Team Herald
PANJIM: The State will witness cricket action of International and local stars over the course of the next two weeks with the Goa Cricket Association announcing the Goa Corporate League (GCL) beginning from March 8, at the Academy ground, Porvorim. The League will be organised under the aegis of Board of Control for Cricket in India.
Top Global players such as Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Partiv Patel, Aksar Patel, Munaf Patel, Pavan Negi, Iqbal Abdullah, Wasim Jaffer and Deepak Hooda are expected to arrive in Goa for the league.
“We are expecting some top national stars for GCL. If these players join the league than it will be great entertainment for the Goan cricket fans,” said GCL Chairman Anant Naik.
“Last year the league final ended in an exciting Super Over and this year too we are expecting the same. There will be very close matches,” he added.
The eight teams are divided in two groups. Group A includes runners-up ONGC (Delhi), DY Patil (Mumbai), Air India (Mumbai) and CAG (Delhi) while Group B consists defending champions Reliance, IOC (Mumbai), FCI (Mumbai) and hosts Goa Lions.
It may be noted that last year two Goan teams participate namely Golden Tigers and Goa Lions.
“As there were many corporate entities interested in joining the GPL, we could manage only one Goan team in the league. We backed out on one of our local team to accommodate a national team besides assuring that the rest will be accommodated next year,” Anant said.
Sagun Kamat will lead Goa Lions.
The winners will be richer by Rs 15 lakh while the runners-up will have to settle for Rs 10 lakh, besides other individual prizes.
“The expenses for the league are expected to be around Rs 60 lakh and we are looking out for some more sponsors,” Anant informed.
Matches will begin at 2 p.m. and 6.30 p.m. with FCI facing Goa Lions and Reliance clashing with IOC in the opening rounds on March 8.
The semi-finals will be played on March 14 while the final is scheduled for March 15.
The GSL will be declared open on March 7, at the Academy ground, which will include unveiling of the jerseys and trophy.
“The inaugural programme will include unveiling of jersey of all the teams and unveiling of trophy. We are in talks with Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Mohinder Amarnath to join the programme but we are waiting for their confirmation,” Anant said.
The last four days matches, including the semi-finals and final, will be broadcast live on DD Sports.
