Twenty20 / Andrew Hughes / 07 October 2009 / Leave a comment

Cricket's newest tournament gets underway on Thursday, featuring some of the best domestic teams from around the world. Andrew Hughes explains what it's all about

"The Indian teams have the twin advantages of playing on their home turf and being able to call upon what are essentially international squads, comprised of some of the best players from around the world."

What is it?

The Champions League Twenty20 was conceived at a time when it looked as though franchise-based Twenty20 leagues were going to spring up all around the globe. That didn't materialise but the concept of bringing together the best domestic Twenty20 teams from around the world remained attractive to the organisers of the IPL, keen to cash in on the popularity of the format. Originally slated for last autumn, it was postponed due to the Mumbai terrorist attacks and in its rearranged form has expanded from eight to twelve teams.

How does it work?

Teams qualified for the Champions League by virtue of winning or finishing runners-up in their domestic Twenty20 competitions. Two teams each from England (Sussex and Somerset) South Africa (Cape Cobras and Eagles) and Australia (New South Wales and Victoria) will be taking part as well as one each from West Indies (Trinidad and Tobago), Sri Lanka (Wayamba) and New Zealand (Otago). Deccan Chargers, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils, the top three franchises from IPL 2009, complete the line-up.

The tournament begins on October 8th and as you might expect, is designed to squeeze in as much revenue-rich cricket as possible. The twelve teams are divided into four groups of three, from which the top two will progress into two further groups of four, with the winners and runners-up from those sections going on to semi-finals and the final itself, in Hyderabad on October 23rd.

Where is it being held?

Unsurprisingly, this inaugural event is being held in India, in three separate venues, which just happen to be the 'home' grounds of the three IPL franchises: Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore. India at this time of year is usually not too bad for playing cricket as the monsoon is over and the temperatures are cooling enough to take the edge off the heat. Pitches at the three grounds tend to be flat and lifeless and bowlers will need to rely on guile rather than any assistance from the surface.

Which players should we look out for?

A number of players have withdrawn due to injury, including Graeme Smith, Daniel Vettori, A B De Villiers, Jesse Ryder, Brad Haddin, Nathan Bracken and Paul Collingwood. Nevertheless any cricket fan should be more than happy with a tournament that includes the likes of Tillakaratne Dilshan, Adam Gilchrist, Virender Sehwag, Andrew Symonds, Brendon McCullum, Brett Lee, J P Duminy and Gautam Gambhir.

A peculiar feature of this tournament is the choice that some players have had to make between representing their IPL franchise or their domestic team. Whilst Cameron White, David Warner, Farveez Maharoof and Herschelle Gibbs have opted to play for their domestic side, Mark Boucher and Jaques Kallis have stuck with Bangalore. Dwayne Smith has had an even trickier decision, opting for his new county Sussex, ahead of Deccan Chargers, whilst Hampshire and Rajasthan's Dimitri Mascarenhas has popped up in the Otago squad!

So who's going to win?

The Indian teams have the twin advantages of playing on their home turf and being able to call upon what are essentially international squads, comprised of some of the best players from around the world. The other teams in the competition remain almost entirely domestic and frankly, lack the depth of talent of the IPL franchises. It would be no surprise to see two Indian teams in the final. Of the three, Delhi are perhaps the weakest, having lost A B De Villiers, David Warner and Daniel Vettori, although a batting line-up that reads: Sehwag, Gambhir, Dilshan is not too bad and probably explains why they are currently [6.8] favourites in the tournament winners market.

If you're thinking of looking outside the IPL trio, the likeliest challengers are the Australian teams. New South Wales [7.0] have a nice balance of internationals, including Warner, Lee, Philip Hughes and Simon Katich whilst Victoria [9.2] look a little light in the bowling department although can boast Cameron White, Brad Hodge and David Hussey in their batting order. The remaining teams will rely heavily on one or two internationals and if you are thinking of siding with Somerset at [16.0] it might be worth waiting to see whether Marcus Trescothick is able to take a full part.

Tags: Deccan Chargers, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Twenty20 Champions League, Virender Sehwag