Indian Cricket League (ICL) announces 20 Match Tournament Schedule

The Indian Cricket League (ICL) has announced the schedule for its inaugural Twenty20 tournament, which will kick off with Delhi Jets taking on Chandigarh Lions on November 30.

The tournament will have a round-robin format, with six teams - Delhi Jets, Chandigarh Lions, Mumbai Champs, Kolkata Tigers, Chennai Superstars and Hyderabad Heroes - vying for a place in the semi-finals. The teams which fail to make the final will compete for the third and fourth spot as well as the fifth and sixth spot.

"The match schedule we have announced offers cricket fans great excitement on all days, starting November 30," Kapil Dev, the chairman of the ICL's executive board, said on Friday (November 23). "We look forward to seeing some fantastic cricket action played by combined pool of some of the best players in the world and fresh cricketing talent in India."

Himanshu Mody, the ICL's project head, spoke about the players who decided to sign up with the ICL, including the likes of Inzamam-ul-Haq, Chris Cairns, and Lance Klusener, along with a host of players from the Indian domestic circuit. "We believe that each of these players, represent the best of cricketing talent in the country and internationally. We will continue to search for further talent with killer instinct that can take India to the next level. We now see the teams that will play in the ICL tournament later this year, finally taking shape."

The tournament will be played at the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchkula, a town near Chandigarh.

Schedule
Nov 30: Chandigarh Lions v Delhi Jets

Dec 1: Chennai Superstars v Kolkata Tigers; Mumbai Champs v Hyderabad Heroes

Dec 2: Delhi Jets v Hyderabad Heroes; Chandigarh Lions v Kolkata Tigers

Dec 3: Mumbai Champs v Chennai Superstars

Dec 5: Hyderbad Heroes v Chandigarh Lions

Dec 7: Mumbai Champs v Delhi Jets

Dec 8: Chennai Superstars v Chandigarh Lions; Delhi Jets v Kolkata Tigers

Dec 9: Hyderabad Heroes v Chennai Superstars; Mumbai Champs v Chandigarh Lions

Dec 10: Mumbai Champs v Kolkata Tigers

Dec 12: Chennai Superstars v Delhi Jets; Hyderbad Heroes v Kolkata Tigers

Dec 14: Semi-final I

Dec 15: 5/6 classification; Semi-final II

Dec 16: 3/4 classification; Final

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Lara and Inzamam named in ICL teams

Brian Lara and Inzamam-ul-Haq headlined the list of players as the Indian Cricket League (ICL) announced its teams for the inaugural tournament. Lara has been named in the Mumbai Champs side while Inzamam will play for Hyderabad Heroes.

Inzamam and Lara, along with Stuart Law, Chris Cairns and Craig McMillan are likely to lead the teams.

The other international players include Abdul Razzaq, Taufeeq Umar and Shabbir Ahmed of Pakistan, Australia's Ian Harvey, South Africa's Johan Van der Wath, Lance Klusener, Nicky Boje and Andrew Hall, New Zealand's Nathan Astle, Chris Harris and Daryl Tuffey and England's Vikram Solanki. The ICL is in talks with Sri Lanka's Marvan Atapattu, while Russel Arnold and Upul Chandana have already signed.

The overseas players have been spread among the six teams - Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh Lions, Chennai Superstars, Delhi Jets and Kolkata Tigers. The coaches for these teams are Sandeep Patil, Madan Lal, Balwinder Sandhu, Moin Khan, Daryll Cullinan and Michael Bevan.

"We have ensured the teams are balanced in every way and receive the best facilities in terms of coaching, showcasing their talent and exposure to international cricket," Kapil Dev, the chairman of the ICL's executive board, said. "I wish all the players best of luck for the tournament."

The teams will be taking part in a practice camp in their respective cities.

The tournament begins on November 30 in Panchkula, a town near Chandigarh.

Teams:

Chennai Superstars: Stuart Law, Ian Harvey, Hemang Badani, Chris Read (wk), Russell Arnold, Sridharan Sriram, Shabbir Ahmed, V Devendran, R Sathish, Dakshinamoorthy Kumaran, Hemanth Kumar, Jamaluddin Syed Mohammed, Thiru Kumaran, J Hareish, V Sarvanan, R Jesuraj, Sanjeev Martin, G Vignesh, P Vivek.
Coach: Michael Bevan

Hyderabad Heroes: Inzamam-ul-Haq, Chris Harris, Nicky Boje, Abdul Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, Anirudh Singh, Ambati Rayudu, S Shahubuddin, Stuart Binny, IS Reddy, Vinay Kumar, Ibrahim Khaleel, Kaushik Reddy, Bheema Rao, Alfred Absolem, Shashank Nag, PS Niranjan, Baburao Yadav, Zakaria Zuffri.
Coach: Moin Khan

Kolkata Tigers: Craig McMillan, Lance Klusener, Darren Maddy, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Rohan Gavaskar, Upul Chandana, Deep Dasgupta, Abu Nechim, Parviz Aziz, Shiv Sagar Singh, Boyd Rankin, Mihir Diwakar, Rajiv Kumar, Sayed Akhlakh, Subhomoy Das, Sujay Tarafdar, Pritam Das, Anshu Jain, Ali H Zaidi.
Coach: Daryll Cullinan

Delhi Jets: Taufeeq Umar, Niall O'Brien, Paul Nixon, Dale Benkenstein, JP Yadav, Mohnish Mishra, Abbas Ali, Ali Murtaza, T Sudhindra, Abid Nabi, Sachin Dholpure, Abhishek Tamrakar, Dishant Yagnik, Dhruv Mahajan, Abhinav Bali, Raghav Sachdev.
Coach: Madan Lal

Mumbai Champs: Brian Lara, Vikram Solanki, Robin Morris, Nathan Astle, Kiran Powar, Shreyas Khanolkar, Johan Van der Wath, Rakesh Patel, Avinash Yadav, Nantie Hayward, Subhojit Paul, Dheeraj Jadhav, A Sanklecha, Ranjeet Kirid, Pushkaraj Joshi, Suyash Burkul, Raviraj Patil, Nikhil Mandale, Sridher Iyer.
Coach: Sandeep Patil

Chandigarh Lions: Chris Cairns, Imran Farhat, Dinesh Mongia, Hamish Marshall, Andrew Hall, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Rajesh Sharma, TP Singh, Sarabjeet Singh, Ishan Malhotra, Daryl Tuffey, Sumit Kalia, Chetan Sharma, Manish Sharma, Luv Ablish, Bipul Sharma, Karanveer Singh, Amit Uniyal, Gaurav Gupta, Harpreet Singh.
Coach: Balwinder Sandhu

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Pakistan Test Squad for India Series - Afridi left out of Pakistan Test squad

After failing to make much impact in the ongoing one-day international series, flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi was on Friday left out of the 14-member Pakistan squad for the three-match Test series against India starting November 22.

Apart from Afridi, three others -- Fawad Alam, Rao Iftikhar and Imran Nazir -- will also return home after the fifth and final one-dayer in Jaipur.

"These four [Afridi, Alam, Iftikhar and Nazir] will return home after the final one-dayer in Jaipur," chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed said.

The selectors have brought in leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, pacer Mohammad Sami and batsman Faisal Iqbal in place of the omitted quartet.

Pakistan have already lost the five-match ODI series after losing the fourth game in Gwalior on Thursday to go down 1-3.

Defending Afridi's exclusion, Salahuddin said it would have been difficult to strike a balance in the Test team if the all-rounder had been accommodated.

"If we play three pacers and Danish it is difficult to find a place for him. He is such a senior player, we feel it is better he comes home," Salahuddin said.

Earlier, pacer Mohammad Asif failed to pass a fitness test, which ruled him out of the series.

Salahuddin admitted that Asif's failure to recover from his elbow injury has come as a blow to the team.

"He is a good pacer and ideal for Test matches. But since he is yet not recovered from his elbow injury we had no option left," he said.

Asif also missed the one-day series because of the injury after being initially picked in the squad.

The chief selector said Asif would be sent to Australia by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for examination by a sports medicine specialist.

"We are hoping he will make a complete recovery from his injury before our next series," he said.

The chief selector said losing the one-day series is a setback and disappointing but hopes that the players will learn from their mistakes and do better in the Tests.

Squad: Shoaib Malik (captain), Younis Khan (vice-captain), Abdur Rehman, Danish Kaneria, Faisal Iqbal, Mohammad Sami, Kamran Akmal (w/k), Misbah-ul Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, Salman Butt, Shoaib Akhtar, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Yasir Hameed.

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