Rahul Dravid is the owner of the Dublin Guardians, one of six franchises in the new European T20 Premier League (ETPL). Former India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been announced as the team’s captain.
The tournament will feature teams from Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Rotterdam and Amsterdam, and is scheduled to run from August 26 to September 20.
Dravid on why he joined
In an official statement, Dravid said he was drawn by the league’s wider aim of growing cricket in Europe through grassroots work and routes for young players in Ireland and the continent. He described Dublin as a city with a keen cricketing community and plenty of room to grow, and said that developing the next generation has long mattered to him.
Launch and star names
The launch event was attended by Jonty Rhodes and ETPL co-founders Abhishek Bachchan, Saurav Banerjee, Priyanka Kaul and Dhiraj Malhotra. Officials from Cricket Ireland, Cricket Scotland and the Royal Dutch Cricket Association were also present, pointing to institutional support for the event.
Mitchell Marsh, Tim David, Mitchell Santner, Liam Livingstone, Glenn Maxwell, Faf du Plessis and Heinrich Klaasen are among the players expected to appear in the opening season.
Who owns which franchise
- Rotterdam: Jonty Rhodes, Faf du Plessis, Glashin and Samir Shah, with Madhukar Shree as managing partner
- Dublin: Rahul Dravid
- Belfast: Glenn Maxwell and Rohan Lund
- Edinburgh: Kyle Mills, Nathan McCullum and Rachel Wiseman
- Glasgow: Vipul Aggarwal and Chris Gayle
- Amsterdam: Steve Waugh, Jamie Dwyer and Tim Thomas
