RCB to face Warriors in opening match of T20 Champions League

IPL 4 runners up Royal Challengers Bangalore and Warriors of South Africa will kick off the third edition of the Champions League T20 (CLT20) tournament in Bangalore on September 23.

IPL 4 runners up Royal Challengers Bangalore and Warriors of South Africa will kick off the third edition of the Champions League T20 (CLT20) tournament in Bangalore on September 23.

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The Group B clash at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium will be the second occasion when the venue will get to host the opening fixture of the T20 league.

Group A action gets underway the following day with a double header in Chennai with Cape Cobras facing New South Wales Blues in the first match, followed by an IPL battle between Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings and Sachin Tendulkar's Mumbai Indians.

While Group A consists of defending champions Chennai, Cape Cobras, 2009 CLT20 champions NSW Blues and Mumbai Indians; Group B has, besides RCB and Warriors, Big Bash winners South Australian Redbacks.

The fifth team in Group A will be the side that finishes on top of Pool B in Qualifiers, while the top two teams from Pool A Qualifiers will complete Group B.

The tournament returns to India with Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata scheduled to host the main round, with Hyderabad conducting the qualifying matches.

While the qualifiers will run from September 19-21, the main tournament will start from September 23, with the final slated for October 9 in Chennai.