Orissa Cricket Association announces dates of the Orissa Premier League at a news conference in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, April 27: Cricket buffs, get ready to witness some electrifying action in the form of Orissa Premier League (OPL) scheduled to start from May 22. OPL, an initiative of the Orissa Cricket Association (OCA), has been modelled after the Indian Premier League (IPL).

“OCA is now the third association after those in the states of Karnataka and Jharkhand to come up with a tournament on the lines of IPL. The tournament would be an eight-team affair and we are sure it would be a huge hit in the state,” said OCA secretary, Ashirbad Behera.

Out of 13 bidders representing various districts, the top eight would get a chance to battle it out at the first such tournament in the state. The 13 places, which have been identified for the auction, are Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Rourkela, Berhampur, Sambalpur, Angul, Keonjhar, Jharsuguda, Puri, Kendrapara, Dhenkanal, Jajpur and Balasore.

Bids for owning teams would begin from May 3 where interested individuals and companies can apply for more than one team in separate forms till May 9. The franchisees would have to pay a minimum of Rs 4 lakh for owning a team. Around 100 players listed by OCA would be put up for the auction, which is scheduled to start from May 13 at OCA conference hall.

These players would be categorised under different grades such as A, B, C, D and E. They would be put up for auction with a base price attached to each of them, as decided by the OCA. While the base price for grade A and B cricketers has been fixed at Rs 50,000 and Rs 30,000, respectively, for grade C, which also includes ex-Ranji players, it is Rs 20,000.

The D-category players have a base price of Rs 10,000, and for those in grade E (mostly local players), it is Rs 5,000.

A franchise can opt for a maximum of nine players from A, B, C and D grades within a specified limit of Rs 5.5 lakh. Apart from this, the franchise owners can choose another nine players from grade E from the catchment areas of the respective teams.

During a match, each team can field a maximum of eight graded players (four from grade A and four from B, C and D) and three local players (Grade E).

“OPL would provide a great boost to the players at the grassroots levels and we are counting on them to attract crowds to the respective venues. Moreover, depending on their performance, the OCA can promote them for the next IPL season,” Behera said. Elaborating on the proceedings, Behera informed that eight teams would be divided into two groups of four teams each. A total of 27 matches would be played across 15 days where the teams would get to play a “home” and “away” match. The final match would be played under floodlights at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on June 5.

There would be a cultural programme on the opening and closing day of the tournament in which local cheerleaders donning sari would entertain the spectators. Ticket prices would be fixed by the respective franchise owners. The champion team would receive a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh while the runners-up would get Rs 2 lakh. The man of the series and man of the match would take away Rs 25,000 and Rs 5,000, respectively.