Host Cities Named For New IPL Series
Despite concerns over safety, the host cities for the inaugural Champions Twenty20 League in October will be held in the home venues of the three Indian Premier League teams taking part in the tournament: Hyderabad, Bangalore and Delhi.
The cities are the home to Deccan Chargers, the winners of IPL 2009, Royal Challengers Bangalore, the runners-up, and Delhi Daredevils, who qualified by virtue of finishing first in the group stage.
The Indian franchises will be competing against domestic Twenty20 teams from other countries: Victoria and New South Wales from Australia, Cape Cobras and Eagles from South Africa, Otago Volts from New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago from West Indies and Wayamba from Sri Lanka.
The English teams will be determined after their Twenty20 Cup ends in August.
While concerns about location have been raised due to the various terrorist attacks that occurred over the last year, Lalit Modi, the Champions Twenty20 League chairman, said the IPL’s success in South Africa proved the club concept would be accepted by cricket fans across the world.
“The Champions Twenty20 League is thus the ideal tournament to crown the best-of-the-best in club cricket from across the cricketing world,” Modi said. “This time around we are fully equipped to conduct an extremely successful tournament in India and given the cooperation of our fellow cricket boards from Australia and South Africa, I am confident that the Champions Twenty20 League will truly be a global event.”
