Andhra Cricket Association to hold its own T20 league in June

CHENNAI: In the last couple of years, the number of states having their own T20 leagues in India has gradually increased. After Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Mumbai, Telangana, Saurashtra and a few others, Andhra has joined the bandwagon and will be conducting first-of-its-kind T20 tournament in June this year. 

The Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) is planning to have six franchises from cities of Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Godavari, Chittoor, Kadapa and Anantapur. ACA has already issued tender for the Franchisees Ownership Bids which is available on their website. The venues are yet to be decided. 

ACA secretary Arun Kumar revealed that only those registered with the state association will be allowed to feature since the objective of launching the tournament is to provide exposure to the state players. Hanuma Vihari, Ricky Bhui, Srikar Bharath, B Ayyappa, KV Sashikanth and Karn Sharma are some of the notable names among the 100 likely to feature. 

ACA has also assured that the matches will be live on television with two channels being shortlisted. “Right now are negotiating with two channels, which is Dsport and Maa TV,” Arun Kumar said on Monday.