Bollywood star visits Dublin to launch new era for European and Irish T20 cricket 

“There’s huge potential for the game to grow further. Bringing a franchised professional T20 league will catapult cricket in Europe to a different level,” said Abhishek Bachchan.

KING OF BOLLYWOOD: Bollywood royalty meets Irish cricket! Abhishek Bachchan visits Dublin, signalling a new era for European & Irish T20 cricket. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

A Bollywood megastar is hoping to leverage his fame to make a new cricket league, featuring Irish teams, a success.

Abhishek Bachchan is one of the key investors in the new European T20 Premier League. The competition, which takes place in July and August this year, features six teams with two each from Ireland, Scotland, and Netherlands.

The competition will be held between Dublin and Rotterdam this summer. T20 is a shortened form of cricket, where games typically take just three hours compared to the full day or multi-day formats.

“There’s huge potential for the game to grow further. Bringing a franchised professional T20 league will catapult cricket in Europe to a different level,” said Bachchan.

“This will improve the quality of play across the countries. Once it starts rolling, we believe it can really gain momentum."

Bachchan is a household name in India, having starred in many Bollywood hits including the Dhoom series of action movies.

A similar league in the US has succeeded largely due to tapping into the South Asian community there. Bachchan hopes to attract such emigrants but also a wider audience.

“One of the great things about people from the sub-continent is we have an uncanny way of showing up everywhere. Obviously the South Asian community will be a huge draw for us with their love for cricket,” he said.

“We want to go beyond that. The easiest thing is to just target the South Asian community but they won’t be our only focus. Whenever I work in sport I prefer to keep the focus on the sport but I love to leverage whatever little celebrity I have to bring the spotlight to the tournaments.”

Abhishek Bachchan pictured with Warren Deutrom, CEO Cricket Ireland, Kevin O’Brien, Irish cricket legend and George Dockrell, Leinster Lightning captain and Irish cricketer. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan.

The league will be operated on a franchise basis with private owners, with Dublin and Belfast the designated cities for Irish teams. Bachchan said he expects the teams in the league to become profitable within three to five years of the league starting.

The league is supported by Cricket Ireland, which considers it part of its long-term plans. The league also expects to roll out a women’s competition in the future.

“We’re looking at a 10 year horizon here. It will be 20 to 30 matches per year across that. We’re asking the franchises and broadcasters to come with us on a journey,” said Warren Deutrom, chief executive of Cricket Ireland.

“This is a proven product. The concept has worked all over the world. There’s an opportunity for this league to grow significantly.”

Deutrom said the private model had been a proven success in other leagues and the competition would aid the overall growth of the game in Ireland.

“With the eight teams in The Hundred [a similar competition] in England, four teams were sold to Indian Premier League (IPL) clubs and the other four to US private investors. With this start-up entity, we’re going to tap into the same well,” Deutrom said.

“We want to play our role as a senior nation in the world game. Our vision is to not just be a major nation in cricket but to be a major sport in Ireland.”