The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) on Monday (August 2) made an announcement about UAE’s own exclusive T20 league, set to be launched in January 2022.

It will be a six-team event and will be known as the Premier League T20. The tournament will have “some of the biggest names in world cricket while also giving a platform and international exposure to upcoming players”.

The new competition will offer lucrative pay cheques to the players, possibly with the involvement of Indian Premier League (IPL) owners.

Notably, UAE is set to host the second leg of IPL 2021 from September 19 to October 15 followed by the ICC T20 World Cup from October 17 to November 14.

As of now, the Abu Dhabi T10 is scheduled to take place shortly after the culmination of T20 World Cup, across 15 days in November and December.

“With PLT20, we are delighted that the UAE now has a series of cricket tournaments involving all major formats that will bring together the best of international players alongside national players,” Dr Tayab Kamali, ECB’s selection committee chairman, said.

A T20 franchise competition for the Emirates was in consideration for some time. In fact, world’s leading players such as Eoin Morgan, AB de Villiers and Andre Russell were signed to play a tournament known as the “UAE T20x” in December 2018 but it got cancelled a month before the start.

In the meantime, ECB revised their plans and was looking to introduce a new franchise tournament in 2020 but COVID-19 pandemic played spoilsport.

Now, though, the governing body seems confident since it has announced the window for the Premier League T20 and revealed the competition’s logo as well.

“We hope that this logo serves its intended purpose to unite, excite and generate a sense of pride throughout the cricket community – players and fans – across the world,” Khalid Al Zarooni, the league’s chairman, said.

(Inputs from The National News)