Cuttack / Bhubaneswar, May 11: Two days after a cash-heavy bidding process for owning teams in the first edition of the Orissa Premier League (OPL), the 10 franchisees announced the names of their respective teams, jersey colours for the players and home venues this evening.

The teams are Katak Barabati Tigers (Cuttack), Bhubaneswar Jaguars (Bhubaneswar), Kashvi Power Rangers (Keonjhar), JSP Sparks (Jagatsinghpur), Cooperative Kings Dhenkanal (Dhenkanal), Puri Emperors (Puri), Berhampur Bhanja Veers (Berhampur), Angul Tuskers (Angul), Balasore Baghas (Balasore) and Western Samurai (Rourkela).

While Bhubaneswar has been chosen as the home venue for four teams, Cuttack will be the host ground for three teams. Sambalpur, Paradip and Angul have been named as the other three venues.

Keeping in view the soaring temperatures, all matches are scheduled to be played from 6pm. The number of matches to be played each day is yet to be fixed.

“All the matches will be played on turf wickets under floodlights,” said Ashirbad Behera, secretary, Orissa Cricket Association (OCA).

The OCA has roped in leading Ollywood actor Anubhav Mohanty as the brand ambassador for its mega initiative, OPL, modelled after the Indian Premier League (IPL).

“As an Oriya, I am eagerly looking forward to OPL. I had always dreamt of seeing a team from Orissa participating in the Indian Premier League. I am extremely happy that we have moved a step closer to that dream. I am also grateful to OCA for selecting me as the brand ambassador of OPL,” said Anubhav.

This state-level Twenty20 cricket tournament has already received an overwhelming response during the auction of the 10 teams with the highest bid made by LG infrastructure for Team Bhubaneswar team for about Rs 55lakh.

So far, the OCA has raked in nearly Rs 3.7 crore out of team auctions with the franchise Kashvi Power and Steel from Keonjhar coming up with a whopping bid of Rs 49lakh. The Dhenkanal franchise was bought for Rs 45.45lakh, Jagatsinghpur for Rs 39.05lakh, Puri for Rs 36lakh and Cuttack for a little over Rs 35lakh.

There has been a change in OPL team owners as Panchanan Mohanty, who had earlier bought the Dhenkanal team, stepped down. Consequently, the team called Cooperative Kings Dhenkanal has gone to T. Prasad Rao Dora who had made the second highest offer of Rs 36lakh.

“We are looking forward to the OPL and we will provide all possible assistance to OCA to ensure that the plans to buy a team in next IPL season is successful,” said Vineet Lalani, managing director of LG infrastructure, which owns the Bhubaneswar Jaguar team.

This Friday, all eyes will be on the players’ auction. A pool of more than 300 players of different grades has been created by OCA and base price has been fixed for each of the players.

A franchisee can spend a maximum of Rs 8lakh to buy the players. While the base price of a grade A player has been fixed at Rs 60,000, for grade B it is Rs 40,000 and for grade C it is Rs 30,000. For those in grade D, the base price has been kept at Rs 20,000 while the players from local districts (grade E) will come at a minimum price of Rs 10,000.

According to OCA officials, a total of 44 matches would be played in the first edition of OPL starting from May 22.

Three matches — opening match, semi final and final — would be played at Barabati stadium in Cuttack. The champions will take away prize money of Rs 4lakh and the runners up will be awarded Rs 2lakh.