While the England cricketers returned to India, the 20-20 Champions League organizers could not help but pospone the tournament to October of next year.

India's tour of Pakistan may or may not happen, but then any tour to Pakistan is tentative these days, hence the 20-20 Champions League stands to be the most affected tournament due to the recent Mumbai happenings.

Who though has been affected the most?

The teams definitely.

Victoria Bushrangers and Western Australia Warriors from Australia, Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Superkings from India, Sialkot Stallions from Pakistan, Middlesex Crusaders from England, and Titans and Dolphins from South Africa - all of them face losses.

Each participating country will hold a domestic 20-20 tournament before October 2009, which means that the participants of te inaugral 20-20 Champions League will be very different from what the line up was for this December's tournament.

Fair?

Probably not.

The Stallions and the Bushrangers have won their respective domestic 20-20 tournaments thrice in as many years, and now they are left to do it again if they are to make it to the Champions League.

Surely the organizers need to come up with a solution to avoid this situation.

How about having last season's winners as well as this season's winners participate in the Champions League?

Noone can deny that the Rajasthan Royals deserve to take part in the Champions League after the IPL campaign they had last season.

What if Shane Warne's team don't reach the finals in the next edition of the IPL?

The way things stand as of now, it would mean they will not be playing in the Champions League.

Forget about the financial losses, lets think about fairness for once.

If the winners of the 2 seasons' tournaments are the same then the runners up can come into contention, if not then the 2 champions need to be allowed to play in my view.

That would also mean that the number of teams be increased to 10 from 8 to allow 2 teams each from England and Pakistan.

If there was enough time I would have proposed 4-way 20-20 competitions between the 4 domestic teams (winners and runners up of 2007-08 and 2008-09) to decide the 2 participants of the Champions League, but the lack of time in light of the international schedule will not allow that.

Hence the winners from both the tournaments.

Starting today there will be 20-20 cricket in your face everyday for the next two and a half weeks.

Its not international 20-20 cricket by the way, its club cricket, for the lack of a better way of describing it.

Never before has club cricket been covered by the media in the way it is now. Or rather since 20-20 cricket went commercial with a bunch of leagues.

Those who think 20-20 cricket is not changing the cricket world, need to stop and ponder again.

A test series is being played in Australia, which I believe is being covered on TV only in Australia. Maybe in England. But I can't watch it here in Dubai, nor can anyone watch it in the wider Middle East, nor in Pakistan. I'm not sure about India.

Another test series is being played in South Africa. Oh you weren't aware? Yeah I thought so. For that is not being shown anywhere on TV it seems. Not here in Dubai, not in Pakistan, and from Soulberry's comment on his post, niether in India.

An ODI series is being played out in India. That I can watch and have watched. The TV coverage is great but the series is 4 matches too long I reckon. The English have probably lost interest already. Maybe the Indians as well. Or maybe not with Sachin returning to the fold today - perfect timing to keep the interest alive!

Oh and international cricket has returned to Zimbabwe after a long time. But does anyone care? The matches are just as good as 20-20 cricket anyway, with niether of the 2 ODIs lasting over 3-4 hours.

With a few uninteresting international series being played coupled with international cricket that is not being televised, it would not surprise me, or rather it would surprise me if the ICL World Series starting today followed by the 20-20 Champions League kicking off on December 1st don't generate more interest.

Atleast in the subcontinent, which by the way is 80% of the cricket viewing public.

The ICL World Series will be televised all over the subontinent, in the Middle East, and in England.

With the Lahore Badshahs capturing the imagination of a number of fans all over the world, their return to the field in the form of ICL Pakistan XI, will definitely rouse some interest.

And this time they've got Abdul Razzak on their side too.

Rana & Razzak in the same team? That's some viewing.

The ICL World Series also involves teams from India and Bangladesh, and a World XI.

While the ICL Bangladesh XI played as the Dhaka Warriors in the just concluded ICL 20-20 Championsip, the India XI and World XI puts together the best performers of that ICL tournament.

ICL India XI is being led by R. Sathish and includes the likes of Stuart Binny, Rohan Gavaskar, Abbas Ali, Ambati Rayudu, and RS Sodhi.

Whereas the ICL World XI is captained by Chris Harris and comprises of Damien Martyn, Jason Gillespie, Ian Harvey, Lance Klusener, Justin Kemp, Marvan Atapattu, and others.

ICL India are the defending champions, however ICL Pakistan should be the favorites going into the World Series.

The team that played as the Lahore Badshahs in the ICL 20-20 Championship, and won that tournament, was by far the strongest team on display.

With Imran Nazir & Imran Farhat at the top, Inzamam and Yousuf in the middle, Rana & Razzak in fiery form with the ball, and Saqlain inventing new deliveries in every match, there should be little the World, India, and Bangladesh teams would be able to do.

But stranger things have happened in cricket.

Even more so in 20-20 cricket.

I reckon it will be a tournament worth watching.

As will be the 20-20 Champions League that kicks off a day after the World Series ends.

That will be televised all over the world - India, Pakistan, Australia, South Africa, England, the Middle East, Singapore, Hong Kong, and everywhere else where cricket is watched.

Not only that, but international cricket will come to a standstill as domestic teams from 5 test playing countries go up against each other.

To read more on the Champions League, see this and this.

And then they say that 20-20 cricket will not have an impact on test cricket.

Its already been taken off TV!

Before you continue, I suggest you first read the crash course below.

Warriors Get a Name

The first sponsorship deal for a team for the Champions League was sealed recently when it was announced that the Western Australia team, the Warriors, would be sponsored by the Rambal family.

The Rambal family, a business family group in Western Australia, have been major sponsors of the WACA for over a year now and have bagged the naming-rights for the Warriors team.

As a result the Warriors side taking the field in the Champions League will be called the Rambal Warriors.

The Logo in the post below is now replaced with this one.

The Stallions lose Players

Despite winning the domestic 20-20 competition this season for the third time in a row, the Stallions have been massively weakened due to a number of their key players joining the 'rebel' ICL.

Imran Nazir, who captained the Stallions to their previous 2 titles, is their biggest loss, while Naved Ul Hasan, Hafiz Khalid, Shehzad Malik, and Mohammad Asif are other key players missing from their line up due to the ICL and other reasons.

Loyalty Program

Micheal Hussey, Albie Morkel, and Morne Morkel will have to undergo some sort of loyalty programming if they are not allowed to play for their preferred teams in the Champions League.

Hussey would rather play for the Warriors while the Morkel brothers would prefer to play for the Titans, however certain contractual obligations may force them to play for their IPL teams.

The respective coaches, Tom Moody and Richard Pybus were hopeful that the players would be allowed to play for their states.

Hussey's inclusion in the Warriors team would give them a batting order comprising of Marsh, Ronchi, Pomersbach, Hussey, North, and Voges - Thats some line up!

The Rangers or the Royalty?

Shane Warne led the Rajasthan Royals to a dream win in the inaugral IPL earlier this year. He will be captaining them in the Champions League as well.

Warne could come up against his former team, Victoria, whom he captained in the Australian domestic season years ago.

Victoria is Warne's home team and he has long been associated with them. How would he feel playing against them?

Would be a great watch!

Stay tuned for more Champions League updated leading up to the tournament.

When England and Australia introduced cricket to the world over a century ago, little did they know that one day their regional teams will be vying to play in a competition being held in India, which over a century ago was being ruled by the British.

Who would have believed back then that one day Middlesex will be taking on Victoria in Mumbai.

That is exactly what will be happening on the inaugral day of the Champions League.

The one cricket spectacle that can catch the imagination of billions around the world was launched in Delhi last week.

The first ever Champions League will take place between December 3rd and 10th in India.

Lalit Modi and company officially launched the competition this Thursday where the draws for the groups were held and various awards were given out to top 20-20 performers of the season.

Even though the teams are not actually cricket clubs, the involvement of regional / state teams from domestic competitions of test playing nations in a tournament, is the first baby step towards promoting club cricket around the world.

Football, arguably the most popular sport in the world, has relied on the 'club culture' for over a century and there's no reason why cricket cannot replicate the formula for taking the sport to a wider global audience.

The number of doors that this can open for cricket are unimaginable in my view.

Here's a look at what the Champions League will throw our way.

The Groups & The Teams

Group A:
Victoria Bushrangers
Middlesex Crusaders
Pretoria Titans
Chennai Super Kings

Group B:
Rajasthan Royals
Sialkot Stallions
Natal Dolphins
Western Warriors

Bushrangers, Crusaders, Titans, Super Kings, Royals, Stallions, Dolphins, Warriors - ever seen such a diverse mix of participants in any sort of competition?

Reminds me of the WWE!

You've got royalty, you've got men going for battle, you've got animals, you've got fish, and you've got gardeners!

And you've got them from Australia, South Africa, England, India, and Pakistan.

Lalit Modi has managed to bring them all together in India.

One can easily imagine a similar competition played out over a longer period, maybe a decade or two down the line involving teams from New Zealand, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, China, Hong Kong, USA, Canada, Brazil, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Nepal, Netherlands, Ireland, and many others.

Globalization is an understatement.

The Matches

The opening match of the Champions League will be played in Mumbai between Victoria Bushrangers, the winners of the KFC 20-20 competition in Australia, taking on the Middlesex Crusaders, the winners of England's 20-20 competition.

The top 2 teams from each group will qualify for the semi finals. The final of the tournament will take place in Chennai a week after the opening match.

The Captains

Bushrangers and the Warriors, the Australian teams, are captained by Cameron White and Marcus North respectively.

Shoaib Malik, the Pakistan captain, will be leading the Sialkot Stallions, while MS Dhoni, the Indian captain, will be leading the Chennai Super Kings.

Retired former Victorian, Shane Warne, will be leading the IPL champions Rajasthan Royals, and Middlesex will be captained by Shaun Udal.

The South African teams, Titans and Dolphins, will be led by Pierre Joubert and Ahmed Amla (Hashim's brother) respectively.

Where else will you find a french play cricket amongst the elite?

The Awards

Shaun Marsh, who topped the averaged in both the IPL (Kings XI) as well as the KFC 20-20 Cup (Bushrangers), won the best average for a batsman award.

Sohail Tanvir picked up the award for best bowling figures for his 6-14 for the Royals against the Super Kings, which are also the best bowling figures in all official 20-20 cricket, excluding the ICL.

Charles Langeveldt won the best strike rate for a bowler award for picking a wicket every 9 deliveries for the Cape Cobras, while Graeme Napier of Essex won the best stike rate for a batsman award with a SR of 195.2!

Brendon McCullum (Knight Riders) won the award for the highest score of 158 that he hit in the opening math if the IPL, and Yusuf Abdullah from the Natal Dolphins won the award for the best economy rate of 4.32.

A special award was given to Shoaib Malik for leading the Sialkot Stallions to 3 consecutive 20-20 titles while remaining unbeaten in 16 successive 20-20 matches.

Thats the longest winning streak in 20-20 cricket for any team. The Australia of 20-20 cricket?

Now that you have been familiarized with the Champions league, I can talk about the more interesting stuff related to the tournament.

The Sialkot Stallions completed a hatrick of domestic 20-20 titles as they beat the Karachi Dolphins by 7 wickets in the final of the RBS National 20-20 Cup last night.

Shahid Afridi won the toss and elected to bat first but the Dolphins' batsmen struggled against the pace of Sarfaraz Ahmed (2-23) and the spin of Shoaib Malik (2-29).

Besides Fawad Alam, who scored 40 off 31 deliveries, none of the batsmen got going as the Dolphins' innings closed at 125-9 in 20 overs.

Khalid Latid (15 off 16), Naumanullah (14 off 19), Afridi (12 off 9), and Sarfraz Ahmed (16 off 10), all got starts but none of them could build on them.

The Stallions got off to a good start with Kamran Younis (31 off 37) and Mansoor Amjad (39 off 35) easily scoring off the Dolphins' bowling.

As soon as Afridi came on though, the tide turned as the Stallions' scoring rate dropped and they lost a few wickets, but 125 was never going to be enough.

Brothers Shoaib Malik (19*) and Adeel Malik sealed the game for the Stallions in the last over of the innings as Adeel smashed an unbeaten 23 off only 11 deliveries with the help of 2 sixes and a boundary.

This was the Stallions' 3rd victory in a row in the domestic 20-20 championship and they now join the champions and the runners up from the IPL, Australia, South Africa, and England in the inaugral 20-20 Champions League to be held in December.

Shoaib Malik, the Stallions' captain, was declared man of the match for his 2 wickets and unbeaten 19 at the end of the innings.

Salman Butt was declared the best batsman of the tournament - with 152 runs from 3 innings, he was the highest run scorer in the tournament.

Sohail Khan, who created domestic records with his bowling last season, got the best bowler award for his 6 wickets in 4 matches even though his Dolphins skipper, Shahid Afridi ended as the highest wicket taker in the tournament - 7 at an average of 11.28.

Afridi's Dolphins failed to win the title, ending as runners up for the 2nd time in a row and this win definitely puts Shoaib Malik ahead if him in the captaincy race.

The PCB recently launched the Royal Bank of Scotland 20-20 Cup that will kick off on 4th October in Lahore.

Finally some cricket!

Who would have thought that the global financial crisis would affect cricket in Pakistan.

ABN Amro has sponsored domestic cricket in Pakisan for the last 3 years, however with its take over by RBS, all cricket in Pakistan will now be sponsored by them.

Royal Bank of Scotland sponsoring cricket in Pakistan. That sounds strange doesn't it?

The PCB definitely needs some new sponsors!

This is the 4th edition of the domestic 20-20 tournament in Pakistan and the winners of this event will be given a ticket to participate in the 20-20 Champions League in December where they will be pitted against the Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings, Victoria Bushrangers, Western Australia Warriors, Nashua Dolphins, Nashua Titans, and Middlesex.

The Sialkot Stallions, led by Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik, are the defending champions and will in fact be looking for a hatrick of titles in this years 20-20 tournament.

The Stallions, however, are significantly depleted this time around without the services of Mohammad Asif (doped out), Imran Nazir (ICL), and Rana Naveed (ICL).

Mansoor Amjad, Abdur Rehman, Kamran Younis, Sarfraz Ahmed (left arm quick), and Qaiser Abbas will provide good support to Malik, but without the top 3 players and no Shehzad Malik, the Stallions do not look like the same team that won the last two 20-20 cups.

Karachi Dolphins look like the strongest side in the competition. Led by Shahid Afridi the team includes Khurram Manzoor, Khalid Latif, Fawad Alam, Sarfraz Ahmed, Sohail Khan, Naumanullah, and Anwar Ali.

That is quite a formidable combination and Afridi would be looking to add another domestic title to his cap after the Pentangular Trophy earlier this year.

Karachi Zebras, led by Faisal Iqbal, are not as strong as the other Karachi side, with the only players with some international experience being Asim Kamal and Shadab Kabir.

The Zebras have also been hurt by the bans on ICL players with Hasan Raza and Mohammad Sami missing in action.

Faisalabad Wolves, captained by Misbah Ul Haq, under whom they won the first edition of the tournament and were the runners up of the 2nd have also been hit by the ICL bans.

They lose out on one of their most reliable batsmen in Naveed Latif and their attack bowler Shahid Nazir.

Despite that they still remain a relatively strong side with Mohammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal, and Samiullah Khan in the ranks along with one of the best 20-20 players in the world - their skipper Misbah.

Mohammad Yousuf, who has a point to prove despite saying he doesn't, will be captaining the Lahore Lions, which is another strong outfit with Salman Butt, Nasir Jamshed, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal, Ahmed Shehzad, Wahab Riaz, and Junaid Zia in the line up.

They will be missing Abdul Razzak due to the ICL ban, but remain a strong team despite that.

The Lahore Eagles, on the other hand, have been hurt quite badly due to the ICL bans. Openers Imran Farhat and Taufeeq Umar along with keeper Humayun Farhat will be missing from action.

The Eagles don't have any international experience on their side and will be reliant on Azhar Ali, who was one of the leading scorers of the last domestic season.

Multan Tigers will be captained by Abdur Rauf, the pacer who has played a few ODIs. The only other international is Kamran Hussain, the allrounder who played a few ODIs against Zimbabwe earlier this year.

The Rawal Pindi Rams will be led by experienced domestic campaigner Naved Ashraf.

The Rams look stronger than they have in previous years particularly on the bowling front with their line up including the IPL Bowler of the tournament, Sohail Tanvir, along with Yasir Arafat, and the U19 left armer Mohammad Aamer who has been praised highly by Wasim Akram.

Islamabad Leopards have been boosted with the inclusion of Shoaib Akhtar after the usual PCB confusion over selection matters, however how many matches he will play is anybodys guess.

The Leopards' side also includes U19 skipper Imad Wasim and promising U19 stars Raheel Majeed and Afaq Rahim. Bazid Khan, who was one of the leading run scorers in the last domestic season adds to the Leaopards' strength.

The Peshawar Panthers have always been a strong side with a number of international players in their ranks, however they have never lived up to their expectations on the domestic circuit.

Umar Gul was announced to captain them, however with the indecisive Younis Khan confirming his availability the captaincy might land in his laps.

Along with these 2 the Panthers side also includes Yasir Hameed, Fazl-e-Akbar, Wajahatullah Wasti and leading domestic players Rafatullah Mohmand and Jannisar Khan.

The Abbottabad Rhinos, Quetta Bears, and Hyderabad Hawks are the relatively weaker sides in the competition with no international experience to boast of.

The 13 teams have been placed in 4 pools:

Group A: Wolves, Rhinos, Eagles, Dolphins ---> the fish will devour up the wild ones.
Group B: Zebras, Stallions, Hawks ---> what are the birds doing between the horses?
Group C: Leapards, Panthers, Tigers ---> all the cats in one!
Group D: Lions, Bears, Rams ---> poor rams left to be eaten.

The group games will be played between October 4th and 6th, with the winners of each group making it to the semi finals, to be played on the 7th. The final will be on 8th October.

The bans placed on the ICL players have depleted a number of teams in this tournament.

I think the absence of players like Razak, Imran Nazir, Taufeed Umar, Naveed Latif, Imran Farhat, Humayun Farhat, Riaz Afridi, Shahid Nazir, Mohammad Sami, Hasan Raza will take the shine off the tournament to some extent.

All these players are big names on the domestic circuit and have done exceptionally well at the 20-20 level in the past.

Without them the annual 20-20 tournament doesn't remain the star studded affair that it used to be.

On the bright side though, it does bring some cricket back to Pakistan.

The fans have always thronged to the stadiums during these 20-20 tournaments and I would expect the same this time round, particularly with all the internationals confirming their availability.

On top, the stakes are higher this time - the champions get to play the best 20-20 teams from the world in the inaugral 20-20 Champions League in December.

The action starts on the 4th - We'll keep you updated.