Scraps player auction system
Odisha Cricekt Association has decided to restart the state level Twenty20 cricket tournament, Odisha Premiere League (OPL), which had to be dropped ahead of its second edition due to financial problems, with some changes in the format.
“We have decided to start OPL from April next year with eight new teams, which will be named as East, West, North, South, Red, Blue, Green and Yellow. The player selection committee of OCL will decide the players for each team and there will be no player auction this time,” said OCA secretary Ashirbad Behera.
The players will be paid according to their grades. Each team will have three players from Ranji team, four each from B and C grade player pool and three or four players from local area. They will be paid Rs 30,000, Rs 20,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 respectively for each match.
All the matches will be played at Cuttack and Sambalpur, and there will be two matches every day. OCA has decided to bear all the cost in to be incurred in the tournament. However OCA said, if any person wants, they can buy a team, but not players.
“We will allow sponsors to own a team, to use their logo on players’ dress and even to name a team. But they cannot decide which player will be played in their team. It will be the sole right of OCA,” said Behera.
The association has not received any proposal for TV rights for the tournament, he said.
Earlier this year the OCA had announced that as the franchise owners did not deposit their promised amount before April 30, the second edition of OPL was cancelled.
The OPL, created in line with Indian Premier League, had raked in Rs 3.7 crore for the OCA following the auction of 10 teams for the event in 201. In the inaugural edition of the OPL, 10 teams had played 44 matches at Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and other places. The champion received cash prize of Rs 4 lakh and the runners-up took home Rs 2 lakh.
In the upcoming OCA-controlled tournament, winners will be awarded with Rs 1 lakh cash prize and runners-up will get Rs 50,000, Behera said.
