As many as eight top cricketers of the world, who were initially selected to represent more than one team, have decided to represent their foreign recruits in the Champions League Twenty20 tournament to begin next month in four cities across the country.
The eight players who were initially chosen to represent more than one team in the tournament include Brett Lee (New South Wales/Kolkata Knight Riders), Jacques Kallis (Warriors/Kolkata Knight Riders), Kieron Pollard (Trinidad & Tobago/Mumbai Indians), Brad Haddin (New South Wales/Kolkata Kinght Riders), Dwayne Bravo (Trinidad & Tobago/Chennai Super Kings) Doug Bollinger (New South Wales/Chennai Super Kings), Davy Jacobs (Warriors/Mumbai Indians) and Aiden Blizzard (South Australia/Mumbai Indians).
Explaining the process for deciding which teams the eight players would represent, CLT20 Governing Council member and Director of Legal and Business Affairs, Dean Kino, said, "Players nominated by more than one team in the final squads were given 48 hours to advise us which team they would play for.
"Teams were then permitted to replace any player that withdrew from their squad and elected to play for another side."
"All eight players selected by multiple teams have elected to play for their 'away' team," Kino said.
"Eleven of the 13 teams that will compete in the tournament have now named their final 15-player squads. Only the England teams are still to be confirmed and they will be decided on August 27, where the winners of the Leicestershire-Lancashire and Hampshire-Somerset semi-finals of England's domestic T20 competition will reach the CLT20 qualifier," he added.
The CLT20 returns to India this year with a new naming rights sponsor, more teams, more prize money and participation fees, and the world's best T20 talent.
The last edition of the tournament was played in South Africa. This edition of the tournament will also witness a qualifying event in Hyderabad from September 19 to 21 followed by the main event from September 23 to October 9.
Six teams -- Kolkata Knight Riders, Trinidad and Tobago, Auckland Aces, Ruhunu and two teams from England will fight it out in the qualifiers from which three will progress to the main event which will begin at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore with the match between 2011 IPL runners-up Royal Challangers Bangalore and South African side Warriors.
The squads:
Cape Cobras: Jean-Paul Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Justin Kemp, Rory Kleinveldt, Charl Langeveldt, Richard Levi, Johann Louw, Justin Ontong, Robin Peterson, Vernon Philander, Andrew Puttick, Michael Rippon, Owais Shah, Dale Steyn, Dane Vilas.
Chennai Super Kings: Ravichandran Ashwin, Subramaniam Badrinath, Doug Bollinger, Dwayne Bravo, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Michael Hussey, Shadab Jakati, Albie Morkel, Suresh Raina, Suraj Randiv, Wriddhiman Saha, Anirudha Srikkanth, Tim Southee, Scott Styris, Murali Vijay.
Mumbai Indians: Aiden Blizzard, Yuzvendra Chahal, James Franklin, Davy Jacobs, Dhawal Kulkarni, Surya Kumar Yadav, Lasith Malinga, Ali Murtuza, Munaf Patel, Kieron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Tirumalasetti Suman, Sachin Tendulkar.
New South Wales Blues: Stuart Clark, Patrick Cummins, Nathan Hauritz, Josh Hazelwood, Moises Henriques, Phillip Hughes, Simon Katich, Nic Maddinson, Stephen O'Keefe, Ben Rohrer, Daniel Smith, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner, Shane Watson.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Mayank Agarwal, Sreenath Aravind, Raju Bhatkal, AB de Villiers, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chris Gayle, Arun Karthik, Virat Kohli, Mohammad Kaif, Abhimanyu Mithun, Syed Mohammed, Dirk Nannes, Asad Pathan, Saurabh Tiwary, Daniel Vettori.
South Australian Redbacks: Cameron Borgas, Daniel Christian, Tom Cooper, Callum Ferguson, Daniel Harris, Michael Klinger, Nathan Lyon, Tim Ludeman, Aaron O'Brien, Gary Putland, Adil Rashid, Kane Richardson, Chadd Sayers, James Smith, Shaun Tait.
Warriors: Johan Botha, Nicky Boje, Mark Boucher, Andrew Birch, Colin Ingram, Justin Kreusch, Lyall Meyer, Makhaya Ntini, Wayne Parnell, Ashwell Prince, Jon-Jon Smuts, Kelly Smuts, Juan Theron, Craig Thyssen, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.
Auckland Aces: Andre Adams, James Adams, Michael Bates, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Roneel Hira, Gareth Hopkins, Anaru Kitchen, Bruce Martin, Chris Martin, Kyle Mills, Colin Munro, Daryl Tuffey, Rob Quiney, Lou Vincent.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Iqbal Abdulla, Shakib Al Hasan, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Rajat Bhatia, Manvinder Bisla, Gautam Gambhir, Brad Haddin, Jacques Kallis, Brett Lee, Eoin Morgan Yusuf Pathan, Mohammad Shami Ahmed, Ryan Ten Doeschate, Manoj Tiwary, Jaidev Unadkat.
Trinidad & Tobago: Samuel Badree, Adrian Barath, Darren Bravo, Kevon Cooper, Rayad Emrit, Daren Ganga, Sherwin Ganga, Shannon Gabriel, Jason Mohammed, Dave Mohammed, Sunil Narine, William Perkins, Denesh Ramdin, Ravindranath Rampaul, Lendl Simmons.
Ruhunu: Mahela Udawatta, Dinesh Chandimal, Sanath Jayasuriya, Janaka Gunaratne, Milinda Siriwardana, TM Sampath, Yashodha Lanka, Shihan Kamileen, Amal Athulathmudali, Arosh Janoda, Shalika Karunanayake, Omesh Wijesiriwardene, Alankara Asanka Silva, Chinthaka Perera, Bhanuka Rajapaksa.
