Cuttack, April 24: Get ready for a spectacular opening ceremony of the second edition of Odisha Premier League.

Despite key sponsors missing this time, the Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that Barabati Stadium is the place to be on May 1.

An official of the association said they were making sure the T20 cricket tourney was a roaring success in spite of the fact they haven’t received any sponsors so far.

The cricket association plans to organise the event on a budget of Rs 2 crore.

The association has decided to bear all the expenses of the tournament as most of the franchise owners, who owned teams in the first edition of the Odisha Premier League (OPL) in 2011, pulled out of the tourney last year.

“We are negotiating with several media and corporate houses to sponsor jerseys of the teams taking part in the state’s Twenty20 cricket tournament,” said OCA secretary Ashirbad Behera.

He said actors Anubhav, Navya, Pappu Pom Pom as well as popular artistes such as Abhijit Majumdar and Muskan would be seen performing live before the audience at the opening ceremony.

A display of pyrotechnics will be an added attraction this time.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik is likely to attend the opening ceremony of the Twenty20 cricketing extravaganza that will see eight teams — Barabati, Dhauli, Baitarini, Subarnarekha, Mahanadi, Rushikulya, Konark and Chilika — taking part, Behera added.

An OCA official said all the matches of OPL-II would be played simultaneously at Barabati Stadium from (May 2 to 12) and at VSS stadium, Sambalpur (May 3 to 8).

For the first time, the cricket association has decided to install cameras parallel to the popping crease to enable fair decisions in case of run-outs and stumping.

The eight teams have been selected by the selection committee of the cricket association from a pool of 176 players earlier placed in five grades of the state’s cricket board.

Each team consists of 22 players, including three players each from Grade-A and B, two players each from Grade C and D and one player from Grade E (local cricketers).

The cricket association will provide match money to players according to their grades. A Grade-A player will get Rs 50,000, Grade B Rs 40,000, Grade C Rs 30,000, Grade D Rs 20,000 and players placed in Grade E will be entitled to Rs 10,000 for the entire tournament.

“The association had decided focus on local cricketers as they will get an opportunity to play with state cricketers and improve their game by taking part in the tournament,” said president of the Odisha Cricket Association Ranjib Biswal.

Biswal said the champion in the second Odisha Premier League edition would get prize money of Rs 3 lakh, while the runners-up team will get Rs 2 lakh.

Cricket fans across the state are likely to miss Biplab Samantray this year, who was the most expensive player in the bidding for the first premier league edition in 2011.

Samantray, who was the captain of Kakat Barabati Tigers, is unavailable as he is playing for the Sunrises Hyderabad team in Indian Premier League Season VI.