CCL

CCL

After the ICC World Cup 2011 and IPL 2011, here comes the Celebrity Cricket League that promises to be bigger and better. With the biggest stars in the country taking on the field, sports has never been this glamourous. For the first time ever, four film fraternities — Tollywood, Kollywood, Sandalwood and Bollywood will play in a T-20 format in this star-studded Cricket League.

And it's all to promote a good cause. The initiative aims to raise awareness on piracy and ways to combat it. As per last year's statistics, the Indian entertainment industry lost over Rs 4,000 crore and 6,00,000 jobs due to piracy. Beginning June 4, in Bengaluru, the first edition of the CCL will unfold. The finals will be held in Hyderabad on June 12.

The league matches promise to be a starry affair all the way. The Telugu Warriors, led by Venkatesh has names like Vishnu, Tarun, Siddarth, Srikanth and Nitin, among others playing for it. Vishnu Manchu owns the team.

The Mumbai Heroes owned by Sohail Khan Entertainment, has Salman Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, Sohail Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Sonu Sood, Harman Baweja, Aftab Shivdasani, Dino Morea, Kunal Khemu and Mahesh Manjrekar among others. The team will be captained by Suniel Shetty.

Chennai Rhinos, led by Suriya, boasts of names like Madhavan, Abbas, Vishal and others. The team is owned by Prasad MD of GVR Infra and Raja Rao Chairman Prathyusha Group.

Karnataka Bulldozers, led by Sudeep, is owned by Ashok Kheny, industrialist-cum-producer, who is the owner of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE).

Genelia D'Souza, Sonakshi Sinha, Shriya Saran, Priyamani, Charmee, Taapsee, Samantha, Andrita and Ragini bring in the oomph factor to CCL.

"The idea was to combine two popular Indian religions, Bollywood and cricket, to produce great entertainment for the Indian audience. The film fraternities from South India and Bollywood will battle against each other for the cricket cup," says Sohail.

Word is out that Salman Khan will take his shirt off if his team wins. "I will be there to cheer for our boys. It will be as competitive as any other cricket tournament," he says.

All matches are covered on the Sahara network and tickets for the opening matches in Bengaluru have already been sold out. Sonu Nigam along with 1,200 folk dancers from Karnataka will be performing at the opening ceremony.