The Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) is an exhibition men's cricket league in India. It consists of eight teams of film actors from different film industries of Indian cinema. The league commenced in 2011.[1][2] Salman Khan is the 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 in Indian media.[3][4][5]
| Countries |  India |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Hyderabad, Telangana, India |
| Format | T20 (2011-2016) T10 (2017, 2019) 20 Over Test (2023, 2024) |
| First edition | 2011 |
| Latest edition | 2024 |
| Next edition | 2025 (start date- 31st January 2025) |
| Tournament format | Round-robin and Knockout |
| Current champion | Bengal Tigers |
| Most successful | Telugu Warriors (4 Titles) |
| Website | www |
 2023 Celebrity Cricket League | |
Establishment
editThe popularity of the Indian Premier League 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.[6]
In January 2024, With South Indian International Media Awards (SIIMA) completing 12 years and Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) gearing up for its 10th season, the founder of SIIMA and CCL Vishnu Vardhan Induri joins forces with Alankar Pandian of Invenio Origin, a media investment fund based out of Singapore and Dubai to launch a New Pan India Media IP called Indian National Cine Academy (INCA) along with scaling up SIIMA and CCL.[7]
History
editFirst season
editThe inaugural season took place in 2011 and included participation from ariyumo four teams - Chennai Rhinos, Telugu Warriors, Mumbai Heroes, and Karnataka Bulldozers.[8] With CCL season 1, the organizers planned to create awareness about anti-piracy.[9] Chennai Rhinos defeated Karnataka Bulldozers in a competitive final and emerged as the inaugural CCL champions.
Second season
editThe 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.[10] Chennai Rhinos defeated Karnataka Bulldozers for the second time in a row and emerged as the CCL 2 champions.
Third season
edit
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,[11] where Salman Khan,[12] Katrina Kaif, Bipasha Basu, Prabhu Deva and many other celebrities performed.[13] The opening ceremony was in Kochi on 9 February 2013, where Kerala Strikers played against Mumbai Heroes. Bollywood actor Bipasha Basu was appointed as the brand ambassador for Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) season 3, along with Kajal Aggarwal.[14][15] Karnataka Bulldozers defeated Telugu Warriors to become CCL 3 champions.
Fourth season
editCCL Season 4 had a bigger reach than the earlier seasons as Colors TV 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
edit
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
editA new team, Punjab De Sher, representing the Punjab film industry, was introduced in place of Veer Marathi.[16] Daler Mehndi 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.[17]
Tenth season
editIn CCL Season 10, the first schedule took place at the UAE's Sharjah Stadium, with an introduction ceremony held near the Burj Khalifa. Five teams displayed extraordinary all-round performances, winning three out of four matches each. However, Telugu Warriors lagged behind due to their net run rate, while Karnataka, Mumbai, Bengal, and Chennai advanced to the semifinals. In the finals, Karnataka and Bengal faced off, with Bengal emerging as the new champions of the season.
Teams and performance
editCurrent teams
edit| Team | Industry | State | Captain | Debut | Ownership |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Telugu Warriors | Telugu/Tollywood | Andhra Pradesh, Telangana | Akkineni Akhil | 2011 | Venkatesh Daggubati, Sachin Joshi |
| Mumbai Heroes | Hindi/Bollywood | Maharashtra | Riteish Deshmukh | 2011 | Sohail Khan |
| Bengal Tigers | Bengali/Tollywood | West Bengal | Jisshu Sengupta | 2012 | Boney Kapoor, Raj Shah |
| Bhojpuri Dabbangs | Bhojpuri/Bhojiwood | Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand | Manoj Tiwari | 2013 | Sushil Sharma · Kanishk Sheel · Rahul Mishra · Sushil Malik |
| Chennai Rhinos | Tamil/Kollywood | Tamil Nadu | Arya | 2011 | K. Ganga Prasad |
| Karnataka Bulldozers | Kannada/Sandalwood | Karnataka | Pradeep | 2011 | Ashok Kheny |
| Kerala Strikers | Malayalam/Mollywood | Kerala | Indrajith Sukumaran | 2012 | Mohanlal, Rajkumar, Sripriya, Shaji, Jaison, Mibu Jose Nettikaden |
| Punjab De Sher | Punjabi/Pollywood | Punjab | Sonu Sood | 2016 | Navraj Hans, Puneet Singh |
Defunct team
edit| Team | Industry | State | Captain | Debut | Ownership |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Veer Marathi | Marathi | Maharashtra | Mahesh Manjrekar | 2013 | Riteish Deshmukh |
Total performance
editSns. Tms.
|
2011 (4) |
2012 (6) |
2013 (8) |
2014 (8) |
2015 (8) |
2016 (8) |
2017 (6) |
2019 (6) |
2023 (8) |
2024 (8) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bengal Tigers | GS | GS | GS | GS | SF | GS | SF | GS | W | |
| Bhojpuri Dabbangs | GS | SF | GS | SF | SF | R | GS | |||
| Chennai Rhinos | W | W | GS | GS | R | GS | GS | GS | SF | |
| Karnataka Bulldozers | R | R | W | W | SF | R | GS | R | SF | R |
| Kerala Strikers | GS | SF | R | GS | GS | R | GS | GS | ||
| Mumbai Heroes | GS | SF | GS | SF | SF | GS | GS | W | SF | SF |
| Punjab De Sher | GS | GS | GS | GS | ||||||
| Telugu Warriors | GS | SF | R | GS | W | W | W | GS | W | GS |
| SF | GS | GS | ||||||||
Notes:
- W = Winner; R = Runner-up; SF = SemiFinalist; GS = GroupStage
- 2018 CCL T10 was cancelled
- 2019 CCL T10 Semi-final and final matches were not conducted due to rain. Based on group stage performance Mumbai Heroes (win all 3 matches) and Karnataka Bulldozers (win 2 out of 3 matches) teams announced as Winner and Runner up respectively.
| Appearances | Matches | Won | Lost | NR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bengal Tigers | 9 | 36 | 10 | 23 | 3 |
| Bhojpuri Dabbangs | 7 | 29 | 13 | 13 | 3 |
| Chennai Rhinos | 9 | 37 | 16 | 18 | 3 |
| Karnataka Bulldozers | 10 | 48 | 31 | 14 | 3 |
| Kerala Strikers | 8 | 32 | 15 | 16 | 1 |
| Mumbai Heroes | 10 | 41 | 17 | 21 | 3 |
| Punjab De Sher | 4 | 13 | 1 | 11 | 1 |
| Telugu Warriors | 10 | 44 | 31 | 12 | 1 |
| 3 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 0 |
| Appearances | Titles | Matches | Won | Lost | NR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bengal Tigers | 3 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Bhojpuri Dabbangs | 4 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Chennai Rhinos | 4 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| Karnataka Bulldozers | 9 | 2 | 14 | 7 | 6 | 1 |
| Kerala Strikers | 3 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Mumbai Heroes | 6 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| Punjab De Sher | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Telugu Warriors | 6 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Best performance
edit| Team | Appearances | Best result | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | First | Latest | ||
| Telugu Warriors | 10 | 2011 | 2024 | Champions (2015, 2016, 2017, 2023) |
| Karnataka Bulldozers | 10 | 2011 | 2024 | Champions (2013, 2014) |
| Chennai Rhinos | 9 | 2011 | 2024 | Champions (2011, 2012) |
| Mumbai Heroes | 10 | 2011 | 2024 | Champions (2019) |
| Bengal Tigers | 9 | 2012 | 2024 | Champions (2024) |
| Kerala Strikers | 8 | 2012 | 2024 | Runners-up (2014, 2017) |
| Bhojpuri Dabbangs | 7 | 2013 | 2024 | Runners-up (2023) |
| 3 | 2013 | 2015 | Semi-finals (2013) | |
| Punjab De Sher | 4 | 2016 | 2024 | Group Stage |
Squads
editVenues
edit- Ahmedabad: Sardar Patel Stadium
- Bengaluru: 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
- Pune: Maharashtra Cricket Association Cricket Stadium
- Dubai: Dubai International Cricket Stadium
- Sharjah: Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium
- Siliguri: Kanchenjunga Stadium
- Trivandrum: Greenfield International Stadium
- Visakhapatnam: Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy International Cricket Stadium
- Cuttack : Barabati Stadium
- Ranchi : JSCA International Stadium Complex
- Chandigarh : Sector 16 Stadium
- Raipur : Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium
- Mohali : Inderjit Singh Bindra Stadium
https://www.hindutimesnews.com/shubman-gill-hits-the-nets-forward-of-duleep-trophy
- ^ "Celeb Cricket League is back with a bang". The Times of India. 12 January 2012. Archived from the original on 4 September 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
- ^ Trivedi, Bina (20 January 2012). "CCL: Superstar cricketainment". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 30 October 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
- ^ 2013 Inauguration venue = Kochi, Kerala Beauty, brawn ... and then there was cricket, The Hindu, 5 June 2011. Retrieved 2012-01-22.
- ^ CCL-II: A starry showdown, The Times of India, 23 January 2012. Retrieved 2012-02-05.
- ^ Megha Shenoy A feast for the eyes, Deccan Herald, February 2012. Retrieved 2012-02-05.
- ^ Gooptu, Biswarup; Raghavendra, Nandini (11 February 2012). "Celebrity League rivals IPL on TV, in stadia". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 14 February 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
- ^ Correspondent, D. C. (18 January 2024). "Indian National Cine Academy (INCA) Unveiled for Cinematic Unity". Deccan Chronicle.
{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help) - ^ "It's celebrity cricket league next". The Times of India. 25 May 2011. Archived from the original on 17 November 2011. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
- ^ "About Us - CCL Social Initiative". Celebrity Cricket League. cclt20 Pvt Ltd. Archived from the original on 31 May 2011. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
- ^ "CCL is back for season two!". The Times of India. 9 August 2011. Archived from the original on 17 September 2011. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
- ^ "TruthDive – South Asian News and Opinion. India". Archived from the original on 23 February 2013. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) CCL 3 : Celebrity Cricket League curtain raiser event on 19 Jan in Mumbai - ^ "Salman Khan performs at Celebrity Cricket League curtain raiser - Cricket Country". Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 17 February 2013. Salman Khan performed at Celebrity Cricket League curtain raiser
- ^ "TruthDive – South Asian News and Opinion. India". Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) CCL 3 curtain raiser event, a star-studded affair - ^ "Celebrity Cricket League: Salman, Bipasha, Kangana add glam". Daily Bhaskar. Archived from the original on 4 October 2015.
- ^ "Celebrity Cricket League (CCL)-the Official Website". Archived from the original on 22 February 2013. Retrieved 17 February 2013. Bipasha Basu as Brand Ambassador for CCL Season-3
- ^ "Punjab De Sher added in 6th Edition of CCL".[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) 2020 Winners List of All Seasons [1 to 6]. Winners List". Retrieved 4 April 2020.
External links
edit