Ranchi, May 18: A T20 tournament sans cheerleaders, late-night parties and floodlit matches, the Jharkhand Premier League (JPL) is happy to be IPL’s poor cousin to focus on cricket with a local flavour.

For Ranchi Ranchos, Jamshedpur Janbaaz, Dhanbad Damdar, Singhbhum Sher and Bokaro Balwan, it will be a battle for supremacy which will start from Dhanbad’s Jealgora Stadium sometime in September, and continue for a week.

On the auction block once again will be Ranchi boy and Team India captain M.S. Dhoni, Mumbai Indians’ star and Jamshedpur lad Saurabh Tiwary and a host of other promising cricketers of Jharkhand — though the bids won’t be as expensive as IPL’s.

Instead of BCCI, Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) and Elite Sports Management will organise the matches for the tournament which is being pitched as a miniature Indian Premier League, though the cash factor will be just as important.

While the winning team will take home Rs 5 lakh, the runners up would get Rs 3 lakh, and the losing semi-finalists Rs 1 lakh each.

According to JSCA member Sunil Singh, top corporate houses of the country and the state were expected to bid for the teams and players.

Like in the IPL auction, 100 players of the state have been divided into various pools or categories. In pool A there are seven players — Dhoni, Tiwary, Ishank Jaggi, Mihir Diwakar, Rajiv Kumar Raja, Shahbaz Nadeem, and Kundan Singh. Pool B comprises 40 players who have represented Jharkhand in Ranji Trophy and one-dayers in the last four years. Pool C will have about 30 players from the under-22 and Under-19 state teams. In Pool D there will be 23 players, with each of 23 affiliated districts nominating one player.

Tiwary, the toast of IPL III, was happy about the tournament. “It is a very good development because it will help cricket in this state. Just like IPL threw up many players, who were hitherto unknown, JPL too will provide the opportunity to young players of this state, and I am sure many young talents will be discovered in this tournament.”

But will there be takers for the likes of Dhoni and Tiwary, Nishant Dayal of Elite Sports Management said, “The highest and lowest bidding amounts will be fixed. Moreover, we expect Dhoni to play for the sake of supporting cricketers of this state and he has consented to participate if he is free during that period.”