Tendulkar, Dravid in CLT20 squads; Sangakkara opts for domestic team

Barring Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara, all players have declared their allegiances to IPL franchises over their respective countries' domestic sides ahead of the upcoming Champions League Twenty20.

Eleven out of 12 international cricketers have chosen to play for IPL franchises instead of their domestic sides competing in the US $6 million event, starting September 21.

While Sangakkara will turn out for Sri Lanka's Kandurata Maroons instead of his IPL team Sunrisers Hyderabad, players like Mike Hussey, Dwayne Bravo and Shane Watson will play for Indian clubs.

Batting icon Sachin Tendulkar, who had said the sixth edition of the IPL would be his last, and and Rahul Dravid have been included in the Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals squads respectively.

IPL-6 winners Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals kick-off CLT20 2013 with a Group A match in Jaipur on September 21.

The tournament will witness the world's 12 best domestic teams fighting it out over 29 matches for the coveted prize.

Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals apart, Group A comprises Highveld Lions (winner of South Africa's domestic T20 competition), Perth Scorchers (KFC T20 Big Bash League runner-up), and a team from the Qualifier.

Group B will comprise Brisbane Heat (KFC T20 Big Bash League champion), Trinidad & Tobago (West Indies T20 champion), Chennai Super Kings (runner-up in the Pepsi IPL 2013), Titans (South Africa's domestic T20 runners-up), and a team from the Qualifier.

CLT20 2013 will follow a format similar to the two previous editions, with a group stage preceded by a qualifier.

The qualifier, to be played from September 17 to 20, will feature four teams: Q1 - Otago Volts (New Zealand's HRV Cup champions), Q2 – Sunrisers Hyderabad (Fourth-ranked team in the Pepsi IPL 2013), Q3 - Kandurata Maroons, the winner of Sri Lanka's domestic T20 competition, and Q4 - Faisalabad Wolves (Pakistan's domestic T20 Champions).

The teams will play each other once, with the top two advancing to the group stage.

The top team from Group A will play the second-ranked team from Group B in the first semi-final in Jaipur on October 4. The top team from Group B will play the second-ranked team from Group A in the second semi-final in Delhi on October 5.

The winners of the semi-finals will play in the final on October 6.

Explaining the process for deciding which teams these 12 players would represent, CLT20 Governing Council member and Director of Legal and Business Affairs, Dean Kino, said: "Players who were named by more than one team were asked to select which team they were going to play for. Teams were then allowed to replace any player that withdrew from their squad and elected to play for another side."

CLT20 regulations state that when a player elects to play for their 'away' team, that team must pay the 'home' team $150,000 compensation per player. A 'home' team is classified as a team from the country a player is eligible to represent in international cricket.

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar, Dinesh Karthik, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Ambati Rayudu, Aditya Tare, Rishi Dhawan, Abu Nechim, Akshar Patel, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Smith, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mitchell Johnson, Glen Maxwell.

Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, M Vijay, Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, S Badrinath, Imtiaz Ahmed, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohit Sharma, Michael Hussey, Dwayne Bravo, Albie Morkel, Jason Holder, Faf du Plessis, Chris Morris.

Rajasthan Royals: Rahul Dravid, Ajinkya Rahane, Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson, Ashok Menaria, Dishant Yagnik, Vikramjeet Malik, Rahul Shukla, Pravin Tambe, Siddharth Trivedi, Shane Watson, Brad Hodge, James Faulkner, Kevon Cooper, Shaun Tait.

Brisbane Heat: Joe Burns, Daniel Christian, Ben Cutting, Peter Forrest, Dom Michael, Chris Hartley, Nathan Hauritz, James Hopes, Matthew Gale, Chris Lynn, Alister McDermott, Cameron Gannon, Alex Kemp, Kemar Roach, Chris Sabburg.

Perth Scorchers: Ashton Agar, Michael Beer, Jason Behrendorff, Ashton Turner, Liam Davis, Brad Hogg, Burt Cockley, Simon Katich, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Joel Paris, Alfonso Thomas, Tom Triffitt, Adam Voges, Sam Whiteman.

Titans: Jacques Rudolph, Henry Davids, AB de Villiers, Farhaan Behardien, Heino Kuhn, David Wiese, Eden Links, Ethy Mbhalati, Rowan Richards, Mangaliso Mosehle, CJ de Villiers, Graeme van Buuren, Morne Morkel, Roelof van der Merwe, Marchant de Lange.

Highveld Lions: Temba Bavuma, Gulam Bodi, Quinton De Kock, Neil McKenzie, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Ethan O'Reilly, Hardus Viljoen, Rassie van der Dussen, Alviro Petersen, Aaron Phangiso, Dwaine Pretorius, Jean Symes, Imran Tahir, Sohail Tanvir, Thami Tsolekile.

Trinidad & Tobago: Denesh Ramdin, Rayad Emrit, Jason Mohammed, Nicolas Pooran, Sunil Narine, Evin Lewis, Samuel Badree, Navin Stewart, Shannon Gabriel, Yannick Ottley, Adrian Barath, Sherwin Ganga, Lendl Simmons, Ravi Rampaul, Darren Bravo.

Faisalabad Wolves: Misbah-ul-Haq, Asif Ali, Ali Waqas, Khurram Shehzad, Mohammad Salman, Waqas Maqsood, Samiullah Khan, Asad Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Ehsan Adil, Hasan Mahmood, Jahandad Khan, Farrukh Shehzad, Imran Khalid, Ammar Mahmood.

Otago Volts: Nick Beard, Michael Bracewell, Neil Broom, Iain Butler, Mark Craig, Derek de Boorder, Jacob Duffy, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, James McMillan, Jimmy Neesham, Aaron Redmond, Hamish Rutherford, Ryan ten Doeschate, Neil Wagner

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Shikhar Dhawan, Parthiv Patel, Cameron White, JP Duminy, Dale Steyn, Darren Sammy, Biplab Samantray, Thisara Perera, Karan Sharma, Hanuma Vihari, Ashish Reddy, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Anand Rajan, TBC.

Kandurata Maroons: Lahiru Thirimanne, Nuwan Kulasekara, Upul Tharanga, Thilina Kandamby, Kumar Sangakkara, Shehan Jayasuriya, Chamara Silva, Milinda Siriwardana, Dilhara Lokuhettige, Dhammika Prasad, Ajantha Mendis, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Lahiru Jayaratne, Dhananjaya De Silva, Suraj Randiv.

Image: Sachin Tendulkar

Photograph: BCCI