Cricket update - Champions League T-20 new format
The champions league T-20 for 2010 will see a change in format. This time 10 teams will be divided in 2 groups; each team will play one match against every other team in the group. At the end of league matches top 2 teams from each group will qualify for the semi final.
In the last edition of the tournament which was the inaugural one in 2009, there were 4 groups with 3 teams in each group, and 2 teams from each group qualified for the super 8 stage after which the semi finalists were decided.
The change in format will not change the number of matches in the tournament and will feature 23 matches just like the last edition. Matches have been distributed amongst 5 stadiums.
The change in the format was made keeping in mind that with only 3 teams per group, there was very little room for error, and if a team did not play well in the first game they would have had struggled to make it through. But now 4 round robin matches will provide teams with a better chance to pace themselves.
IPL finalists Mumbai Indians will play the first match of the tournament on 10th of September against Lions from South Africa at the Wanderers in Johannesburg. The final of the tournament will also be played at the same venue.
Lions and the Mumbai Indians are both in Group B, other teams in the same group are South Australia, Bangalore Royal Challengers and one team from West Indies (name of the team will be decided at the end of July).
Group A though looks to be a much tougher one, the group includes, the IPL champions Chennai Super Kings, Warriors who are the South African Pro 20 champions, Sri Lankan team Wayamba and Central Districts from New Zealand.
Surprisingly the defending champions of the tournament New South Wales Blues from Australia could not do enough in the Australian Big Bash T-20 to qualify.
There is an interesting situation when tournaments like this come along, as it was last year. Several players will be eligible to play for more than one team, mainly because the Indian Premier League features a number of International players who also take part in their own domestic T-20 leagues.
The players are Jacques Kallis who plays for Warriors in South Africa and is also a key player for Bangalore Royal Challengers, Makhaya Ntini is also form Warriors and also plays for the IPL champions Chennai Super kings , but Ntini has hardly been able to get a game in the last 2 seasons. However, there are 3 players who may be eligible surprisingly for not 2 but in fact 3 teams; Pollard played for his home team Trinidad in the first edition of Champions League, and was quite successful which enabled him to be part of Mumbai Indians in IPL and later also played for South Australia in the Big Bash the same year. The second player is the West Indian All-rounder Dwayne Bravo who represented Trinidad in last year’s event, played for Victoria in Australia and Mumbai Indians in IPL. Australian Cameron White will also have to choose between his home team Victoria and Bangalore. While the 2 West Indian players may only have to decide between 2 rather than 3 teams if Trinidad is not one of the teams that qualify from the Caribbean, but Ross Taylor is sure to have a decision between 3 teams, with Central District, Victoria and Bangalore all in the tournament already.
If a player chooses to play for his country’s domestic side rather than an international franchise, then there is no compensation, but if the roles are reversed then the away team/franchise will have to pay 200 US dollars to the player’s local team. Thus, Pakistan Captain Shahid Afridi, if available, can be a part of Victoria.
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