THE wait for a T20 league of Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) is over. Immediately after Indian Premier League gets its 18th winner, VCA will conduct the much-awaited Vidarbha Pro T20 League (VPTL) for men and women. Addressing a press conference at VCA Civil Lines’ Bilimoria Pavilion, CEO Farokh Dastoor declared VCA’s franchise-based T20 tournament which will start immediately after IPL which concludes on May 25. “To ensure that VPTL is conducted in utmost professionalism and excellence, Arivaa Sports Private Limited, the firm which successfully conducted Bengal Pro T20 League, has been entrusted the exclusive rights to manage VPTL,” informed Dastoor. “Six men teams have already been selected by VCA. This being the first year, VCA wanted to give balanced teams to all the six stake-holders. The players are picked on the basis of their performance.

 

 

There will be marquee player in each team as well,” declared Abhishek Mujumdar, founder and Director of Arivaa Sports Private Limited. “From second season, a draft-system will be introduced to pick the players.” he added. “The league will feature six men teams, owned and operated by leading business houses, competing in single round-robin formed. Top four teams will play the semi-finals followed by the mega final. “Daily two matches will be played at Jamtha (morning and evening sessions). The winning team of the maiden season will get Rs 35 lakh while the runners-up team will have to be content with Rs 25 lakh,” informed Prashant Vaidya, former India pacer and Chairman of VCA’s Cricket Development and Administration Committee (CADC).

 

The matches will be telecast live (on DD Sports) and on (JioStar) OTT platform. “To promote women’s cricket, three of the six franchises will also be awarded eves’ teams,” stated Mujumdar. “The tournament will be played on the lines of IPL and aims to provide world-class platform for emerging and established talents of Vidarbha,” added Mujumdar. Women’s matches will also be held simultaneously, most probably at VCA Civil Lines ground. VCA will soon be uploading all details and the process to apply for franchise rights on its website (vca.co.in) and the team owners will be announced soon. “Each franchise will have to pay Rs 3 crore for rights. The lock-in period will be of three years,” informed Mujumdar. On the occasion, the logo of VPTL was also unveiled by former VCA President Adwait Manohar and Prashant Vaidya. The press conference was attended by Secretary Sanjay Badkas, Treasurer CA Arjun Phatak, Vice-President Dr Avinash Deshmukh and others.