RAJASTHAN ROYALS
The Royals lost just three of their 14 games on the way to winning the inaugural Indian Premier League crown. Coach Shane Warne could end up leading them against his home state Victoria in the Champions League.
Star player: Yusuf Pathan - Contributed with both bat and ball in Rajasthan's triumph, hitting four half-centuries and claiming eight wickets, and taking the man-of-the-match award in the final.
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS
The Super Kings needed fewer than 15 overs to brush aside the Delhi Daredevils in the semi-finals before losing the IPL final on the final ball.
Star player: Mahendra Singh Dhoni - The IPL's most expensive player averaged over 40 with the bat and took six catches behind the stumps as his team made it to the final.
VICTORIA BUSHRANGERS
The Bushrangers have dominated Twenty20 cricket in Australia winning all three of the domestic tournaments to have been held. During that time they have lost just once, against Western Australia last season, however they earned revenge for that defeat in the final when they defeated the Warriors by 32 runs.
Star player: Brad Hodge - The 33-year-old right-hander is the highest run scorer in the short history of Twenty20 cricket Down Under having scored 476 runs for Victoria.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA WARRIORS
The vast array of batting talent in the Western Australian team endears them to the batsman-friendly version of the game with Shaun Marsh and Luke Pomersbach finishing inside the top-three run scorers in last season's Twenty20 competition.
Star player: Shaun Marsh - The left-hander has topped the runscorers' list in both the Australian Twenty20 competition and the Indian Premier League in the past six months.
TITANS
The Pretoria-based side claimed the Pro-20 Series title and the MTN Championship - the premier domestic one-day cricket competition of South Africa - in 2008.
Star player: Dale Steyn - The South Africa paceman had a breakthrough year on the Test scene and has also impressed at the shorter form of the game, recording career-best figures of four for nine in Twenty20 cricket.
DOLPHINS
The Dolphins finished second in the Pro-20 Series after winning four of their six matches. The Natal-based team lost by 18 runs in the final against the Titans in April, failing to chase down a victoty target of 153 for six.
Star player: Pierre de Bruyn - The wicketkeeper-batsman was the Dolphins leading runscorer in last season's Por-20 Series scoring 152 runs at an average of 50.6.
England's teams are yet to be known...
Source: ESPN Star
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