The Celebrity Cricket League

The Celebrity Cricket League, shortened to the CCL, is a fun and unprofessional Twenty20 Indian cricket tournament that consists of film actors from India's major film industries. Up to nine teams compete, but as each team obviously doesn't have its own cricket stadium, they play their matches in a number of venues around India.

Which Year Did the Celebrity Cricket League Start?

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This competition first started in 2011 and it has since become a tournament that many cricket fans look forward to watching. After all, it is not every day that you get to watch your favourite celebrity heroes showcase their cricketing skills. In fact, more and more viewers are tuning in to watch this tournament with each passing year. Vishnu Vardhan Induri, an Indian entrepreneur, is the founder of this competition. In 2010 he sold the franchise rights for the four teams that would be competing in the very first edition.

What Teams Will You Find in This Cricket League?

Only four teams competed in the inaugural tournament, but this figure has since increased to nine. The table provides the name of each team, the industry and state that each team is from, and who the owners are.

Franchise Industry State Owner
Bengal Tigers Banglawood West Bengal Boney Kapoor
Bhojpuri Dabbangs Bhollywood Uttar Pradesh & Bihar Manoj Tiwari
Chennai Rhinos Kollywood Tamil Nadu K. Ganga Prasad
Karnataka Bulldozers Sandalwood Karnataka Ashok Kheny
Kerala Strikers Mollywood Kerala Rajkumar & Sripriya
Mumbai Heroes Bollywood Maharashtra Sohail Khan
Punjab De Sher Pollywood Punjab Navraj Hans & Puneet Sing
Telugu Warriors Tollywood Telangana & Andhra Pradesh Sachiin Joshi
Veer Marathi Marywood Maharashtra Riteish Deshmukh

The four teams that competed in the first tournament were Chennai Rhinos, Mumbai Heroes, Telugu Warriors, and Karnataka Bulldozers. The Bengal Tigers and the Kerala Strikers joined the second season, while Veer Marathi and Bhojpuri Dabbangs joined the season after. Punjab De Sher joined the party in 2016.

What Format Does This Celebrity Cricket League Use?

The teams are stuck into one or two groups and play each other once, with the top four or two teams qualifying for the knock-out stages. If there is only one group, then the team that finishes first will play the team that came fourth for a spot in the final, while the team that came second will play the team that came third for the other spot in the final. If there are two groups, the team that topped Group A will play the team that came second in Group B and the team that topped Group B will play that team that finished second in Group A.

"It was a Twenty20 tournament right up until the 2019 edition. The overs per side were cut down to ten as the organisers wanted to be able to fit more matches into one day."

How do Teams Acquire Players?

In the Indian Premier League (IPL), Karnataka Premier League (KPL), and the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL), there are auctions before each tournament so that the owners of each team have an equal opportunity to buy the best players for their team. However, since this is an unprofessional competition, there are no such auctions. Instead, the team owners simply invite actors who have known cricket talent to join their team.

What Teams Have Won the Celebrity Cricket Trophy?

To date, this tournament has taken place nine times. The table below highlights the teams that have won it as well as the edition that they won.

Team Winning Seasons
Chennai Rhinos 2011, 2012, and 2018
Karnataka Bulldozers 2013 and 2014
Telugu Warriors 2015, 2016, and 2017
Mumbai Heroes 2019

So, the Chennai Rhinos and the Telugu Warriors are the most successful teams in the history of this competition.

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