The excitement of Twenty20 cricket is back with the Airtel Twenty20 Champions League. It is an international Twenty20 cricket competition between top clubs from India, Australia, England, South Africa, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and West Indies. The tournament is going to start from 8th October 2009. This competition is brain-child of Lalit Modi, the vice-president of BCCI. Actually, he is inspired with the success of IPL twenty20. Earlier the league was to be held from Dec 3 to Dec 10, 2008 but it was cancelled due to terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November 2008. Indian Mobile company Airtel is the main sponsor of the League. It has bought the sponsorship rights by paying the huge sum of rupees 170 crores.

The 2009 Champions League will be contested by 12 teams. Top 3 teams of IPL, top 2 teams of Australia, England and South Africa and top teams from West Indies, New Zealand and Sri Lanka will take part in the tournament. It will start with a round robin format, with 4 pools of 3 teams. The Top 2 teams from each pool will advance to the knockout stages. A total 19 matches will be played over a 16 day period.

Group A

Deccan Chargers
Somerset Sabres
Trinidad and Tobago

Group B

New South Wales Blues
Diamond Eagles
Sussex Sharks

Group C

Royal Challengers Bangalore
Cape Cobras
Otago Volts

Group D

Delhi Daredevils
Victorian Bushrangers
Wayamba

The complete schedule of Twenty20 Champions League Cricket 2009 is given below ::

Thu Oct 8
20:00 local | 14:30 GMT
Group C – Royal Challengers Bangalore v Cape Cobras
M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore

Fri Oct 9
16:00 local | 10:30 GMT
Group B – Diamond Eagles v New South Wales
Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

Fri Oct 9
20:00 local | 14:30 GMT
Group D – Delhi Daredevils v Victoria
Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

Sat Oct 10
16:00 local | 10:30 GMT
Group C – Cape Cobras v Otago
Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad

Sat Oct 10
20:00 local | 14:30 GMT
Group A – Deccan Chargers v Somerset
Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad

Sun Oct 11
16:00 local | 10:30 GMT
Group B – New South Wales v Sussex
Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

Sun Oct 11
20:00 local | 14:30 GMT
Group D – Delhi Daredevils v Wayamba
Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

Mon Oct 12
16:00 local | 10:30 GMT
Group A – Somerset v Trinidad & Tobago
M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore

Mon Oct 12
20:00 local | 14:30 GMT
Group C – Royal Challengers Bangalore v Otago
M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore

Tue Oct 13
16:00 local | 10:30 GMT
Group D – Victoria v Wayamba
Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

Tue Oct 13
20:00 local | 14:30 GMT
Group B – Eagles v Sussex
Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

Wed Oct 14
20:00 local | 14:30 GMT
Group A – Deccan Chargers v Trinidad & Tobago
Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad

Thu Oct 15
20:00 local | 14:30 GMT
League B – TBC v TBC (C1 v D2)
M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore

Fri Oct 16
16:00 local | 10:30 GMT
League A – TBC v TBC (A2 v B2)
Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad

Fri Oct 16
20:00 local | 14:30 GMT
League A – TBC v TBC (A1 v B1)
Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad

Sat Oct 17
16:00 local | 10:30 GMT
League B – TBC v TBC (C2 v D2)
M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore

Sat Oct 17
20:00 local | 14:30 GMT
League B – TBC v TBC (C1 v D1)
M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore

Sun Oct 18
16:00 local | 10:30 GMT
League A – TBC v TBC (A2 v B1)
Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad

Sun Oct 18
20:00 local | 14:30 GMT
League A – TBC v TBC (A1 v B2)
Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad

Mon Oct 19
20:00 local | 14:30 GMT
League B – TBC v TBC (C2 v D1)
Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

Wed Oct 21
20:00 local | 14:30 GMT
1st Semi-final – TBC v TBC (Winner B v Runner up A)
Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

Thu Oct 22
20:00 local | 14:30 GMT
2nd Semi-final – TBC v TBC (Winner A v Runner up B)
Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad

Fri Oct 23
20:00 local | 14:30 GMT
Final – TBC v TBC
Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad