Building on their success in the ongoing Twenty20 tournament, the Indian Cricket League on Tuesday announced the 'ICL 20s World Series 2008', to be held in Hyderabad from April 9 to 15.
The tournament will see three teams -- ICL India, ICL Pakistan and ICL World -- competing for the title. It will have seven matches, with each team playing against each other twice, followed by the final.
Announcing the ICL World Series 2008, ICL Executive Board chairman Kapil Dev said, ''The level of cricket at the ICL is on an ascendancy mode. Throughout the Edelweiss 20s Challenge, we saw our boys come out with stand-out performances, which shaped the results of some high standard cricket matches
''With the ICL World Series 2008, our promising domestic boys will face the toughest challenge of proving their cricketing credentials against two of the mightiest teams in the world."
"These Indian players will be selected after a thorough selection process by the Executive Board along with the selection committee, based on their growth as cricketers and respective individual performance.
''The final Indian squad will be selected after the Edelweiss 20s Challenge's second semi-final,'' he added.
Kapil praised Lahore Badshahs for their superb display in the ongoing Twenty20league.
''Currently the Lahore Badshahs have raised the bar as far as competitiveness goes. Now it is for the other two teams, especially ICL India to raise their standard of play to match up to the competition,'' he stated.
Inzaman-ul Haq will lead the formidable ICL Pakistan team while Chris Cairns will lead a galaxy of international stalwarts representing ICL World.
Moin Khan will coach the Pakistan side while former England off-spinner John Emburey will coach the world team.
Steve Rixon, former Australian wicketkeeper, will coach ICL India.
