The Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) is an exhibition men's cricket league in India. It consists of eight teams of film actors from different film industries of Indian cinema. The league commenced in 2011. Salman Khan is the brand ambassador for Celebrity Cricket League from 2011 for all seasons. The CCL teams use various venues for their home games and it has a vast coverage in Indian media.2013 Inauguration venue = Kochi, Kerala Beauty, brawn ... and then there was cricket, The Hindu, 5 June 2011. Retrieved 22 January 2012., The Times of India, 23 January 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2012.Megha Shenoy A feast for the eyes, Deccan Herald, February 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
Establishment The popularity of the Indian Premier League inspired the CCL, with franchises in major Indian cities. Vishnu Vardhan Induri, an entrepreneur from Hyderabad, is the founder and managing director of CCL. He started the league in 2010 by selling franchise rights for four teams in the inaugural season. For the second season, two additional teams were added.
In January 2024, With South Indian International Media Awards (SIIMA) completing 12 years and Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) gearing up for its 10th season, the founder of SIIMA and CCL Vishnu Vardhan Induri joins forces with Alankar Pandian of Invenio Origin, a media investment fund based out of Singapore and Dubai to launch a New Pan India Media IP called Indian National Cine Academy (INCA) along with scaling up SIIMA and CCL.
History + Winners of theCelebrity Cricket League Season Winners 2011 Chennai Rhinos2012 Chennai Rhinos 2013 Karnataka Bulldozers2014 Karnataka Bulldozers 2015 Telugu Warriors2016 Telugu Warriors 2017 Telugu Warriors 2019 Mumbai Heroes2023 Telugu Warriors 2024Bengal Tigers2025Punjab De Sher2026 Karnataka Bulldozers
First season The inaugural season of CCLCricket took place in 2011 and included participation from ariyumo four teams – Chennai Rhinos, Telugu Warriors, Mumbai Heroes, and Karnataka Bulldozers. With CCL season 1, the organizers planned to create awareness about anti-piracy. Chennai Rhinos defeated Karnataka Bulldozers in a competitive final and emerged as the inaugural CCL champions.
Second season The second season was conducted from 13 January to 13 February 2012. Two new cricket teams, the Kerala Strikers and the Bengal Tigers were added to the CCL. Hindi film industry Team "Mumbai Heroes" selected Sharjah as its home ground. Chennai Rhinos defeated Karnataka Bulldozers for the second time in a row and emerged as the CCL 2 champions.
Third season
The third season had two new teams, Veer Marathi representing the Marathi film industry and Bhojpuri Dabbangs representing the Bhojpuri film industry. In Season 3, the curtain raiser event was held in Mumbai on 19 January 2013 and was regarded by many as a grand affair, CCL 3 : Celebrity Cricket League curtain raiser event on 19 Jan in Mumbai where Salman Khan, Salman Khan performed at Celebrity Cricket League curtain raiser Katrina Kaif, Bipasha Basu, Prabhu Deva and many other celebrities performed. CCL 3 curtain raiser event, a star-studded affair The opening ceremony was in Kochi on 9 February 2013, where Kerala Strikers played against Mumbai Heroes. Bollywood actor Bipasha Basu was appointed as the brand ambassador for Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) season 3, along with Kajal Aggarwal. Bipasha Basu as Brand Ambassador for CCL Season-3 Karnataka Bulldozers defeated Telugu Warriors to become CCL 3 champions.
Fourth season CCL Season 4 had a bigger reach than the earlier seasons as Colors TV had come in as a broadcast partner for the Mumbai Heroes games and Rishtey TV telecasted all the games. Karnataka Bulldozers qualified for the finals for the fourth consecutive year. They won the cup by defeating Kerala Strikers.
Fifth season
CCL season 5 was the most successful season in terms of revenues and television viewership. As per TAM, CCL was the second most viewed sporting league in the country due to its reach delivered through Colors in Hindi-speaking markets and Sun Network Channels in South India. Telugu Warriors won the trophy for the first time by defeating 2-time champion Chennai Rhinos.
Sixth season A new team, Punjab De Sher, representing the Punjab film industry, was introduced in place of Veer Marathi. Daler Mehndi was the brand ambassador of the team, with Sonu Sood the captain. Mr. Puneet and Navraj Hans were the owners of the team. Punjab De Sher selected new players for the team. Telugu Warriors won the cup for the second time.
Tenth season In CCL Season 10, the first schedule took place at the UAE's Sharjah Stadium, with an introduction ceremony held near the Burj Khalifa. Five teams displayed extraordinary all-round performances, winning three out of four matches each. However, Telugu Warriors lagged behind due to their net run rate, while Karnataka, Mumbai, Bengal, and Chennai advanced to the semifinals. In the finals, Karnataka and Bengal faced off, with Bengal emerging as the new champions of the season.
Eleventh season Only seven teams participated as Kerala did not take part. Defending champions Bengal continued their dominant form, winning all four of their league matches. Bengaluru maintained their usual standard with three wins, while Punjab reached the semifinals for the first time. Chennai, initially planning to withdraw due to financial reasons, stayed in the tournament following Sudeep's request and made it to the finals. In the final match, Punjab defeated Chennai, securing the championship after 11 years.
Twelfth season Bengal and Karnataka continued their strong form from the previous season, once again reaching the semifinals. Kerala and Chennai delivered consistent performances to secure playoffs berths. The defending champions, Punjab, failed to qualify for the playoffs. Karnataka went on to win the title, defeating Bengal in the final to bag their third championship and end a 12-year title drought.
Teams and performance
Current teams Band Team Industry State Captain Debut OwnershipTelugu Warriors Telugu/Tollywood Andhra Pradesh, Telangana Akkineni Akhil 2011 Venkatesh Daggubati, Sachin Joshi Mumbai Heroes Hindi/Bollywood Maharashtra Riteish Deshmukh 2011 Sohail Khan Bengal Tigers Bengali/Tollywood West Bengal Jisshu Sengupta 2012 Boney Kapoor, Raj Shah Bhojpuri Dabbangs Bhojpuri/Bhojiwood Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand Manoj Tiwari 2013 Sushil Sharma · Kanishk Sheel · Rahul Mishra · Sushil Malik Chennai Kings Tamil/Kollywood Tamil Nadu Vikranth 2026 Ishari K. Ganesh, Sripriya Rajkumar Karnataka Bulldozers Kannada/Sandalwood Karnataka Sudeep 2011 Ashok Kheny Kerala Strikers Malayalam/Mollywood Kerala Unni Mukundan 2012 Mohanlal, Rajkumar, Sripriya, Shaji, Jaison, Mibu Jose Nettikaden Punjab De Sher Punjabi/Pollywood Punjab Harrdy Sandhu 2016 Navraj Hans, Puneet Singh
Defunct team Band Team Industry State Captain Debut Ownership Veer Marathi Marathi Maharashtra Mahesh Manjrekar 2013 Riteish Deshmukh Chennai Rhinos Tamil/Kollywood Tamil Nadu Arya 2011 K. Ganga Prasad
Total performance
2011(4)2012(6)2013(8)2014(8)2015(8)2016(8)2017(6)2019(6)2023(8)2024(8)2025(7)2026(8)Chennai Kings (Chennai Rhinos)WWGSGSRGSGSGSSFRSFRRWWSFRGSRSFRSFWMumbai HeroesGSSFGSSFSFGSGSWSFSFGSGSTelugu WarriorsGSSFRGSWWWGSWGSGSGSBengal Tigers GSGSGSGSSFGSSFGSWSFRKerala StrikersGSSFRGSGSRGSGSSFBhojpuri DabbangsGSSFGSSFSFRGSGSGSVeer MarathiSFGSGSPunjab De SherGSGSGSGSWGS
Notes: W = Winner; R = Runner-up; SF = SemiFinalist; GS = GroupStage 2018 CCL T10 was cancelled 2019 CCL T10 Semi-final and final matches were not conducted due to rain. Based on group stage performance Mumbai Heroes (win all 3 matches) and Karnataka Bulldozers (win 2 out of 3 matches) teams announced as Winner and Runner up respectively.
Stats till 25th Jan 2026
AppearancesPlayoffsTitlesMatchesWonLostNRBengal Tigers11514618253Bhojpuri Dabbangs9403615183Karnataka Bulldozers121135839163Kerala Strikers9403617181Mumbai Heroes12614818273Punjab De Sher611226151Telugu Warriors12645133171Chennai Kings (Chennai Rhinos)11624720243Veer Marathi31011380
Best performance TeamAppearancesBest resultTotalFirstLatestTelugu Warriors 12 2011 2026 Champions (2015, 2016, 2017, 2023) Karnataka Bulldozers 12 2011 2026 Champions (2013, 2014, 2026) Chennai Kings (Chennai Rhinos) 11 2011 2026 Champions (2011, 2012) Mumbai Heroes 12 2011 2026 Champions (2019) Bengal Tigers 11 2012 2026 Champions (2024) Punjab De Sher 6 2016 2026 Champions (2025) Kerala Strikers 9 2012 2026 Runners-up (2014, 2017) Bhojpuri Dabbangs 9 2013 2026 Runners-up (2023) Veer Marathi 3 2013 2015 Semi-finals (2013)
Squads Mumbai Heroes Bengal Tigers Karnataka Bulldozers Chennai Rhinos Telugu Warriors Kerala Strikers Bhojpuri Dabang Punjab De Sher Veer Marathi (Defunct team) Riteish Deshmukh (captain) Sohail Khan Salman Khan Bobby Deol Sunil Shetty Varun Badola Aftab Shivdasani Sameer Kochhar Indraneil Sengupta Apoorva Lakhia Kabir Sadanand Kunal Khemu Raja Bherwani Shabbir Ahluwalia Sharad Kelkar Saqib Saleem Tushar Jalota Vatsal Seth Sahil Chaudhary Mudasir Zafar Former players: Sonu Sood Jisshu (captain) Joy Rahul Indrasish Bonny Sourav (Wk) Jammy Yousuf Ratnadeep Ananda Aditya Uday Anshuman Joey Trambak Anirrban Sougata Satadeep
Head Coach: Saradindu Mukherjee Former players: Prosenjit Chatterjee (Former Mentor) Jeet (Former captain) Dev Amitabh Bhattacharjee Rahul Banerjee Gourav Chakraborty Indraneil Sengupta Jeetu Sumon Sandy Manty Vinayak Raja Mohan Indrajit Debraj Mukul Debu Sidd Abhi Tabun Rubin Heerok Koushik Arman Sudeep (captain) Pradeep Shiva Rajkumar Yash Ganesh Krishna Tarun Chandra Jai Karthik Bhuvan Chandra Sunil Raoh Chandan Kumar Nirup Bhandari Tarun Sudhir Nanda Kishore Prathap Narayanan Trivikram Arjun Yogesh Raj Prasanna Abhimanyu Bhaskar Rahul Rajeev Hanu Karan Aryan Arun Bachchan Dharma Saurav Viswas Darshan Former players: Dhruv Sarja Chiranjeevi Sarja Dhruv Sharma Vikranth (captain) Shanthanu Prithvi Rajan Kalaiyarasan Bharath Ramana Aadhav Dasarathan Sharran Ajay Rohan Pari Sathya NJ R. K. Suresh Saravana Vel Rishikanth Sivaraman Former players: Arya Vishnu Vishal Abbas Jiiva Hamsavardhan Shiva Jayam Ravi Jithan Ramesh Karthik Kumar Madhavan Ashok Selvan Nithin Sathya Prem Rishikanth Sarathkumar Sri Balaji Srikanth Sundar Ramu Suriya Vishal Shaam Bose Venkat Mahendran Hemachandran Nandha Bala Saravanan Sanjay Bharathi Uday Kumar Akhil Akkineni (captain) Aadi Saikumar Ashwin Babu Aadarsh Balakrishna Nikhil Siddhartha Prince Cecil Roshan Meka Sachin Joshi Sudheer Babu Thaman S Sushanth Khayyum Nandakishore Raghu Samrat Reddy Harish Samba Former players: Venkatesh Tarun Srikanth Ajay Nithiin Konidela Ram Charan Rajeev Kanakala Siddharth Sai Dharam Tej Taraka Ratna Ayyappa Sharma Prabhu Viswa Unni Mukundan (Captain) Bineesh Kodiyeri Madan Mohan Vivek Gopan Jean Paul Lal Prasanth Alexander Manikuttan Akhil Marar Aryan Kathuria Arun Benny Arjun Nandhakumar Mohammed Shariq Prajod Kalabhavan Shafique Rehman Samarth Ambujakshan John Kaippallil Sanju Sivram Anoop Krishnan Former players: Mohanlal Nivin Pauly Asif Ali Rajeev Pillai Bala Riyaz Khan Antony Varghese Saiju Kurup Indrajith Sukumaran Siddharth Menon Sumesh Rakendhu Kunchacko Boban Munna Simon Rejith MenonManoj Tiwari (Captain) Dinesh Lal Yadav (Vice Captain) Ravi Kishan Pravesh Lal Yadav Uday Tiwari Rahul Singh Ajhoy Sharma Prakash Jais Ayaz Khan Sushil Singh Abhay Sinha Khesari Lal Yadav Jay Yadav Ravi Yadav Surya Dwivedi Vikash Singh Pawan Singh Santosh Singh Ajay Srivastav Vikrant Singh Rajpoot Anil SamratSonu Sood (Captain) Mika Singh Jimmy Shergill Ayushmann Khurana Binnu Dhillon Manvir Sran Rahul Dev Navraj Hans Karan Wahi Harmeet Singh Piyush Malhotra Gulzar Chahal Roshan Prince Amrinder Gill Angad Bedi Yuvraj Hans Raju Sharma Dilraj Khurana