Dubai: The Masters Champions League (MCL) will stage one of the biggest players auction ever witnessed in the Middle East region on Monday at the Grand Midwest Hotel. Over 250 players registered with the event will come under the hammer with six team-owners vying for the best among the retired cricketers.
The auction will be on par with the Indian Premier League (IPL) as many top legends of the game, who recently retired from the game, are among the players up for grabs and the bidding war is expected to be intense.
Speaking to Gulf News, Zafar Shah the Chairman of the MCL, said: “It will be biggest ever auction of the region and it will be a full day of surprises. The marquee players of the tournament will be present. We are a private tournament but we will reveal during the auction that whatever we promised we will deliver.”
Present during the auction will be Brian Lara, Michael Warne, Graeme Swann, Kumar Sangakkara, Azhar Mahmoud and Daniel Vettori.
“The names of the teams are being kept a secret and will only be announced on the auction day. The broadcasters of the event will also be announced only during the auction. We will be flying in some of the players, who are participating in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), for just a few hours as they have to return for BPL. This is also to squash rumours that some of the players will be playing in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and not in the MCL,” added Shah.
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly is one of the participating legends of the tournament. “We haven’t revealed any names without confirmation like we did in the case of Ganguly. Similarly, when Virender Sehwag was signed up, many said how could he be participating, but we did announce his name only after we confirmed his participation,” said Shah.
Ganguly, who is currently in London on an assignment, will not be present during auction but his representative will attend the auction. Famous Bollywood actors to big corporate giants will attend the auction. It is understood that some of the leading actors will be among the owners of the team and a team is being named after the zodiac sign of one of India’s leading Bollywood actor.
Grand Midwest Sport, the group that has conceptualised and handles this unique Twenty20 event, has signed a three-year multimillion dollar deal with Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni as its official brand ambassador. This is the first endorsement deal outside India by the World Cup-winning captain.
MCL was launched in June at the iconic Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai. In October, through a gala dinner, MCL announced details of the event and also launched the brand’s anthem in the presence of over 300 guests. Bollywood singer Bappi Lahiri enthralled the audience with his some of his most popular songs.
The MCL has been approved for an initial ten-year period by the Emirates Cricket Board. Grand Midwest Sports, who are the organisers and right owners of the tournament, will be following the guidelines of the International Cricket Council (ICC) during the tournament, which is set to commence in end of January next year.
