MCA suffer a setback as their inaugural T20 league is postponed until March

Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) had decided to organize a T20 tournament for their youngsters to get some taste of the shortest format of the game. One of the most decorated domestic teams in India, Mumbai, has produced some fantastic players over the years. They have a huge competition when it comes to getting into that Ranji team.

That said, all the domestic teams in India have a good grass root level programs for their youngsters to develop. There have been certain T20 tournaments previously organized by the states as well. We have witnessed Maharashtra Premier League, the Karnataka Premier League and the TNPL which was even telecast on Star Sports at a national level.

MCA is one of the latest to get its own T20 league. However, it has run into some problems even before the inception.

Mumbai’s T20 league postponed

Mumbai Cricket Association’s T20 league has been postponed for some specific reasons. One of the sources confirmed that it was the paperwork that was taking time. They had made sure none of the BCCI tournaments clash with it but lawyers and their paperwork were taking an eternity to finish. Hence, instead of hosting a poor tournament they have decided to postpone it for an indefinite period.

The source close to close to Mid-day said, “The paperwork between the lawyers of both parties [MCA and the organizer] is taking a lot of time. Given the time left for the league to start, it would have been impossible to put everything in place. So, instead of putting up a shoddy show in our inaugural season, it was decided to postpone it.”

MCA’s joint secretary Dr. Unmesh Khanvilkar said that the league can now happen in March. However, he also said that the tournament was first to be played from January 4 to January 9. It was not clashing with BCCI’s tournament but a change in schedule in that tournament has caused MCA to postpone theirs. MCA’s plans are otherwise impeccable but BCCI has beaten them this time as they had to postpone it after declaring it.

Khanvilkar said, “When we decided to hold our T20 tournament from January 4 to 9, it was not clashing with any other BCCI tournament. Since the BCCI has now intimated us about their change in schedule, we have decided to hold it later. We will finalize the new schedule soon.”