Chennai to host final of T20 Champions League

NEW DELHI // Chennai will host the final of the Champions League Twenty20 tournament later this year.

Kolkata and Bangalore will be the other venues for the September 23 to October 9 tournament, which features leading provincial Twenty20 teams from around the world.

Seven teams have direct entries into the tournament while three others will be decided in a six-team qualifier to be played at Hyderabad from September 19 to 21.

The seven teams assured of a place in the main tournament are: South Australia Redbacks and New South Wales Blues from Australia, Warriors and Cape Cobras from South Africa, and the Indian Premier League teams Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians.

The teams confirmed for the qualifying tournament are Kolkata Knight Riders of India, Trinidad and Tobago of the West Indies and Auckland Aces of New Zealand.

Two other teams from England and one from Sri Lanka, which are yet to be confirmed, will complete the line-up for the qualifying tournament.

New South Wales Blues won the inaugural edition of the Champions League in 2009 while Mahendra Singh Dhoni led Chennai Super Kings to last year's title.