ICL to kick-off with T20 championship on Nov 30

Oct 24: The inaugural tournament of rebel Indian Cricket league (ICL) will begin with an ICL Twenty 20 Indian championship commencing on November 30 at the Tau Devi Lal Cricket Stadium in Panchkula, Chandigarh.

The tournament is scheduled from November 30 with final is slated on December 16.

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A total of 20 matches will be played, 15 of which will be league matches and the rest will be the play-off matches. All the matches will be played under floodlights.

The prize money for the winning team is $1 million and the final match will be played on December 16. The dates and venue of the proposed championship were finalised at the ICL’s Executive Board meeting held at Chennai on Tuesday.

ICL Executive board chairman Kapil Dev said, "The ICL T20 Indian Championship will be held as promised next month at Chandigarh.”

“We are working hard to deliver a very exciting tournament for the Indian viewers, and I am confident that the public in this country will witness for the first time a fully professionally run and organised extravaganza of cricket."

Shariq Patel, Head Operations of Essel Group, said, “The Essel group ensures a lifetime experience at Panchkula for the cricket lovers across the world and We will organise the tournament in such a way that it will generate excitement and entertainment like a never-before event.”

The ICL has already roped in players like Brian Lara, Imran Farhat, Abdul Razzaq, Lance Klusener, Nicky Boje, Damien Martyn, Deep Dasgupta and Dinesh Mongia with host of domestic star performers while Pakistan’s Mohammad Yousuf and former skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq were the part of ICl as well, but they opted out ahead of their home series against South Africa.

The Panchkula Stadium is going through revamping process for the tournament as players like Brian Lara, Inzamam-ul Haq and Nathan Astle will surely arrive before the event starts. Six poles of 36-meter height would be put up around the stadium with a total of 360 lights to brighten up the stadium.

It will be an interesting affair to watch as the dates of the tournament is clashing with India's home Test series against Pakistan later next month.