A blueprint of the OPL trophy and (below) Devendra Sahu works on the trophy in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack/Bhubaneswar, May 16: With less than a week to go for the inauguration of the first Orissa Premier League (OPL), the Orissa Cricket Association (OCA) is busy giving final touches to the preparations for the 22-day cricketing extravaganza.

While the OCA today announced the list of players for the 10 participating teams, the final design for the OPL trophy was also approved.

Reliable sources said the three-feet tall crown-shaped trophy would be made out of five kg of silver and have a gold-plated base. Studded with semi-precious stones and completed with elaborate filigree work, it is estimated to cost around Rs 5 lakh.

The master craftsman, Devendra Sahu, who would work on it with four other artisans, is confident of delivering it on time.

“We will work more than 14 hours a day to ensure that we hand over the trophy to OCA before the opening ceremony,” said Sahu.

The selection of players has been on expected lines with each franchise according prominence to local players. The Bhubaneswar Jaguars with explosive batsman, Paresh Patel as its captain, today submitted a list of 18 players to the OCA. Former India hockey skipper, Dilip Tirkey, was chosen the brand ambassador for the Bhubaneswar franchise.

Biplab Samantray, who emerged as the costliest player at Rs 4.60lakh at the OPL auction last Friday, was named the skipper for the Katak Barabati Tigers (Cuttack) team while batsman P.R. Sinha will lead Keonjhar’s Kashvi Power Rangers.

Western Samurai, the Rourkela franchise, has named Natraj Behara as the team captain while nominating veteran Sambalpuri folk singer Jitendriya Haripal of ‘Rangabati’ fame as the brand ambassador.

While Angul Tuskers would be led by former India pacer Debasish Mohanty, Test discard Shiv Sunder Das has been chosen to captain the Dhenkanal team. Similarly, the other captains are Rakesh Mohanty (Puri Emperors), Subhrajit Sahoo (Balasore Baghas), Lagnajit Samal (Berhampur Bhanja Veers) and Rashmi Ranjan Das (JSP Sparks – Jagatsinghpur).

The teams have also named the vice-captains, coaches, managers and therapists in their list. “We hope the young, talented players, who have not got adequate scope, will get a good platform in the form of OPL to exhibit their capabilities. Besides, we have a number of match winning players in our team,” Vineet Lalani, managing director of LG infrastructure that owns Team Bhubaneswar.

OCA officials said the opening ceremony was likely to be inaugurated by Rajya Sabha MP Pyari Mohan Mohapatra. “We are trying our best to make both the opening and closing ceremonies a grand affair. There would be special fireworks display on both the occasions,” OCA secretary Ashirbad Behera said.

Behera said that each team would take part in a ceremonial parade with their theme songs playing in the background. Folk dances from districts represented by the franchisees would be another highlight of the opening ceremony.