will complete the lineup.

India will be represented by Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings, the champion and losing finalist of the inaugural Indian Premier League played earlier this year.

Western Australia Warriors and Victoria Bushrangers are the Australian teams, while South Africa will send Titans and Dolphins. England is represented by its Twenty20 champion county Middlesex.

Pakistan's entry will be the winner of its domestic Twenty20 championship, which will start on Oct. 4.

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BCCI to get richer with T20 Champions league.

It is windfall for the three founding members of Champions Twenty20 League after inking massive USD 900 million television rights deal with ESPN STAR but the Indian Cricket Board will be the biggest beneficiary with 50 per cent of the amount going to its coffers.
According to media reports here, the three founding member boards -- BCCI, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa -- will share the 10-year deal amount with India getting half of it and CA and CSA pocketing 25 per cent each.

"Cricket Australia will earn about 25 per cent of the figure, as will Cricket South Africa, while the game's major power-broker -- the Board of Control for Cricket in India -- takes the remaining half," a report in Sydney Morning Herald said.

The Champions Twenty20 League deal is the second biggest rights agreement this year after the USD 1 billion deal for 10 years for the outstandingly successful Indian Premier League.

But the eight-day global Twenty20 league, which will be held from December 3 to 10, will become the highest value cricket tournament on a per game basis ever scheduled.

Eight teams, winners and runners-up of domestic Twenty20 competitions in India, Australia and South Africa, plus winners of 2008 Twenty20 championships from Pakistan and England have been invited to compete in the inaugural edition.

Next year, 12 teams will compete and the tournament will extend to 16 days. Teams will vie for USD 6 million in prize money, with half awarded to the winner and a minimum USD 250,000 to each participant.

India is expected to stage this year's tournament while venues in the United Arab Emirates are vying for hosting rights for next year and beyond.

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Lalit Modi appointed chairman of Champions League T20 board.

Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi has been appointed chairman of the board of the Champions League Twenty20 tournament scheduled in December.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the three founding member boards - the Board of Control for Cricket in India, (BCCI) Cricket Australia (CA) and Cricket South Africa (CSA) here.

The inaugural Champions League Twenty20 will be held Dec 3-10 in India. Eight teams, consisting of the reigning winners and runners-up from the domestic Twenty20 competitions in India, Australia and South Africa, plus the winners of Twenty20 championships from Pakistan, and the reigning Twenty20 Cup champion from England, Middlesex, will compete in the event.

The prize money of $6 million will be shared between the teams and their players. The tournament will be contested by 12 teams from next year.

2009 Champions League scheduled for September-October

The second Champions Twenty20 League will take place next year between September 25 and October 10, and will feature 12 teams, four more than the first edition to be held between December 3-10, 2008.

Next year's league has been scheduled in the same month the ICC proposes to hold its Champions Trophy, which was postponed from September 2008 after five of the eight participating nations said they would not send their teams for the event given security concerns in Pakistan.

The dates were announced in a release issued by the three founding members - the BCCI, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa.

The 2008 Champions Twenty20 League was initially due to begin on September 29, the reserve day of the Champions Trophy final, but the ICC expressed its unhappiness over the scheduling. It asked the Champions League organisers to rethink the programme after which the tournament was shifted to December.

The 2009 Champions League will involve 12 teams and 23 matches, while this year's competition has eight teams - the winners and runners-up from domestic Twenty20 competitions in India, Australia and South Africa plus the winner of 2008 Twenty20 championships from Pakistan and the reigning Twenty20 Cup champion from England, Middlesex.

According to the Future Tours Programme, Australia are scheduled to play seven one-day internationals in October 2009.

ESS [ESPNSTAR] Nets Champions League Twenty20.

ESPN STAR Sports has secured the ten-year commercial rights for the Champions League Twenty20.

The deal gives ESPN STAR Sports the exclusive Global Commercial Rights for all the matches in the inaugural Champions League Twenty20 season, due to be held from December 3 to 10, 2008, and for all further Champions League Twenty20 seasons until 2017.

The Commercial Rights were won by ESPN STAR Sports with a bid of US$900 million. This makes the Champions League Twenty20 the highest value cricket tournament on a per game basis.

Bids were also received from Abu Dhabi Sports Club and DIC for what is viewed as the most exciting sporting extravaganza for cricket fans all over the world. All the bids were opened in Dubai. While DIC's bid was US$751.3 million, Abu Dhabi Sports Club's bid was disqualified for being a conditional bid.

Lalit Modi, Chairman and Commissioner, Indian Premier League said, "We are absolutely delighted that after a fair and transparent process, we have what we believe to be the best commercial deal for the inaugural Champions League Twenty20 season and for cricket fans across the world. All the bids received were of a very high standard and we would like to thank all of the organisations that participated and for their submissions."

Manu Sawhney, Managing Director Asia, ESPN Star Sports said, ""We're extremely pleased at having won the Global Commercial Rights to the new and exciting Champions League Twenty20. This is a testament to our commitment to the game of cricket and fans as we cement our relationship with the BCCI, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa. Through our television channels - ESPN, STAR Sports & STAR Cricket, our website www.espnstar.com, and our wireless platforms mobileESPN and STAR Sports Mobile, we are confident of taking the Champions League Twenty20 to new heights by working along with the various partners involved and are committed to set new benchmarks in the broadcast and distribution, such that fans of this crowd-pulling format can look forward to an exciting time when the league begins this December."

James Sutherland, Chief Executive Officer of Cricket Australia, said, "With ESPN STAR Sports as our Commercial Rights Partner we are now certain this fantastic new competition will reach discerning cricket fans across the globe. The Champions League Twenty20 will build on the success of domestic Twenty20 leagues in Australia and elsewhere in a manner which accelerates the development of cricket globally. Now with ESPN Star Sports as our global Commercial Rights Partner I think that the benefits of this global event will flow down to the interstate cricket level in Australia and in other participant nations, and greatly enhance cricket at the grass roots level, particularly for state-level players who get the chance to pit their skills against players from around the world."

Gerald Majola, Chief Executive of Cricket South Africa, said, "Having ESPN STAR Sports as our Champions League global Commercial Rights Partner will significantly enhance the international stature of the Champions League Twenty20 and encourage the pipeline of cricket development from the club, affiliate and franchise levels through to the international arenas. I am sure the global broadcast of the Champions League Twenty20 will ignite the passion of cricket lovers the world over."

The three founding member boards had already announced the dates for the inaugural edition of the 2008 Champions League Twenty20 from 3rd – 10th December, 2008 inclusive. Eight teams, consisting of the reigning winners and runners-up from the domestic Twenty20 competitions in India, Australia and South Africa, plus the winners of 2008 Twenty20 championships (to be held in October 2008) from Pakistan, and the reigning Twenty20 Cup champion from England, Middlesex, have been invited to contest the 2008 Champions League Twenty20. The tournament will be contested by 12 teams in year two between September 25 and October 10, 2009.

The prize money of US$6 million, will be shared between the teams and their players. The Governing Council of the event together with its founding cricket boards believes that the significant prize money to be shared by teams and players will ensure that the benefits of the event will foster cricket's development by injecting new funding into domestic-level cricket and at the same time will handsomely reward domestic-level cricketers and provide a unique opportunity for a higher public profile for players at the level below international cricket.

Courtesy : ESPNSTAR.com

Mumbai to host Champions League Twenty20 final.

It had all the ingredients of a press conference, and more.

Besides the bustling sports scribes and clamour of photographers, there were also business journalists trying to have their share of the pie.As one rightly put it, "Cricket is now the biggest business in India and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) the biggest conglomerate."

The occasion was the launch of the logo of what is so far the biggest product from the behemoth - the Champions League Twenty20 [Images], coming on the heels of the hugely successfully inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League [Images] (IPL). The evening palpably belonged to the chairman, Lalit Modi, and he began by thanking the media.

"I want to thank the media for the coverage of the IPL. It is because of the media and the fans that the IPL became such a huge success," he said, before going on to explain that the Champions League T20 will be bigger -- with a purse of $6 million (with the winner alone taking home $3 million). The inaugural edition -- palpably modeled on the UEFA [Images] Champions League -- was scheduled to be held at Chandigarh, Delhi [Images] and Jaipur [Images], but will now be held in a completely different set of venues.

"Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai will host the matches, with Mumbai hosting the final on December 10," said Modi. But what prompted the change of venues?. "Weather was a crucial factor. The tournament is in December and it is usually very cold in North India at that time. Also, with most matches being played at night, the dew factor will also have to be taken into consideration," he explained. Now that Mumbai has been finalised to host the final, where will it be staged? "DY Patil is an option; so is CCI. We will take a decision on the venue soon," said Modi.

The inaugural edition will feature eight teams -- Rajasthan Royals [Images], Chennai Super Kings [Images], Western Australia [Images] Warriors, Victoria Bushrangers, Titans, Dolphins, Middlesex and the reigning T20 champions from Pakistan - and 15 matches. But in the second edition the number of teams will be increased to 12 and the number of matches to 23.

As regard the participation of players, they will be bound by their contractual obligations even though there's a provision for them to choose. "I'll give the example of Morne Morkel. He belonged to Royals but played for Titans instead. So, he will play for the latter," explained Modi. "Similarly, for players like Hayden it is a matter of choice. What we want to ensure though is that the competition is of the highest standard." With the inaugural IPL being such a success, the winners Rajasthan Royals are intending to go public.

"Yes, the owners have expressed to me their desire to go public and it is great," said Modi. "I would encourage all other teams to follow suit." Now that most questions pertaining to the Champions League T20 and the IPL had been answered, the topic veered towards the touring Australians.
There is a lot of criticism about the Aussies coming early and being provided top class facilities to train when India hardly has time for the same when it tours Down Under. "It is not as if the Australians have a problem with us going early," explained Modi, trying to be defensive. "It is because of our packed commitments that we don't get the time to go there early.

"This year, thanks to the cancellation of the Champions Trophy [Images], the Aussies had the spare time and they asked me about this possibility and I welcomed them. We're a fledgling academy and if one of the best teams comes to train with us, it is great thing for our young players." The precision with which the chairman answered all questions, it seemed he had done his homework well. And even if some answers were not as convincing, at least he has to be given the credit for being able to come up with an answer.

As the noted commentator Harsha Bhogle, the emcee for the show, put it, "Meet the man who dons three hats, the chairman of the IPL, the chairman of the Champions League and the chairman of the Rajasthan Cricket Academy (RCA)." Indeed, it would be an understatement to say that Mr Modi is successfully performing all the roles.