2012 Champions League Twenty20

The 2012 Champions League Twenty20 was the fourth edition of the Champions League Twenty20, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament. It was held in South Africa from 9 to 28 October 2012.

Sydney Sixers won the tournament, defeating Highveld Lions in the final.

Background
Since the previous edition, three Test-playing nations had introduced new Twenty20 tournaments. Australia established the city-based Big Bash League, replacing the established state structured KFC Twenty20 Big Bash, the Sri Lanka Premier League also featured city-based franchise teams, and the Bangladesh Premier League was established in February 2012, although teams from the league did not feature in the Champions League in 2012.

Qualification
As in the previous season, the tournament featured a qualifying stage, although with only two of the six teams competing in it qualifyed for the final stages, compared with three during 2011.

This qualifying stages included a team from Pakistan for the first time, with teams previously excluded due to friction between India and Pakistan following the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Whilst in 2011 the fourth-ranked Indian Premier League team had played in the qualifying stage, this year's team, Mumbai Indians, qualified for the final stages as the defending champions.

Squads
As with previous editions, several players had the opportunity to play for more than one team. These players were allowed to play for the teams of their choice, although if they did not choose to play for their "home" team, a compensation fee of $150,000 was payable. Nine players were names in the preliminary squad of more than one team, all of whom chose to play for their Indian Premier League team.

Venues
The organisers originally considered hosting the tournament at five venues across India, but this was changed due to the possibility of monsoons and Durga Puja celebrations, with South Africa chosen to host matches. Four venues were chosen, SuperSport Park at Centurion, Kingsmead at Durban, New Wanderers Stadium at Johannesburg and Newlands at Cape Town.

Qualifying stage fixtures

 * All times shown are in South African Standard Time (UTC+02).

Most runs

 * Source: CricInfo

Most wickets

 * Source: CricInfo