| Tournament Name: | Celebrity Cricket League |
| Current: | 2023 Celebrity Cricket League |
| Country: |  India |
| Founded: | March 2011 |
| Headquarters: | Hyderabad, Telangana, India |
| Founder: | Pechi Divya |
| Cricket Format: | T20 (2011-2016) T10 (2017, 2019) 20 Over Test (2023,2024) |
| First: | 2011 |
| Last: | 2024 |
| Next: | 2025 |
| Tournament Format: | Round-robin and Knockout |
| Participants: | 8 |
| Champions: | Bengal Tigers |
| Most Successful: | Telugu Warriors (4 Titles) |
| Brand Ambassador: | Salman Khan |
| Winners: | 2011 - Chennai Rhinos2012 - Chennai Rhinos2013 - Karnataka Bulldozers2014 - Karnataka Bulldozers2015 - Telugu Warriors2016 - Telugu Warriors2017 - Telugu Warriors 2019 - Mumbai Heroes2023 - Telugu Warriors |
The Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) is an amateur men's cricket league in India. It consists of eight teams of film actors from eight film industries of Indian cinema. The league commenced in 2011.[1] [2] Salman Khan is the Brand Ambassador for Celebrity Cricket League from 2011 for all seasons. The CCL teams use various venues for their home games and it has a vast coverage in Indian media.[3] [4] [5]
The popularity of the Indian Premier League inspired the CCL, with franchises in major Indian cities. Vishnu Vardhan Induri, an entrepreneur from Hyderabad, is the founder and managing director of CCL. He started the league in 2010 by selling franchise rights for four teams in the inaugural season. For the second season, two additional teams were added.[6]
In January 2024, With South Indian International Media Awards (SIIMA) completing 12 years and Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) gearing up for its 10th season, the founder of SIIMA and CCL Vishnu Vardhan Induri joins forces with Alankar Pandian of Invenio Origin, a media investment fund based out of Singapore and Dubai to launch a New Pan India Media IP called Indian National Cine Academy (INCA) along with scaling up SIIMA and CCL.[7]
The inaugural season took place in 2011 and included participation from ariyumo four teams - Chennai Rhinos, Telugu Warriors, Mumbai Heroes, and Karnataka Bulldozers.[8] With CCL season 1, the organizers planned to create awareness about anti-piracy.[9] Chennai Rhinos defeated Karnataka Bulldozers in a competitive final and emerged as the inaugural CCL champions.
The second season was conducted from 13 January to 13 February 2012. Two new cricket teams, the Kerala Strikers and the Bengal Tigers were added to the CCL. Hindi film industry Team "Mumbai Heroes" selected Sharjah as its home ground.[10] Chennai Rhinos defeated Karnataka Bulldozers for the second time in a row and emerged as the CCL 2 champions.
The third season had two new teams, Veer Marathi representing the Marathi film industry and Bhojpuri Dabbangs representing the Bhojpuri film industry. In Season 3, the curtain raiser event was held in Mumbai on 19 January 2013 and was regarded by many as a grand affair,[11] where Salman Khan,[12] Katrina Kaif, Bipasha Basu, Prabhu Deva and many other celebrities performed.[13] The opening ceremony was in Kochi on 9 February 2013, where Kerala Strikers played against Mumbai Heroes. Bollywood actor Bipasha Basu was appointed as the brand ambassador for Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) season 3, along with Kajal Aggarwal.[14] [15] Karnataka Bulldozers defeated Telugu Warriors to become CCL 3 champions.
CCL Season 4 had a bigger reach than the earlier seasons as Colors TV had come in as a broadcast partner for the Mumbai Heroes games and Rishtey TV telecasted all the games. Karnataka Bulldozers qualified for the finals for the fourth consecutive year. They won the cup by defeating Kerala Strikers.
CCL season 5 was the most successful season in terms of revenues and television viewership. As per TAM, CCL was the second most viewed sporting league in the country due to its reach delivered through Colors in Hindi-speaking markets and Sun Network Channels in South India. Telugu Warriors won the trophy for the first time by defeating 2-time champion Chennai Rhinos.
A new team, Punjab De Sher, representing the Punjab film industry, was introduced in place of Veer Marathi.[16] Daler Mehndi was the brand ambassador of the team, with Sonu Sood the captain. Mr. Puneet and Navraj Hans were the owners of the team. Punjab De Sher selected new players for the team. Telugu Warriors won the cup for the second time.[17]
In CCL Season 10, the first schedule took place at the UAE's Sharjah Stadium, with an introduction ceremony held near the Burj Khalifa. Five teams displayed extraordinary all-round performances, winning three out of four matches each. However, Telugu Warriors lagged behind due to their net run rate, while Karnataka, Mumbai, Bengal, and Chennai advanced to the semifinals. In the finals, Karnataka and Bengal faced off, with Bengal emerging as the new champions of the season.
| Team | Industry | State | Captain | Debut | Ownership | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Telugu Warriors | Telugu/Tollywood | Andhra Pradesh, Telangana | Akkineni Akhil | 2011 | Venkatesh Daggubati, Sachin Joshi | |
| Mumbai Heroes | Hindi/Bollywood | Maharashtra | Riteish Deshmukh | 2011 | Sohail Khan | |
| Bengal Tigers | Bengali/Tollywood | West Bengal | Jisshu Sengupta | 2012 | Boney Kapoor, Raj Shah | |
| Bhojpuri Dabbangs | Bhojpuri/Bhojiwood | Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand | Manoj Tiwari | 2013 | Sushil Sharma · Kanishk Sheel · Rahul Mishra · Sushil Malik | |
| Chennai Rhinos | Tamil/Kollywood | Tamil Nadu | Arya | 2011 | K. Ganga Prasad | |
| Karnataka Bulldozers | Kannada/Sandalwood | Karnataka | Pradeep | 2011 | Ashok Kheny | |
| Kerala Strikers | Malayalam/Mollywood | Kerala | 2012 | Mohanlal, Rajkumar, Sripriya, Shaji, Jaison, Mibu Jose Nettikaden | ||
| Punjab De Sher | Punjabi/Pollywood | Punjab | Sonu Sood | 2016 | Navraj Hans, Puneet Singh |
| 2011 (4) | 2012 (6) | 2013 (8) | 2014 (8) | 2015 (8) | 2016 (8) | 2017 (6) | 2019 (6) | 2023 (8) | 2024 (8) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bengal Tigers | GS | GS | GS | GS | SF | GS | SF | GS | W | |
| Bhojpuri Dabbangs | GS | SF | GS | SF | SF | R | GS | |||
| Chennai Rhinos | W | W | GS | GS | R | GS | GS | GS | SF | |
| R | R | W | W | SF | R | GS | R | SF | R | |
| Kerala Strikers | GS | SF | R | GS | GS | R | GS | GS | ||
| Mumbai Heroes | GS | SF | GS | SF | SF | GS | GS | W | SF | SF |
| Punjab De Sher | GS | GS | GS | GS | ||||||
| Telugu Warriors | GS | SF | R | GS | W | W | W | GS | W | GS |
| SF | GS | GS |
Notes:
| Bengal Tigers | 9 | 36 | 10 | 23 | 3 | |
| Bhojpuri Dabbangs | 7 | 29 | 13 | 13 | 3 | |
| Chennai Rhinos | 9 | 37 | 16 | 18 | 3 | |
| 10 | 48 | 31 | 14 | 3 | ||
| Kerala Strikers | 8 | 32 | 15 | 16 | 1 | |
| Mumbai Heroes | 10 | 41 | 17 | 21 | 3 | |
| Punjab De Sher | 4 | 13 | 1 | 11 | 1 | |
| Telugu Warriors | 10 | 44 | 31 | 12 | 1 | |
| 3 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 0 |
| Bengal Tigers | 3 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |
| Bhojpuri Dabbangs | 4 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | |
| Chennai Rhinos | 4 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | |
| 9 | 2 | 14 | 7 | 6 | 1 | ||
| Kerala Strikers | 3 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | |
| Mumbai Heroes | 6 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 1 | |
| Punjab De Sher | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Telugu Warriors | 6 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Team | Appearances | Best result | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=40 | Total | width=40 | First | width=40 | Latest |
| Telugu Warriors | 10 | 2011 | 2024 | Champions (2015, 2016, 2017, 2023) | |
| Karnataka Bulldozers | 10 | 2011 | 2024 | Champions (2013, 2014) | |
| Chennai Rhinos | 9 | 2011 | 2024 | Champions (2011, 2012) | |
| Mumbai Heroes | 10 | 2011 | 2024 | Champions (2019) | |
| Bengal Tigers | 9 | 2012 | 2024 | Champions (2024) | |
| Kerala Strikers | 8 | 2012 | 2024 | Runners-up (2014, 2017) | |
| Bhojpuri Dabbangs | 7 | 2013 | 2024 | Runners-up (2023) | |
| 3 | 2013 | 2015 | Semi-finals (2013) | ||
| Punjab De Sher | 4 | 2016 | 2024 | Group Stage | |
| Mumbai Heroes | Bengal Tigers | width=330 | Karnataka Bulldozers | width=330 | Chennai Rhinos | width=330 | Telugu Warriors | width=330 | Kerala Strikers | width=330 | Bhojpuri Dabang | width=330 | Punjab De Sher | width=330 | Veer Marathi (Defunct team) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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