2008 Champions League Twenty20

2008 Champions League Twenty20
Administrator(s)
Cricket formatTwenty20
Tournament format(s)Round-robin and knockout
Participants8
2009

The 2008 Champions League Twenty20 was scheduled to be the first edition of the Champions League Twenty20, an international club cricket tournament. It was due to be held in India between 3 and 10 December 2008,[1] where the winners were to earn around US$6 million. The 2008 Mumbai attacks just one week prior to the tournament resulted in its postponement.[2] It was proposed that the tournament be held in early 2009, but dates for its rearrangement could not be found and the tournament was cancelled on 12 December.[3] The league's first season was held in 2009.

Eight teams from five nations were invited for the tournament.

Qualified teams[4]
Team Country Domestic tournament Position Group
Chennai Super Kings India 2008 Indian Premier League Runner-up A
Dolphins South Africa 2007–08 Standard Bank Pro20 Runner-up B
Middlesex Crusaders England 2008 Twenty20 Cup Winner A
Rajasthan Royals India 2008 Indian Premier League Winner B
Sialkot Stallions Pakistan 2008–09 RBS Twenty-20 Cup Winner B
Titans South Africa 2007–08 Standard Bank Pro20 Winner A
Victorian Bushrangers Australia 2007–08 KFC Twenty20 Big Bash Winner A
Western Warriors Australia 2007–08 KFC Twenty20 Big Bash Runner-up B

The organisers of the tournament confirmed that any team competing would be banned from fielding players who had competed in the Indian Cricket League, a rival to the Indian Premier League.[5] As a result of this, the participation of English teams in the tournament was put in jeopardy: during the 2008 English season, 15 of the 18 county teams fielded players from the ICL.[6] On 24 July 2008, IPL commissioner Lalit Modi confirmed their stance by stating that only Middlesex and Essex stood a chance of being invited to the Champions League because they did not have ICL links.[7]

  1. ^ "Champions League will start on December 3". CricInfo. ESPN. 2008-08-14. Retrieved 2012-05-14.
  2. ^ Brett, Oliver; Austin, Simon (2008-11-27). "Champions League cricket on hold". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2012-05-14.
  3. ^ "Champions League pushed back to October 2009". CricInfo. ESPN. 2008-12-12. Retrieved 2012-05-14.
  4. ^ "Cricket Champions League unveiled". BBC Sport. 2008-06-07. Retrieved 2012-05-14.
  5. ^ "Champions League bans ICL players". BBC Sport. 2008-06-22. Retrieved 2012-05-14.
  6. ^ Shankar, Ajay (2008-07-03). "Top officials meet for 'basic discussions'". CricInfo. ESPN. Retrieved 2012-05-14.
  7. ^ "Modi reiterates stand against teams with ICL links". CricInfo. ESPN. 2008-07-24. Retrieved 2012-05-14. Subham rout the first player to score 910runs from Odisha warriors