by Suman Gupta
Some of the world’s biggest cricketing names will descend on Edgbaston stadium in 2024 for the launch of the World Champion’s League (WCL), a new global T20 tournament developed by Zabawa Entertainment, a Bollywood film and music media production company based across India and Dubai.
WCL will consist of retired and non-contracted players from the six major powerhouses of world cricket – England, India, Pakistan, Australia, West Indies and South Africa replaying some of the game’s greatest rivalries including India v Pakistan, last staged at Edgbaston in 2017 during the Champions Trophy..
The tournament is the brain child of Mr. Harshit Tomar, Director, Zabawa Entertainment. Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Tomar said: “WCL is set to be bring back the India Pak rivalry of yesteryear stars and bring the greats from England, Australia, South Africa & West Indies. England has always been the home of cricket, and when it comes to Birmingham, it is home to many Indians and Pakistanis as well. We are looking forward to deliver ten days of Cricketainment to Fans Globally”
Added Stuart Cain, Chief Executive at Edgbaston: “We’ve staged some of the biggest games in world cricket and it will be great to see some of the heroes involved in those games back at Edgbaston.”
The tournament is set to be played in Summer of 2024, subject to ECB approval and the announcement of the English domestic schedule (November 2023). The bigger group games, semi-finals and final will be played at Edgbaston with some group games at other grounds around Warwickshire.