Delhi gets its own T20 league; to give youngsters platform to shine

The inaugural edition of the Delhi Premier League (DPL) T20 tournament will unfold at the Arun Jaitley Stadium from August 17 and players from the Capital will slug it out to showcase the best they have to offer in the shortest format of the game.
Modelled on the lines of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the league has six teams in the men’s competition and will run from August 17 to September 8. A women’s competition, involving four teams, is likely to begin on September 2. There will be 40 matches in total — 33 in the men’s event and seven in the women’s category.
At an auction last week, the six teams in the men’s competition were acquired for a total of ₹49.65 crore. The teams are South Delhi Superstars, Purani Dilli 6, Central Delhi Kings, North Delhi Strikers, West Delhi Lions and East Delhi Riders.
The top four bidders also secured the women’s teams — South Delhi Superstars, Central Delhi Queens, North Delhi Strikers and East Delhi Riders.
A few state associations already have their own T20 leagues with the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL), Maharashtra Premier League (MPL) and Karnataka Premier League (KPL) among the popular ones. Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) president Rohan Jaitley said he had been mulling with the idea of a T20 league for quite some time before going ahead with it this year.
“The concept has been doing the rounds for a few years, but we took a step and decided to put it in place this season after approval from BCCI only to make sure that it is a good platform for players to show their talent and come up the ranks,” Jaitley told HT on Saturday.
“The league was the need of the hour because there is so much talent in the city and this is just a professional way of channelising it through healthy competition for players to actually show the best that they have to show. The intent here is not commercialisation, it is to put a structure in place where the best pool of players gets an opportunity to perform.”
If the city’s young players can seize this opportunity to impress — the league will be broadcast on Sports18 and Jio Cinema — the Delhi team will potentially have a greater pool of players to pick from for the domestic white-ball tournaments (Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy) going forward.
“We do a lot of tournaments at the state level in any case,” said Jaitley. “But over here, this will just give them exposure of how an international-level event happens. It’s the ambience. It’s the exposure that players get. It’s the repeated number of games in a team being run professionally and the pressure one has to deal with during a game. With the immense talent pool that the city has to offer across age groups, it’s a good opportunity for players to showcase what they have. If they showcase it in the right way, they will obviously gain attention when it comes to calls for the state team and other opportunities within the cricketing fraternity.”
During the draft featuring 270 players on Friday, star wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant and veteran pacer Ishant Sharma were picked up by Purani Dilli 6. Emerging fast bowler Harshit Rana, who featured for Kolkata Knight Riders in their triumphant IPL campaign, was signed by North Delhi Strikers. Pant and Rana are currently part of India’s ODI squad in Sri Lanka. Jaitley said Pant, 26, will take part in the league provided his commitments with the national team don’t clash.
“The way I look at it, the top players participating in the league will be handholding and grooming the future of Delhi,” Jaitley said. “For the youngsters to share a dressing room with the stalwarts is always a dream come true for them. It also shows the commitment of the top players towards their home state. The idea is that if these players are available and not committed to something of higher importance. they certainly will try and participate.”