CCL 2023: Proud of my team, Karnataka Bulldozers, says Kiccha Sudeep

Namma Kiccha Sudeep is an avid cricketer and wastes no opportunity to show off his skills. Ever since the Celebrity Cricket League was established, the actor had been leading the Sandalwood team, the Karnataka Bulldozers, stepping aside as skipper this time. Pradeep Bogadi, who has also played the tournament under Sudeep over the years, is the captain of the side now and he has successfully led the team to four back-to-back victories. The Karnataka Bulldozers have topped the points table and will play against the Telugu Warriors in the first semi-final.

According to the initial schedule, the CCL semi-finals were supposed to take place on March 18, and the final on March 19 in Hyderabad, but a little while ago, Sudeep sent out an appreciation message for his team, wherein he clarified that the next match would be on March 24 in Vizag. “So #KarnatakaBulldozers meets #TeluguWarriors in the semi finals. This season of #CCL has been a great journey & a testing one. Proud of my whole team for each ones contribution. You @Theactorpradeep have done a great job as a captain. 🤗🥂Semi finals at Vizag on 24th 7pm,” he tweeted.

Since the Celebrity Cricket League began in 2011, the Karnataka Bulldozers have played 6 out of 8 finals, winning twice and ending runner-up the other four times. In fact, the Telugu Warriors have won the tournament thrice and were runner-up once, so, they could still spring a surprise in the semi-final.

This edition of CCL is being played with Test format T20 matches, with each time playing two innings of 10 overs each, an idea mooted by Sudeep. According to him, in a normal format T20 match, there is a dip in the run-rate around overs 12-15 and then it picks up again. Splitting this into two sets of 10 overs each, will result in higher scoring matches, he reckoned.