This year’s competition will take place in India from September 13 till October 4. Only 4 venues will host the tournament–Raipur, Mohali, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

The BCCI has announced the schedule of Champion League T20, 2014 tournament. The tournament will be played by the champion teams of different countries which have won the domestic T20 tournaments in their respective countries. The success of earlier editions of the Champions League has created great interest among cricket fans and like the past editions we can expect another action packed tournament full of sixes and fours.

A total of 12 teams will be competing for the title. The tournament is been divided in two phases which means we will have a qualifying round and a main round.8 teams have already qualified for the main round and the remnant two teams will enter the main round only after playing the qualifying round which will be played by four teams.

The qualifying round will be brief, implying that each team to play one match against a particular opponent and will last three days, from 13th to 16th of September.

Teams in Qualifying Round:

1. Lahore Lions (Pakistan)
2. Mumbai Indians (India)
3. Northern Knights (NewZealand)
4. Southern Express (Srilanka)

Mumbai Indians and Lahore lions are most likely to qualify for the main round of the League as both teams are very well balanced and have experienced cricketers.

Former IPL Champion, Mumbai Indians, will be having services of players like Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Harbhajan Singh and Lasith Malinga so it will be a big upset, even before the main round starts, should Mumbai Indians not qualify for the main round.

Lahore Lions not only does stand a chance to qualify for the main round but it is also expected to give a tough challenge to the main round teams.

Lahore Lions won the Faisal Bank T20 Cup,the biggest domestic event of Pakistan,to qualify for the Champions league.It is the only team representing Pakistan in this tournament therefore a lot of hopes are pinned to their performances. In past ,two Pakistani teams, Sialkot Stallions and Faisalabad Wolves, represented Pakistan in the Champions League of 2012 and 2013 respectively but couldn’t reach the main round. Many believe Lahore Lions to be stronger than both those teams and with players like Ahmad Shahzad, Nasir Jamshed, Muhammad Hafeez,Umar Akmal ,Aizaz Cheema and Wahab Riaz who have represented Pakistan at international level,

All of the qualifiers will be played in Raipur.

Main Round:

The main round of the league shall commence from 17th September. The group stage matches will played at all the four designated venues whereas 2 Semi Finals will be played on October 2,at Hyderabad and Final at Bengaluru on 4th October.

8 teams which have already qualified for the main round have been divided into two Groups, named Group A and Group B. 1 qualifying team will be placed in each of these groups.

Group A:

1. Kolkata Knight Riders – (India)
2. Perth Scorchers – (Australia)
3. Dolphins – (South Africa)
4. Chennai Super Kings – (India)
5. Qualifier 1

Group B

1. Kings XI Punjab – (India)
2. Hobart Hurricanes – (Australia)
3. Cape Cobras – (South Africa)
4. To Be Decided – (Winner of Caribbean Premier League, West Indies)
5. Qualifier2

3 IPL teams are already in the main round and the opening contest of the main round will be between the current IPL champion Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings.

CSK, under the leadership of Captain Cool, Mahindra Singh Dhoni, has won IPL twice and is a former CPL T20 winners well and these facts quadruple the importance of this match.

All these teams are champions of their relative countries so to predict about the Champions league winner is like choosing a diamond from a basket full of most perfectly cut diamonds, each of them having inexplicable beauty and traits,however,it seems obvious that Indian teams from IPL definitely have a edge over foreign teams because of home conditions and more experienced international players but it would be a naïve mistake to rule out Australian and South African  who in past have proved their metal in sub continent and have shown their potential to win matches on fast and bouncy tracks as well as on flat and dead  tracks.

One team from Caribbean Premier League, which is underway as we write and the winner is yet to be decided, will represent West Indies subsequently increasing the competition in the tournament.

Full Schedule of the tournament:

Qualifying Round:

Group Round:

*TBD refers to the two teams which will qualify from qualifying round.

FINALS: