It’s time for Mumbai’s 1st T20 league- Capital T20 tournament
It’s time for Mumbai’s 1st T20 league- Capital T20 tournament
For past few years, the cricketers eagerly wait for IPL every season. When the carnival is over after 2 months then there is not much exciting T20 action. But gone are those days when we used to wait till April. Now Mumbai has its own version of mini IPL. It is the Capital T20 tournament. Various team across the Mumbai will be participating to play Twenty 20 matches. This idea was brought into reality by Mr. Abhijeet Ghosh who is also a member of MCA. He talked about this new tournament which has caught everybody’s attention.
“Capital T20 will be staring from 1st November and it will go on till End of January. The Final will be played at the end of January which will take place at Wankhede stadium. We thought that there is a need of having good T20 corporate tournament for Mumbai city. We see that some states organize such T20 tournaments for e.g. we have Karnataka Premiere League which is an intrastate T20 competition. T20 is getting very popular these days so it will be a good platform for players to show their skills. As this is a corporate tournament, we are hoping that players will get a good job opportunities as these corporate teams appoint professional players. Considering all this, we decided to organize Capital T20 tournament,” said Mr. Ghosh.
Though this is a first year of tournament, the response from teams is fascinating. “You won’t believe but this year, which is our first year, we have got 184 teams participating in this tournament. The best part is that the matches will be played on Saturdays only. Thus this is a 16 weekend long tournament. It is just like these football league like EPL where matches usually are played on weekends. Because these matches will be on Saturdays, people can come to watch the matches, support their favorite teams and most importantly they can enjoy the game,” said Mr.Ghosh.
Already there is so much fame for this tournament. There is one more reason behind it and that is the prize money. “We have divided teams into 8 divisions. The prize for winner is 2,50,000/- and 2,00,000 to runners up for A and B division teams. Winner will get 2,00,000 and runners up will get 1,50,000/- when it comes to division C and D. The other divisions i.e. E,F,G,H will have 1,50,000/- for winners and 1,00,000 for runners up. No doubt that the prize money is huge. Apart from this there are few individual prizes too. Best all-rounder, best batsman and best bowler will all get 25,000/- that’s not all, after every match the man of the match will take home Rs. 2000/- “explained Mr. Ghosh. Certainly after looking at this prize money, it is correct to say this tournament as a mini IPL.
“The teams will play minimum 3 matches in a league stage and then there will be knock outs till final. We have tried to follow the Kanga league and Times shield format as A and B divisions will have all the top teams. There will be players who are playing Ranji Trophy in this division. There can be some players who have played for India and are now representing a corporate team. The average teams have been placed in division C and D. Remaining all teams will accommodate divisions E,F,G and H. Basically these last 4 groups will have nonprofessional players,” said Mr.Ghosh.
This tournament is affiliated by MCA and hence it will be played all across the city on various different grounds. Matches will be played at day time and knock outs can be played under lights depending in venue. With such a great response, the organizers are hoping for this tournament to reach new heights. So fasten your seat belts, the action is about to begin!
