BANGALORE, India – Shivnarine Chanderpaul's Bangalore Royal Challengers and Chris Gayle's Kolkata Knight Riders, will clash in the opening match of the highly anticipated Indian Premier League today.

Both players left the Caribbean following the West Indies' final One-Day International against Sri Lanka on Tuesday night but there has been no word on if they would arrive in time for the curtain-raiser at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Ramnaresh Sarwan is the third West Indies player involved in the Twenty20 tournament and will represent Kings XI Punjab. He plays his first game against the Chennai Super Kings in Mohali tomorrow.

The tournament, making its debut on the world stage following the controversial Indian Cricket League (ICL), will see 59 matches being played over a six-week period between eight franchised team.

Kolkata's coach John Buchanan was upbeat about the ICL, stressing that Twenty20 cricket had a place among the traditional forms of the game.

"This is just the beginning. Administrators need to make very good decisions over the next few years. I believe all three versions of the game can coexist, but I think this particular form of the game has the potential to take off round the world," the former Australian coach noted.

"I can see cricket getting to a stage where in the next three to five years the world is split into zones, like in soccer, with the winner of each zone playing off in an annual world series under a roof somewhere.

"Players will be spread round the world. Here at Kolkata we have eight or nine internationals, and I think that's a model you'll see more and more of."

The showpiece, set to be launched with much pomp and pageantry, is cricket's richest ever tournament. The June 1 final will have prize money of US$3 million while the eight franchises were bought for a combined US$700 million. The television rights were sold for US$908 million.

In addition, players have been contracted for record sums of money with Indian batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni earning US$1.5 million and Jacques Kallis, US$900 000.

Chanderpaul will play alongside Kallis, Indian batting star Rahul Dravid and South African Mark Boucher for the Challengers while Gayle will team up with the likes of Australian Ricky Ponting and Indian star Sourav Ganguly in the Riders squad.

Sarwan, meanwhile, will play next to the Sri Lanka pair of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara for the Kings. (CMC)