Cricket: High-Octane Pune vs Kolhapur game to kick off six-team tourney at MCA International Stadium in Pune

Pune, 14th June 2023: Maharashtra Premier League (MPL) a T20 league organised by the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA)under the aegis of BCCI will begin on Thursday, June 15.

The tournament will see six teams — Puneri Bappa, Kolhapur Tuskers, Eagle Nashik Titans, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Kings, Ratnagiri Jets and Solapur Royals — in action against each other in a league format and final taking place on Thursday, June 29.

All games will be held at the MCA International Stadium in Gahunje on the outskirts of Pune. Matches will be played at 2pm and 8pm. The tournament is open to all spectators. Viewers can enjoy the games on Doordarshan (DD) on television or stream them on FanCode.

Blockbuster opening

The opening game of MPL will see Ruturaj Gaikwad’s Puneri Bappa take on Kedar Jadhav’s Kolhapur Tuskers at 8pm. In a heavyweight battle, the veterans of Maharashtra cricket like Naushad Shaikh, Ankit Bawane along with the youngsters like Sachin Dhas and Sahil Autade will face off against a stacked Pune team coached by Santosh Jedhe. Apart from Ruturaj, dashing opener Pawan Shah, wicketkeeper Suraj Shinde, Yash Kshirsagar and all-rounder Rohan Damle will feature for Pune.

The opening ceremony of MPL will take place 5.30pm onwards before the game and will see performances from Amruta Khanvilkar and others.

Platform for players

“Players from Maharashtra are capable of performing at the highest level and to provide them with a platform to showcase their talent, we at MCA decided to start the MPL,” Rohit Pawar, MCA president, said.

“Abiding by the cricket board’s (BCCI) rules, we had a small window to organise the tournament and we got an excellent response from the team owners. We are confident that this platform will be of great benefit to the players,” he added.

Icon players

Before the start of the tournament, each team picked one icon player. Pune, owned by Pravin Masalewale picked India international Ruturaj Gaikwad, who recently won the IPL with Chennai Super Kings. Punit Balan Group-owned Kolhapur chose World Cupper Kedar Jadhav as their icon, while Eagle India Infra-owned Nashik went for India international Rahul Tripathi, who plays for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL.

India’s U-19 star Rajvardhan Hangargekar was named the icon of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Kings’, a team owned by Venkateshwara Industrial Services Private Limited. Another U-19 international Vicky Ostwal went to Solapur Royals, owned by Kapil Sons Explosives LLP. Veteran Maharashtra Ranji player Azim Kazi was named icon player of the Ratnagiri outfit owned by JetSynthesys.

Women’s MPL

MCA president Rohit Pawar during the player auction also announced that three exhibition games of women will take place and from the next year, there will be a women’s MPL consisting of four teams.

The exhibition games will be played on the morning of June 25, 27 and 28.

Bidding war for players

The six teams in the MPL saw an intense battle for their desired players during the players’ auction, which was held recently in Pune. The players were grouped into three categories: Group A: Ranji players (Base price: ₹60,000), Group B: U-19 and others (₹40,000) and Group C: Rest (₹20,000). From the draft of 285, 128 players were picked by the teams.

Each team was given a purse of ₹20 lakh and they must have at least 16 players in a team and there was no cap on the maximum number of players a team could incorporate. Kolhapur picked exactly 16 players (15 in the auction plus icon player Kedar Jadhav) while the Pune team has 27 players in the squad.

Kolhapur Tuskers went all guns blazing and secured the signature of former Ranji captain Naushad Shaikh for ₹6 lakh, the most expensive buy of the auction. They also secured the services of Maharashtra Ranji captain Ankit Bawane for ₹2.8 lakh.

The general trend at the auction saw every team spend big on wicketkeepers. Kolhapur again led the trend and splurged ₹3.8 lakh on Sahil Autade. Experienced Nikhil Naik fetched ₹3.4 lakh from Ratnagiri Jets. Solapur Royals and Eagle Nashik Titans spent relatively less (₹1.8 lakh) respectively on stumpers Rishabh Rathod and Mandar Bhandari.

Chhatrapati Sambhaji Kings and Puneri Bappa made wicketkeepers their most expensive signings when they paid ₹2.6 lakh for Saurabh Navale and ₹2.4 lakh for Suraj Shinde respectively.

Ratnagiri had the second most expensive buy of the auction when they paid ₹4.6 lakh for an all-rounder Divyang Hinganekar. Solapur put ₹3.6 lakh on the table for left-arm spinner Satyajeet Bachhav, who they have named a skipper. Nashik made the highest bid of ₹2.6 lakh for India U-19 all-rounder Siddhesh Veer.

At the end of the auction, the teams were happy with their picks as well as the fact that MPL was making a return for the first time since 2011.