T10 League aims expansion, plan on taking the format beyond the UAE

The inaugural T10 tournament, which took place in Sharjah last year, turned out to be a huge success story. And after an overwhelming response in the flagship season, the tournament’s governing council has announced plans for the expansion of the event. In a bid to garner worldwide response and viewership, the organizers of the T10 League are in discussions with the cricket boards of England and West Indies for staging tournaments in the 10-over format.

The brainchild behind the entire concept of T10 League and the chairman for the same, Shaji Ul Mulk said on Wednesday he expects matches in the format to be played in destinations as diverse as the United States and Saudi Arabia within the next couple of years. The league’s creator has already spoken with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), and their equivalents in the West Indies, about taking the format beyond the UAE, with the intention ‘to make T10 a global league.’

Speaking at an event on a yacht in Dubai Marina, Shaji said, “We are in the initial stage of discussions with them [ECB], and we will be meeting with them in mid-March. The intention is to take T10 global. Working with a powerful board like the English one will be another feather in our cap. The format will be an independent league.”

He added, “Sharjah will continue with its own format. Similarly, we have had discussions with the West Indies board to take it to the US, as well as West Indies.”

T10 league to add two new teams

Earlier this month, the organizers released an Invitation To Tender (ITT) for two new teams to be added to the tournament. While the first edition of the tournament saw six teams feature, the plan for 2018 is to increase the number of franchises to eight.

With the focus of the tournament being strongly South Asian, it was decided that the two new teams will be built on that association. Accordingly, the prospective bidders can choose the franchise names.