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Bangalore: Cricket's first ever international club tournament -- Champions League Twenty20 -- will kick off on Thursday with a high voltage match between local favourites Royal Challengers and South African Cape Cobras.
Some of game's big names will turn out in their club jerseys for the twelve teams drawn from hosts India, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Trinidad and Tobago.
The 15-day Twenty20 gala will witness a host of international stars competing for a whopping prize money of $6 million.
Indian Premier League (IPL) finalists Royal Challengers and Delhi Daredevils will be the two teams from India. The twelve teams have been divided into four groups.
The Champions Challenge was postponed last year after the Mumbai terror attacks in November.
The Cobras will have the likes of JP Duminy and Herschelle Gibbs, though they will miss their captain Graeme Smith, who has withdrawn from the tournament due to an injury.
The Cobras will also have to quickly adjust to the local conditions and a strong home support. The South African club, however, would be happy with their performance in the two warm-up matches which they won convincingly.
The Challengers spearheaded by Anil Kumble will look to carry forward their impressive performace in the IPL II, where they were the finalists.
The Challengers would also like to cash in on the Cobra batsmen's unease against slower bowlers and skipper Kumble would certainly look to exploit their weakness against spin.
Gibbs and Duminy are the only two batsmen who are at home against spin, and they would have to share much of the batting workload.
Duminy had an excellent IPL playing for Mumbai Indians, notching five half-centuries and scored 373.
Gibbs, too, had a stupendous tournament, where he slammed four 50s, including one in the final, to take Deccan Chargers to their maiden IPL win.
Match facts
Thursday, October 08, 2009 (day/night)
Start time 20.00 local, 14.30 GMT
