Cricket’s newest franchise competition, the EuropeT20 Premier League (ETPL), has attracted a number of high-profile owners to take ownership of the teams.
Former Australian captain Steve Waugh, Olympic hockey champion Jamie Dwyer and Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan are among the team owners of the league, which has been approved by the ICC to start in August 2026.
Waugh, Dwyer and business leader Tim Thomas will co-own the six-team league as part of a wider push to expand the sport across Europe, officials said.
With the support of the cricket boards of Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands, it aims to foster professional T20 cricket in a region with limited access to cricket.
The league’s co-founders include Abhishek Bachchan, providing celebrity support and strategic vision to the project, which seeks to build a sustainable T20 ecosystem in Europe.
The league is set to host matches in cities including Amsterdam, Edinburgh and Belfast, with the inaugural season set to begin in late summer.
The news has given new impetus to efforts to grow franchise cricket beyond its traditional strongholds.
Sinhala 
English