The Celebrity Cricket League is a sportainment event that brings together some of the top actors and actresses of the Indian film industry. The league has grown over the years and continues to attract large crowds. The tournament has introduced new rules and innovations to keep fans engaged. It also serves as a platform for social causes.
The CCL is a unique blend of cricket and entertainment, bringing the best of both worlds together. Eight teams representing different regions of the country are slated to play 19 matches in six cities across India. The tournament is expected to be a huge hit with cricket lovers, and it will also appeal to a wide variety of audiences.
The competition is a major source of entertainment for fans, and it has a reputation for providing quality cricketing action. CCL has grown in popularity each year since it started, and its match day attendances are increasing as well. The CCL 2023 will take place in India and will kick off on February 18, and the final is scheduled for March 19.
This time around, the tournament will introduce a new format to the game, and it will be played in two innings of 10 overs each. This is the first time that a T20 game will be played in this way.
History
The Celebrity Cricket League, also known as CCL, is a fun and unprofessional Twenty20 Indian cricket tournament that consists of film actors from India’s major film industries. It is founded by Vishnu Vardhan Induri a serial Entrepreneur who hails from Hyderabad. The CCL is based on the Indian Premier League (IPL) and is inspired by it’s popularity.
The CCL was launched in 2011 and has grown into one of the most popular men’s cricket leagues in the country. It consists of eight teams of film actors from eight major regional film industries of Indian cinema.
- Season 1
The inaugural season featured four teams, including the Chennai Rhinos, Telugu Warriors, Mumbai Heroes, and Karnataka Bulldozers. through the first season of the CCL, organizers planned to create awareness about anti-piracy. The Chennai Rhinos emerged from a highly competitive tournament as the first CCL champion.
- Season 2
The second season was played from January 13 to February 13, 2012. Two new cricket teams, Kerala Strikers and Bengal Tigers, joined the team and Chennai Rhinos defeated Karnataka Bulldozers for the second consecutive time to defend their title.
- Season 3
Popular Bollywood actor Bipasha Basu was appointed as the brand ambassador for the third season of the CCL along with Kajal Agarwal. Two new teams Veer Marathi and Bhojpuri Dabbangs joined the team. The third season started on February 9, 2013 in Kochi and finally Karnataka Bulldozers became the champions of CCL 3.
- Season 4
The fourth season had a bigger impact than the previous seasons as Colors TV became the broadcast partner of Mumbai Hero and Rishtey TV broadcast all the matches. the Karnataka Bulldozers qualified for the finals for the fourth year in a row and eventually won the trophy.
- Season 5
Season 5 was the most successful season in terms of revenue and TV ratings. the CCL was the second most watched sports league in the country as it was distributed in the Hindi speaking market through Colors and the Sun Network channel in South India. the Telugu Warriors won the trophy for the first time.
- Season 6
Punjab De Sher, the new team representing the film industry in Punjab, replaced Veer Marathi. Daler Mehndi is the brand ambassador of the team while Mr. Puneet and Navraj Hans are the owners of the team. Telugu Warriors won the cup for the second time.
Schedule
There will be 19 matches in the league, held across six Indian cities, including Jaipur, Hyderabad, Raipur, Jodhpur, Bengaluru, and Thiruvananthapuram.
The opening match of the CCL 2023 will take place on Saturday, February 18 in Raipur. It will be followed by the other eight group-stage matches on February 18, March 18, and April 9. The final will be played on March 19 in Hyderabad.
| Date | Time (IST) | City/State | Matches |
| 18-Feb | 14:30 | Raipur | Bengal Tigers vs Karnataka Bulldozers |
| 18-Feb | 19:00 | Raipur | Chennai Rhinos vs Mumbai Heroes |
| 19-Feb | 14:30 | Raipur | Kerala Strikers vs Telugu Warriors |
| 19-Feb | 19:00 | Raipur | Punjab De Sher vs Bhojpuri Dabanggs |
| 25-Feb | 14:30 | Jaipur | Chennai Rhinos vs Bhojpuri Dabanggs |
| 25-Feb | 19:00 | Jaipur | Bengal Tigers vs Telugu Warriors |
| 26-Feb | 14:30 | Jaipur | Kerala Strikers vs Karnataka Bulldozers |
| 26-Feb | 19:00 | Jaipur | Punjab De Sher vs Mumbai Heroes |
| 04-Mar | 14:30 | Bangalore | Punjab De Sher vs Telugu Warriors |
| 04-Mar | 19:00 | Bangalore | Chennai Rhinos vs Karnataka Bulldozers |
| 05-Mar | 14:30 | Trivandrum | Bengal Tigers vs Bhojpuri Dabbangs |
| 05-Mar | 19:00 | Trivandrum | Kerala Strikers vs Mumbai Heroes |
| 11-Mar | 14:30 | Jodhpur | Kerala Strikers vs Bhojpuri Dabbangs |
| 11-Mar | 19:00 | Jodhpur | Punjab De Sher vs Karnataka Bulldozers |
| 12-Mar | 14:30 | Jodhpur | Chennai Rhinos vs Telugu Warriors |
| 12-Mar | 19:00 | Jodhpur | Bengal Tigers vs Mumbai Heroes |
| 18-Mar | 14:30 | Hyderabad | Semi Final 1 vs Semi Final 4: SF1 |
| 18-Mar | 19:00 | Hyderabad | Semi Final 2 vs Semi Final 3: SF2 |
| 19-Mar | 19:00 | Hyderabad | Final |
Teams and Players
It will be an 8-team affair with Bollywood stars, each representing a different region of the country. These teams will be made up of celebrities from the film industry, and they will play against each other until they reach the finals in order to win the CCL cup.
The CCL 2023 squad features many well-known Bollywood actors and South Asian athletes. For example, Ritesh Deshmukh, Sunil Shetty, Bobby Deol, and a number of other famous actors will be playing for Mumbai Heroes.
Some of the renowned cricketers who will be competing in this tournament like Kichcha Sudeep, Akhil Akkineni, Navraj Hans and Telugu actor Venkatesh Kumar. These celebrities will be joined by a few other A-listers, such as Manoj Tiwari, Arya Stark, Kunchacko Boban, Arjun Nandakumar, and Dharam.
| Karnataka Bulldozers | Pradeep (C), Rajeev H, Sudeep Kiccha, Suneel Rao, Jayram Karthik, Prathap, Prasanna, Shiva Rajkumar, Ganesh, Krishna, Sourav Lokesh, Chandan, Arjun Yogi, Nirup Bhandari, Nanda Kishore, and Sagar Gowda |
| Bhojpuri Dabbangs | Manoj Tiwari (C), Ravi Kishan, Dinesh Lal Yadav, Ram Pravesh Yadav, Uday Tiwari, Ajhoy Sharma, Vikrant Singh, Aditya Ojha, Prakash Jais, Ayaz Khan, Shailesh Sinha, Vaibhav Raj, Asgar Rashid Khan, Vikas Singh, Akbar Naqvi, Gajender Pratap Dwivedi, Jay Prakash Yadav, Raj Chohan, Pawan Singh, Bobby Singh, Pradeep Pandey, Yash Kumar |
| Bengal Tigers | Jisshu Sengupta (C), Uday, Indrasish, Mohan, Suman, Joy, Joe, Yusuf, Jeetu Kamal, Jammy, Ratnadip Ghosh, Ananda Chowdhury, Sandy, Aditya Roy Banerjee, Arman Ahamed, Manty, Rahul Mazumdar, Gaurav Chakrabarty, Boney, and Sourav Das |
| Mumbai Heroes | Ritesh Deshmukh (C), Suniel Shetty, Aftab Shivdasani, Sohail Khan, Bobby Deol, Jay Bhanushali, Saqib Saleem, Shabir Ahluwalia, Raja Bherwani, Sharad Kelkar, Apoorva Lakhia, Sameer Kochar, Sidhant Muley, Madhav Deochake, Freddie Daruwala, Vatsal Sheth, Adarsh Balakrishna, Rajniesh Dugali, Nishant Dahiya, Navdeep Tomar, Sandeep Juwatkar, Jatin Sarna, and Amit Sial |
| Chennai Rhinos | Arya (C), Arya, Jiiva, Vikranth, Shantanu, Prithivi, Ashok Selvan, Kalai Arasan, Mirchi Shiva, Bharath Niwas, Ramana, Satya, Dasarathan, Sharan, Aadhav, and Balasaravanan |
| Kerala Strikers | Kunchacko Boban (C), Asif Ali, Rajeev Pillai, Unni Mukundam, Arjun Nandakumar, Indrajit Sukumaran, Siddharath Menon, Manikuttan, Vijay Yesudas, Shafeeq Rahman, Vivek Gopan, Saiju Kurup, Vinu Mohan, Nikhil K Menon, Prajod Kalabhavan, Antony Pepe, Jean Paul Lal, Sanju Shivaram, Siju Wilson, and Prashanth Alexander |
| Punjab de Sher | Sonu Sood (C), Jimmy Shergil, Ayushmann Khurrana, Gurpreet Ghuggi, Binnu Dhillon, Jassie Gill, Rahul Dev, Gavie Chahal, Dev Kharoud, Gulzar Chahar, Babbal Rai, Aryaman Sapru, Navraj Hans, Yuvraj Hans, Mukul Dev, Arjan Bajwa, and Harmeet Singh |
| Telugu Warriors | Akhil Akkineni (C), Sachin Joshi, Ashvin Babu, Dharam, Aadarsh, Nanda Kishore, Nikhil, Raghu, Samrat, Taraka Ratna, Tarun, Vishwa, Prince, Sushanth, Khayyum, and Harish |
Broadcasters
The CCL, a sportainment event that combines sports and entertainment, is back with eight teams from different regions of India. The league will be broadcast on television and will also be available online. This will allow fans to watch the matches from anywhere in the world. It will also be possible to watch the matches on the go using a mobile app.
All the 19 CCL matches will be telecast on 9 ZEE TV networks in India. Moreover, you can watch the live streaming of the league on Zee5 app. This is a great way to enjoy the tournament without having to worry about transporting yourself to the venue.
- Zee Anmol Cinema – Hindi
- & Pictures – English
- Zee Thirai – Tamil
- Zee Cinemalu – Telugu
- Zee Picchar – Kannada
- Flowers TV – Malayalam
- PTC Punjabi – Punjabi
- Zee Bangla Cinema – Bangla
- Zee Biskope – Bhojpuri
Some Celebrity of CCL
Sonu Sood
Sonu Sood is an Indian film actor and producer. He has appeared in numerous films in Hindi, Telugu, and Tamil languages. He is also an entrepreneur and the founder of his own production company, Shakti Sagar Sood Productions.
Sood has won several film industry awards, including Best Supporting Actor in Arundhati and IIFA Award for Dabangg starring Salman Khan. He has also received the United Nations Development Programme’s ‘SDG Special Humanitarian Action award’ for his humanitarian work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Salman Khan
Known as the bad boy of Bollywood, Salman Khan has been a household name for over two decades. He has starred in some of the biggest films in Hindi cinema including Dabangg and Bharat.
He has also been a part of several other blockbusters like Wanted and Radhe. He has won many awards for his work in Bollywood and has also become a popular face on TV screens.
He is one of the most successful actors in Bollywood and is widely regarded as one of the best. He has a large following throughout India and the world.
Ritesh Deshmukh
Actor Riteish Deshmukh is one of the earliest celebrities to get involved in CCL. The actor is the owner of Veer Marathi, which is a team that features actors from the state of Maharashtra.
In 2003, Ritesh Deshmukh made his debut in Bollywood with K. Vijaya Bhaskar’s Tujhe Meri Kasam opposite his then girlfriend Genelia D’Souza, and later appeared in blockbusters like Masti and Kya Kool Hai Hum. He then went onto to do a series of successful comedy films including Malamaal Weekly, Apna Sapna Money Money and Bluffmaster!
Arya
The youngest daughter of Ned Stark and Catelyn Stark, Arya is tomboyish, feisty, independent and a fierce opponent of traditional gender roles. She has a castle-forged steel smallsword called “Needle” that she was given by her half-brother Jon Snow and is trained in the Braavosi style of sword fighting by Syrio Forel.
She is smuggled out of King’s Landing following her father’s execution and travels Westeros as a fugitive, contemplating with her own eyes the terrible consequences of the War of the Five Kings. She is eventually reunited with her sister Sansa and learns of the crimes committed by her father, Littlefinger.
Venkatesh
Venkatesh has been a part of the CCL from its very first season. He has also been a brand ambassador for the league. The actor says that he has learnt to accept the challenge of playing in a new league. He believes that the CCL is not just a platform to showcase his cricket skills but also helps him explore opportunities in regional cinema.
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