CAB announces IPL-style 'Bengal Pro T20'

Kolkata: Bengal will finally have its own regional cricket league -- Bengal Pro T20 -- which will follow IPL model but will be restricted to just players from the state, the CAB announced on Tuesday.

The 21-day inaugural season will unfold in June with eight men's and women's teams.

The 'Bengal Pro T20' will follow the IPL model and its playing conditions but will not allow any 'outstation cricketers, Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Snehasish Ganguly said adding that 'even the coaches from outside the state will not be allowed.

The men's league will be held at Eden Gardens, while Jadavpur University Second Campus at Salt Lake will host the women's matches.

Double headers will feature on all days. The men's team will have 17 players each, while women's team will have 16 players each.

"All the eight teams will be franchises-owned, which will be a first (in regional T20 leagues). We have still not finalised the franchises, which will be announced at a later date."

"The teams will be completely owned by franchises and all players will be paid as per the salary cap. CAB will not incur any expense for the league," the CAB president added.

It is learnt that the CAB are in talks with Kolkata Knight Riders, the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group (Lucknow Super Giants), Bandhan Bank, Shrachi Group and Rashmi Cement among others for the eight franchises.

The CAB had a regional T20 tournament back in 2020-21, but it failed to generate response and had to be stopped after one season.

Since then may states have launched their own T20 leagues to catch the attention of IPL spotters.

As of now, there have been more than a dozen regional T20 leagues in India, with the oldest being the KPL (Maharaja Trophy T20) of Karnataka, while Tamil Nadu's TNPL being the most popular.

"For long there had been criticism that Bengal cricketers were not getting opportunities like the ones from Tamil Nadu or Karnataka. This will be the answer to it. Bengal has a lot of talent but they did not have a proper platform till now. This will be a perfect launch pad for them," Snehasish added.