It seems that Champions League T20 will be returning to South Africa.
CLT20 fourth edition will be featuring 14 teams from eight countries, including the current IPL champions, Kolkata Knight Riders.
Mumbai Indians won Champions League Twenty20 title last year in Chennai and will be defending the title on the other side of the Indian Ocean in October after the venues and competing teams for the 2012 tournament were confirmed by the CLT20 Governing Council.
Along with defending ClT20 champions, the current IPL champions, Kolkata Knight Riders, will be in action as well along with Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils in this blockbuster T20 event.
South Africa will host the fourth edition of cricket’s premier international club competition at Centurion, Durban, Cape Town, and Johannesburg, from 9-28 October 2012. The event will feature a cluster of international cricketing stars, who will be part of the 14 teams across the globe.
It will be the second time South Africa has hosted the tournament, after hosting the event successfully in 2010 when Chennai Super Kings defeated the Warriors in the final at Wanderers in Johannesburg. ClT20 was hosted by India in 2009 and 2011.
As well as finalising the host venues, the CLT20 Governing Council has also confirmed the following teams as participants, including for the first time ever the participation of Pakistan T20 champions, the Sialkot Stallions:
South Africa – Titans, Highveld Lions
India – Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indians
Australia – Sydney Sixers, Perth Scorchers
West Indies – Trinidad and Tobago
New Zealand – Auckland Aces
Sri Lanka – Winner of Sri Lanka?s Domestic T20 Championship (to be concluded in August 2012)
England – Winner, and runner-up of the domestic T20 (to be concluded in August 2012)
Pakistan – Sialkot Stallions
South African teams, the Titans, Stallions and Australia’s two new Big Bash League Twenty20 teams, the Sydney Sixers and Perth Scorchers, will be making their first-ever appearance in the tournament. The other teams are seasoned CLT20 competitors and include two former champions in the IPL’s Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians.
The schedule of the 2012 CLT20 Tournament will be released soon.
About Champions League Twenty20
The Champions League Twenty20, also referred to as the CLT20, was an annual international Twenty20 Cricket competition played between the top domestic teams from major cricketing nations. The competition was launched in 2008 with the first edition held in October 2009.[1] It was jointly owned by the BCCI, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa,[2] and was chaired by N. Srinivasan, who was also the chairman of the ICC. Sundar Raman was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the CLT20 as well as the IPL.
Source: Champions League Twenty20
Previous Champions
2009 – NSW Blues
2010 – Chennai Super Kings
2011 – Mumbai Indians