Jamshedpur, July 22: Will he, won’t he?

The organisers of the Jharkhand Premier League (JPL) may have kept Mahendra Singh Dhoni in Pool ‘A’ but they themselves do not know if the inaugural league will be fortunate enough to witness the Mahi magic.

The JPL matches will last from September 24 to September 30 in Dhanbad, and be jointly organised by the Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) and Elite Sports Management.

Mahi, along with Saurabh Tiwary, Ishank Jaggi, Mihir Diwakar, Rajiv Kumar, Kundan Singh and Shahbaz Nadeem, stars in the A-list of JPL players.

The cricket association has tried to put in a word to Dhoni through one of his friends, but a lot would depend on the Team India skipper’s itinerary, which, truth to tell, appears to be chock-full in the months of September, October and November.

JPL organisers, however, are still hoping against hope.

“We are hopeful about Dhoni’s participation in the JPL, but a lot depends on his schedule. On our part, we have tried to contact him through a friend of his,” said JSCA secretary Rajesh Verma, but he declined to name the friend.

Although Verma may sound hopeful, keeping in mind the jam-packed schedule of the Indian team, Dhoni may just give JPL a miss, disappointing millions of fans in his home state..

There is another unknown quantity which may tilt the scales either way — BCCI’s decision.

As of now, it is not clear if the BCCI will entertain Dhoni’s participation in a series organised jointly by JSCA and Elite Sports Management.

“Australia and New Zealand are scheduled to tour India in October-November. Dhoni would also need rest before these engagements. We also need to check if the BCCI gives Dhoni the nod to play in JPL,” conceded Verma, a former Bihar Ranji medium-pacer.

While the Kangaroos are scheduled to play two Tests and three ODIs during their sub-continent tour in October, the Kiwis will play three Tests and five ODIs in November.

But before that, almost coinciding bang-on with the dates for JPL, is the Champions’ League. in September.

Dhoni will be flying with the Chennai Super Kings team to play in the Champions’ League, scheduled in South Africa from September 10 to 26.

Perhaps dangling a consolation prize, Verma said Saurabh Tiwary’s availab ility for JPL will not pose a problem.

“Saurabh is also going to South Africa for the Champions’ League as a part of the Mumbai Indians team. But despite this overseas engagement, he can at least play in a fair number of JPL matches,” he added.

Meanwhile, the JSCA has convened a conference of probable JPL team franchisees in Ranji on July 25.

“We want probable franchisees to know what JPL is all about and what its potential is. We have written to reputable corporate houses like Lafarge, Tata Steel, Sterlite, Steel Authority of India Limited and others,” Verma said.

He added they opted for Ranchi as the conference venue over Jamshedpur or any other city in the state because of the capital’s air connectivity.

Auction of teams will be on August 14 and that of players on August 22, both in Ranchi.

Five teams from Jharkhand — Ranchi Rangers, Jamshedpur Janbaaz, Bokaro Bulls, Singhbhum Shers and Dhanbad Diamond — are participating in the inaugural JPL.

Around a hundred players from the state have been kept in four pools, A, B, C and D, based on their rank and performance.While the bidding amount for the A-listers starts from Rs 1 lakh, that of a D-lister starts from Rs 15,000.