HCA unveils eight franchises for inaugural TG20

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) on Saturday unveiled the eight franchises for the inaugural edition of the TG20 League, which is set to begin on June 20. The final will be played on July 11.Ushodaya Enterprises Private Limited (Eenadu Group) emerged as the highest bidder, acquiring the Hyderabad franchise for ₹7.5 crore.The Rangareddy franchise was bought by Boorugu Infra/Pranava Group for ₹7.2 crore, while Bain Global Resources Pvt Ltd secured the Warangal team for ₹6.55 crore. The remaining franchises — Medak, Nalgonda, Karimnagar, Mahabubnagar and Khammam — were also sold to the top bidders. In total, 13 bidders, including industrialists and corporate leaders, participated in the auction process.The franchise agreements will be for five years, with team owners required to pay the bid amount annually. The players' auction is scheduled for June 7.With leagues such as the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) and Maharaja KSCA T20 in Karnataka emerging as strong feeder systems for the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the national team, Hyderabad has now joined the growing trend with its own state-based T20 competition. Players such as T Natarajan, Washington Sundar, R Sai Kishore, Varun Chakravarthy and Sai Sudharsan have all risen through the TNPL system before making an impact in the IPL. The HCA hopes the TG20 League will play a similar role for cricketers from Telangana.Speaking after the franchise bidding, HCA secretary M Jeevan Reddy said the league would help revive cricket in the state and provide a platform for talented players from rural areas."We know there is immense talent in rural districts that has never had the opportunity to showcase itself. Through this league, our aim is to promote cricket across the districts. We also hope these eight teams will contribute to the development of cricket infrastructure in their respective regions. There are two more teams — Nizamabad and another from Nalgonda — that were left out of the auction process. Given the overwhelming response, we plan to conduct another round of bidding over the next two years," Jeevan Reddy said.League officials said each franchise will have a 20-member squad along with a coach and support staff. Coaches must be from Telangana, while mentors can be appointed from outside the state. Every team must include at least two players from its respective district.Each franchise will have a player auction purse of ₹60 lakh. The base price for players has been set at ₹50,000, with the maximum price capped at ₹5 lakh.Additionally, around 75 per cent of the central sponsorship revenue will be equally distributed among the eight franchises.TG20 has appointed Prasanna Kannan, former CEO of the Tamil Nadu Premier League, to oversee the league's execution.