PremiumCCL 2024: Kiccha Sudeep and his Karnataka Bulldozers have no home ground matches; here’s why
Karnataka Bulldozers
Last Updated: 12.24 PM, Feb 20, 2024
Over the last decade, the Celebrity Cricket League (CCL), a cricket tournament featuring stars from different film industries has become a much-loved and watched event, what with the actors putting on sporting displays that could give even professional athletes a run for their money. The 10thedition of CCL kicks off on February 23, in what the organizers say is a much bigger and better event. The inaugural weekend sees all 8 teams playing matches in Sharjah, after which the action moves to India.
Normally, depending on availability of good stadiums to play at, the teams get at least one home ground match, but this time around, there are limitations on venues, which also means that for the first time since the tournament was launched, Bengaluru does not feature on the final schedule. While the initial schedule had a few matches slated to be held at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, on February 29 and March 2, respectively, a revised one puts a bulk of the tournament in Hyderabad and Vizag, instead.
OTTplay spoke to Ashok Kheny, the owner of the Karnataka Bulldozers team at the recent jersey launch and he explained that Kiccha Sudeep and his team, including players like Pradeep, Rajeev Hannu, J Karthik, Suneel Raoh, Arun Bachchan, Chandan Gowda, among others, will not have a home ground match, as the Chinnaswamy Stadium is hosting the Women’s Premier League.
“We do not have an alternative ground in Bengaluru and, hence, most of the matches will be played in Hyderabad and Vizag,” said Kheny, adding that he was working on a proposal to set up an international standard ground that could be used for such tournaments on the outskirts of the city, within close range of his Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Expressway (NICE).
CCL 2024 has got Sony Ten5 and Dooradarshan as official broadcast partners, while JioCinema is the streaming partner. In the south, Star Network will telecast the matches with language specific commentary across the five states. In Karnataka, the matches will be available on Star Suvarna with Kannada commentary.