Airtel CLT20 set to be True Tournament of Champions

Mumbai, August 27, 2009: The inaugural Airtel Champions League Twenty20 is set to be the True Tournament of Champions following the naming of the preliminary squads.

Of the 234 players nominated by the 12 teams, 110 (more than 47%) have already played international cricket for their respective countries.

If all of these players then go on to be included in their team's respective starting XIs for the tournament from October 8-23, then more than 80% of players taking the field at the Airtel Champions League Twenty20 will have played international cricket.

Illustrating the quality of the world-class squads that have been named, New South Wales Blues and the Delhi Daredevils will each be capable of playing a team wholly comprising of international players. Wayamba, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Victorian Bushrangers meanwhile have 10 internationals each in their ranks.

The other teams have equally impressive line-ups. Trinidad & Tobago and Sussex feature nine players with international experience, while the Cape Cobras and Deccan Chargers have eight, Otago has seven and the Diamond Eagles and Somerset have four apiece.

Lalit Modi, Chairman, Champions League Twenty20 Governing Council, said:

"The announcement of the preliminary squads ensures the first Airtel Champions League Twenty20 will be a true contest between the best of the best.

"A congregation of the world's best players, playing for the world's best domestic teams, vying for the ultimate prize to be crowned Champions - we could not have asked for anything more.

"The calibre of players named by the competing teams is extraordinary. We have World Cup champions, both in 50-over and Twenty20 cricket, international captains, legends of the game and some of the world's top-ranked players.

"I'm certain that cricket fans around the globe will be treated to truly amazing cricket at the inaugural Airtel CLT20 when the first ball is bowled on October 8 at Hyderabad."

Of the nine players eligible to play for multiple teams, only Dirk Nannes was nominated by two preliminary squads.

Dean Kino, Champions League Twenty20 Governing Council Member and Director of Legal and Business Affairs, said:

"Dirk Nannes who was nominated by both the Delhi Daredevils and the Victorian Bushrangers, has informed Airtel CLT20 that he will play for his 'away' team, the Delhi Daredevils, rather than his 'home' team, the Victorian Bushrangers."

"As a result, Delhi is required to pay US$200,000 compensation to Victoria according to Airtel CLT20 regulations.

"The other players who were eligible for multiple teams will compete for their 'home' teams in the tournament, while Dwayne Smith who was considered an 'away' player for both Deccan and Sussex, will represent his English team."

Teams now have until September 7 to trim their squads to 15 ahead of the tournament.

About Airtel Champions League Twenty20

An initiative of three founding members the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa - the Airtel Champions League Twenty20 is a platform where the world's best domestic teams get the opportunity to pit their cricketing skills against each other. ESPN STAR Sports is the commercial rights holders for Champions League Twenty20 for a period of 10 years. The first edition of the league will be played at three venues -Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore -from 8-23 October, 2009.

Airtel Champions League Twenty20 Preliminary Squads

Trinidad and Tobago	Victorian Bushrangers	Delhi Daredevils	NSW Blues	Otago Volts	Cape Cobras
Daren Ganga	Cameron White	AB DeVilliers	Phillip Hughes	Craig Cumming	Graeme Smith
Sherwin Ganga	Bradley Hodge	Tilakratne Dilshan	Simon Katich	Brendon McCullum	Hershelle Gibbs
Dwayne Bravo	Peter Siddle	Gautam Gambhir	Brett Lee	Nathan McCullum	J P Duminy
Darren Bravo	David Hussey	Dirk Nannes	Nathan Bracken	Aaron Redmond	Justin Ontong
Denesh Ramdin	Andrew McDonald	Dinesh Kaarthik	Michael Clarke	Neil Broom	Charl Langeveldt
Ravi Rampaul	Jan Holland	Daniel Vittori	Stuart Clark	Ian Butler	Claude Henderson
Amit Jaggernauth	Clinton McKay	Glenn McGrath	Burt Cockley	Dimitri Mascarenhas	Monde Zondeki
LendI Simmons	James Pattinson	Ashish Nehra	Peter Forrest	Greg Todd	Vernon Philander
Dave Mohammed	Darren Pattinson	Amit Mishra	Moises Henriques	Hamish Rutherford	Henry Davids
Keiron Pollard	Robert Quiney	Virender Sehwag	Nathan Hauritz	Darek deBoorder	Karl Nieuwoudt
William Perkins	Matthew Wade	Manoj Tiwary	Brad Haddin	Nick Baird	Lenert van Wyk
Richard Kelly	Aiden Blizzard	Paul Collingwood	Doug Bollinger	Warren McSkimming	Ryan Canning
Samuel Badree	Aaron Finch	Owais Shah	Aaron Bird	Neil Wagner	Rory Kleinveldt
Rayad Emrit	Shane Harwood	Pradeep Sangwan	Mark Cameron	Matt Harvie	Richard Levi
Kevon Cooper	John Hastings	Aavishkar Salvi	Stephen O'Keefe	James McMillan	Sybrand Engelbrecht
Navin Stewart	Michael Hill	Umesh Yadav	Ben Rohrer	Shaun Haig	Stiaan van Zyl
Daron Cruickshank	Damien Wright	Yogesh Nagar	Steve Smith	William Sommerville	Andrew Puttick
Sunil Narine	Bryce McGain	Rajat Bhatia	Daniel Smith	Anthony Bullick	Derek Brand
Adrian Barath	William Sheridan	Vijaykumar YoMahesh	Dominic Thornely	Leighton Morgan	Gurshwin Rabie
Imran Khan		Mithun Manhas	David Warner	Shaun Eathorne	Francois Plaatjies
Wayamba	Sussex Sharks	Diamond Eagles	Somerset	RC Bangalore	Deccan Chargers
Jehan Mubarak	Matthew Prior	Boeta Dippenaar	Justin Langer	Anil Kumble	Adam Gilchrist
Mahela Jayawardene	Dwayne Smith	Dillion du Preez	Marcus Trescothick	Rahul Dravid	VVS Laxman
Ajantha Mendis	Luke Wright	Morne van Wyk	Zander de Bruyn	Robin Uthappa	Rohit Sharma
Rangana Herath	James Kirtley	Mthandeki Tshabalala	Omari Banks	Jacques Kallis	Andrew Symonds
MF Maharoof	Piyush Chawla	Adrian McLaren	James Hildreth	Ross Taylor	Fidel Edwards
Kaushlya Lokuarachchi	Michael Yardy	Ryan McLaren	Craig Kieswetter	Dale Steyn	Chamara Silva
Jeevantha Kulathunga	Ed Joyce	Victor Mpitsang	Pete Trego	Manish Pandey	Scott Styris
Mahela Udawatta	Ragheb Aga	Abraham Pienaar	Arul Suppiah	Praveen Kumar	Chaminda Vaas
Thisara Perera	Joe Gatting	Charl Pietersen	Alfonso Thomas	Jesse Ryder	RP Singh
Sameera Soysa	Robin Martin-Jenkins	Ryan Bailey	Max Waller	Roelof Van Der Merwe	Ryan Harris
Shalika Karunanayake	Christopher Liddle	Wendell Bossenger	Charl Willoughby	Mark Boucher	Pragyan Ojha
Isura Udana	William Beer	Jandre Coetzee	Wes Durston	Vinay Kumar	Y Venugopal Rao
Ishara Amerasinghe	Andrew Hodd	Con de Lange	Mark Turner	Virat Kohli	T Suman
Chanka Welagedera	Carl Hopkinson	Cornelis De Villiers	Steffan Jones	Shreevats Goswami	DB Ravi Teja
Michael Vandort	Oliver Rayner	Dean Elgar	Jos Buttler	Pankaj Singh	Arjun Yadav
	Christopher Nash	Reeza Hendricks	Michael Munday	Akhil Balachandra	Abhinav Kumar
	Ben Brown	Alan Kruger	Adam Dibble	Bhuvneshwar Kumar	Azhar Bilakhia
	Rory Hamilton-Brown	Rilee Rossouw	David Stiff	Saurabh Bandekar	Harmeet Singh
	Yasir Arafat	Aubrey Swanepoel	Robin Lett	Abhmanyu Mithun	SM Shoaib
	Chad Keegan	Shadley van Schalkwyk	Ben Philips	K.P. Appanna	P Vijay Kumar