Expect this edition of CCL to be exciting, challenging: Vishnu Vishal

The matches will be T-20 in nature but they will be played in the Test format, which is to say each side will get to play two innings of 10 overs each. What’s more, to ensure that all players get an opportunity to bat, the first three players who open in the first innings and come in at one down, can’t open in the next innings!

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The upcoming edition of the Celebrity Cricket League (CCL), which is all set to begin on February 18, will be both exciting and challenging, says actor Vishnu Vishal, one of the star players of Chennai Rhinos, the cricket team representing the Tamil film industry at the keenly contested CCL.

Talking to Cineobserver.in on the sidelines of a press conference called by the Chennai Rhinos, Vishnu Vishal said, “This edition of the CCL is going to be very exciting and challenging. That is because there is a completely new format that is being introduced.”

“This will be a T-20 game but it will be in the Test match format, which is to say each side will get to play two innings of 10 overs each. What’s more, to ensure that all players get an opportunity to bat, the first three players who open the first innings and come in at one down, can’t open the next innings,” he explains.

“As the format is new to everybody, all the teams are going to be under pressure. Those who open in the first innings can’t open the second innings. So, teams will have to work out who will open the first innings and who will open the second. This means the strategies employed by teams will change from game to game. The positions of players too will change from game to game. Only when we play a couple of games in this format will we know what our team’s strengths or weaknesses are. So, this edition is going to be very challenging and very exciting for all the teams.”

Eight teams are to participate in this year’s edition of the CCL, which is to begin on February 18.

The teams will play a total of 19 matches, spread over six cities including Bangalore, Hyderabad, Jodhpur, Trivandrum and Jaipur.

Notably, two of Chennai Rhinos’s star players — Vikranth and Vishnu Vishal — are back with the team for this edition of the CCL.

Apart from them, the team will also feature Shanthanu Baghyaraj, Jiiva, Prithvi, Bala Saravanan, Bharath, Vikranth, Vishnu Vishal and Mirchi Shiva.

Sharan, Aadhav Kannadasan, Costume designer Sathya, and Dasarathi are among the new members of the team.

During the press conference, actor Jiiva said, “We are playing after a period of four years. We have started training for the tournament and we have a really good side this time around.”

Arya will be the captain of the Chennai Rhinos this time. However, he was unable to attend the press conference as he was in Delhi.

The other teams participating in this year’s CCL are Mumbai Heroes with Salman Khan as its Brand Ambassador and Ritesh Deshmukh as its Captain, Telugu Warriors with Venkatesh as its Co-owner and Akhil as its Captain, Bhojpuri Dabanggs with Manoj Tiwari as its Captain, Kerala Strikers with Mohan Lal as Co-owner and Kunchacko Boban as its Captain, Bengal Tigers with Boney Kapoor as Owner and Jissusen Gupta as its Captain, Karnataka Bulldozers with Sudeep as its Captain and Punjab De Sher with Sonu Sood as its Captain.

The matches will be broadcast live, exclusively on 7 different ZEE TV networks. All of Chennai Rhinos matches will be telecast on Zee Thirai.