ECB rolls out new 20-over domestic tourney

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Buoyant with the successful hosting of the Emirates D10, Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) launched a new twenty-over tournament, D-20, on Monday.

Six teams will battle it out for the top honours as the tournament will get under way on Dec.6. A total of 33 matches will be played, with final slated for the Christmas eve.

The logo of the D-20 was unveiled during a press conference at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Monday.

All the matches will be played at the same venue. The tournament is being held with vision of scouting new talent to make a strong UAE team for future.

The UAE, who are an Associate Member of the ICC and have been striving to gain the promotion as a Full Member.

“After successfully hosting D-10 in July-August, we had promised to come up with a different format in the same domestic structure.

“We are pleased to announce D-20. As the name suggest it will be 20-over tournament. We hope this will do better than D-10 and provide a platform for the aspiring young cricketers to showcase their talent,” said Mubashshir Usmani, Secretary General Emirates Cricket Board.

“This will also assert the fact that the UAE has a pool very talented players, which is required to boost the domestic structure of any country in the world,” he added.

Director of Cricket at ECB and the coach of the UAE cricket team Robin Singh said: “Actually the success of the D-10 propelled the idea of hosting D-20. When I came here people told me that there are not too many players on the scene.

“We worked in a systematic way and managed to pull out a lot more players than we thought even existed in the UAE,” he added.

“It will not only enhance the profile of the players but also give us the opportunity to see the longevity and the fitness of the players.

It will also give us more opportunity to pick up more players form a bigger pool,” explained Robin.

“Now we have already shortlisted about 50 players, who can easily fit into the UAE scheme of things in a long term. There are a lot of young players, who may surprise many people going forward,” Robin concluded.

“There is a domestic structure that already exists. What we required to bring them on one platform. As a cricket board we have four councils and every councils, which caters the cricket aspirants,” apprised Usmani.

“And every council has tournaments running across which gives opportunity to the young players to showcase their talent. And when we sat down, we realized there is a gap and we need to fill it. And that is how we have decided to come up with more domestic tournaments,” he elaborated.

“When we met ITW, we thought of having a domestic structure or first class structure, which will be run by ECB itself. And we are here, we think about present and the future and whatever is the past we take the strength from it,” concluded Usmani.

All matches will be broadcast live across various regions utilising varied streaming and social media platforms.

Vivek Chandra, Director, ITW Consulting, commented: "UAE Cricket is seeing a positive change and we are committed towards strengthening the Board’s vision of being a Full Member in the coming future.

“Emirates D10 had a great success, and we are sure Dream11 Emirates D20 would also be a stepping stone towards a sustainable domestic structure”.

The tournament is being launched in partnership with ITW Consulting.

The Dream 11 will be the title sponsors.