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Mumbai Indians will defend their CL T20 title – Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils will also fight it out against top quality opposition. Sialkot Stallions joins this edition as the Pakistan domestic T20 champions
The Mumbai Indians will defend their Champions League Twenty20 title, which they won in Chennai last year, on the other side of the Indian Ocean in October after the venues and competing teams for the 2012 tournament were confirmed by the CLT20 Governing Council. The current IPL champions, Kolkata Knight Riders, will be in action as well and will be joined by Chennai and Delhi in this blockbuster T20 event.
South Africa will host the fourth edition of cricket’s premier international club competition at Centurion, Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg, from 9 October 2012 to 28 October 2012. The event will feature a galaxy of international cricketing stars, who will be part of fourteen champion teams, from as many as eight countries.
It will be the second time South Africa has hosted the tournament, after a successful event in 2010 when Chennai Super Kings defeated Warriors in the final at Wanderers in Johannesburg. The 2009 and 2011 editions of the tournament were played in India.
As well as finalising the host venues, the CLT20 Governing Council has also confirmed the following teams as participants, including for the first time ever the participation of Pakistan T20 champions, the Sialkot Stallions:
South Africa – Titans, Highveld Lions
India – Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indians
Australia - Sydney Sixers, Perth Scorchers
West Indies - Trinidad and Tobago
New Zealand - Auckland Aces
Sri Lanka – Winner of Sri Lanka’s Domestic T20 Championship (to be concluded in August 2012)
England – Winner and runner-up of the domestic T20 (to be concluded in August 2012)
Pakistan – Sialkot Stallions
Of the already qualified teams, only the Titans, Stallions and Australia’s two new Big Bash League Twenty20 teams, the Sydney Sixers and Perth Scorchers, will be making their first appearance in the tournament. The other teams are seasoned CLT20 competitors and include two former champions in the Indian Premier League’s Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians.
The 2012 CLT20 Tournament and Match Schedule will be released soon.
