The Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) is an amateur men's

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

league in India. It consists of nine teams of film actors from nine major regional film industries of Indian cinema. The league commenced in 2011. Salman Khan is Brand Ambassador for Celebrity Cricket League From 2011 for all seasons. The CCL teams use various venues for their home games and it has a vast coverage on Indian media.

Establishment

The popularity of the Indian Premier League (official T20 League Tournament of India) inspired the CCL, with franchises in major Indian cities. Vishnu Vardhan Induri, an entrepreneur from Hyderabad, is the founder and managing director of CCL. He started the league in 2010 by selling franchise rights for four teams in the inaugural season. For the second season, two additional teams were added.

History

First season

The inaugural season took place in 2011 and included participation from four teams - Chennai Rhinos, Telugu Warriors, Mumbai Heroes, and Karnataka Bulldozers. With CCL season 1, the organizers planned to create awareness about anti-piracy. Chennai Rhinos defeated Karnataka Bulldozers in a competitive final and emerged as the inaugural CCL champions.

Second season

The second season was conducted from 13 January to 13 February 2012. Two new cricket teams, the Kerala Strikers and the Bengal Tigers were added to the CCL. Hindi film industry Team "Mumbai Heroes" selected Sharjah as its home ground. Chennai Rhinos defeated Karnataka Bulldozers for the second time in a row and emerged as the CCL 2 champions.

Third season

The third season had two new teams, Veer Marathi representing the Marathi film industry and Bhojpuri Dabbangs representing the Bhojpuri film industry. In Season 3, the curtain raiser event was held in Mumbai on 19 January 2013 and was regarded by many as a grand affair, where Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Bipasha Basu, Prabhu Deva and many other celebrities performed. The opening ceremony was in Kochi on 9 February 2013, where Kerala Strikers played against Mumbai Heroes. Popular Bollywood actor Bipasha Basu was appointed as the brand ambassador for Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) season 3, along with Kajal Agarwal. Karnataka Bulldozers defeated Telugu Warriors to become CCL 3 champions.

Fourth season

CCL Season 4 had a bigger reach than the earlier seasons as

Colors TV Colors TV is an Indian general entertainment broadcast network owned by Viacom18. The network's programming consists of family dramas, comedies, youth-oriented reality shows, shows on crime and television films. History It was launched on 2 ...

had come in as a broadcast partner for the Mumbai Heroes games and Rishtey TV telecasted all the games. Karnataka Bulldozers qualified for the finals for the fourth consecutive year. They won the cup by defeating Kerala Strikers.

Fifth season

CCL season 5 was the most successful season in terms of revenues and television viewership. As per TAM, CCL was the second most viewed sporting league in the country due to its reach delivered through Colors in Hindi-speaking markets and Sun Network Channels in South India. Telugu Warriors won the trophy for the first time by defeating 2-time champion Chennai Rhinos.

Sixth season

A new team, Punjab De Sher, representing the Punjab film industry, was introduced in place of Veer Marathi.

Daler Mehndi Daler Singh (born 18 August 1967), better known as Daler Mehndi, is an Indian singer, songwriter, author, and record producer. He has helped to make Bhangra popular worldwide, as well as Indian pop music independent of Bollywood music. He is be ...

was the brand ambassador of the team, with Sonu Sood the captain. Mr. Puneet and Navraj Hans were the owners of the team. Punjab De Sher selected new players for the team. Telugu Warriors won the cup for the second time.

Teams and performance

Salman Khan and Vengatesh at CCL match, India

Teams

Performance

Notes: * W = Winner; R = Runner-up; SF = SemiFinalist; GS = Groupstage; F = Finalist; N/A = Not Played; TBA = To Be Announced. * 2018 CCL T10 was cancelled * 2019 CCL T10 Semi-final and final match not conducted due to rain. Based on group stage performance Mumbai Heroes (win all 3 matches) and Karnataka Bulldozers team announced as Runner up (win 2 out of 3 matches).

Best Player in Celebrity Cricket League

Venues

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...

: Narendra Modi Stadium *

Bengaluru Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

: M. Chinnaswamy Stadium * Chennai: M. A. Chidambaram Stadium * Kochi: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium * Hyderabad: Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium * Hyderabad: Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium * Mumbai : Brabourne Stadium * Mumbai :

DY Patil Stadium The DY Patil Stadium, also known as DY Patil Sports Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium at D. Y. Patil campus at Nerul in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It was designed by Hafeez Contractor. It is a privately owned ground and is the home of D.Y. ...

* Pune:

Maharashtra Cricket Association Cricket Stadium Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium is a cricket stadium situated in the city of Pune, India besides the Pune Mumbai Expressway nestled between the hills of the Western Ghats. It is the home venue for the Maharashtra cricket team and is ...

* Dubai: Dubai International Cricket Stadium * Sharjah: Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium * Siliguri:

Kanchenjunga Stadium The Kanchenjunga Stadium, also known as Kanchanjungha Krirangan, is a multi-purpose stadium in Siliguri, India. It is mainly used for cricket and association football, football matches. Built in the 1980s, the stadium holds a capacity of 40,000, ...

* Visakhapatnam: Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium * Cuttack : Barabati Stadium *

Ranchi Ranchi (, ) is the capital of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern Odisha, western West Bengal and the eastern area ...

JSCA International Stadium Complex JSCA International Stadium Complex formally known as (Jharkhand State Cricket Association International Cricket Stadium), and also known as Jharkhand State Cricket Association Stadium, is an international cricket stadium in Ranchi, Jharkhand. ...

* Chandigarh : Sector 16 Stadium

Squads

References

External links

{{Commons category 2011 establishments in Andhra Pradesh Indian domestic cricket competitions Cricket leagues in India Recurring sporting events established in 2011