Bollywood, cricket heroes own stake in Europe-based T20 league; Ashes stars set to feature

After acquiring almost all it could in the Asian sub-continent market for close to two decades now, the franchise-based cricket league fever has reached Europe, with a Bollywood celebrity co-owning a to-be-launched new Europe-based T20 league, also featuring several cricket heroes among team owners and Ashes stars, who are listed to take part in it. Bollywood A-lister Abhishek Bachchan is the co-owner of this new cricket league, with veterans like Steve Waugh and Glenn Maxwell named franchise owners. Among those set to play include Test veteran Steve Smith and Australia’s white-ball captain Mitchell Marsh.

On Wednesday (Jan 21), Waugh and Maxwell, picked in Australia’s T20 World Cup squad, were revealed as owners of a team in the European T20 Premier League (ETPL), which runs out to Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands. Former New Zealand international cricketers, Kyle Mills and Nathan McCullum, are also named owners of another franchise, with the remaining three teams yet to be sold in this league, originally meant to be launched last summer.

Meanwhile, the three already-sold teams are based in Amsterdam, Belfast and Edinburgh, and the remaining ones are in Dublin, Rotterdam, and Glasgow.

Waugh, a World Cup-winning Australian captain, is part of a group of investors for Amsterdam Flames, and Maxwell, on the other hand, co-owns stakes in Irish Wolves. The Kiwi pair, however, is part of the Edinburgh franchise owners group.

Meanwhile, ETPL is a joint venture between Cricket Ireland and the India-based Rules Global (Rules X), alongside strategic partners with Cricket Scotland and KNCB (the Netherlands Cricket Board). Abhishek Bachchan, the league's co-founder, has three other Indian investors, including former Delhi Capitals (IPL) Dhiraj Malhotra.

More details about ETPL’s first season

An ESPNcricinfo report suggests that ETPL’s first season, sanctioned by the ICC and to be based across multiple countries, is scheduled to take place between August 26 and September 30 this year. Although it begins 10 days after The Hundred’s finale, the dates could potentially clash with the CPL 2026, the schedule of which is yet to be announced.

Waugh, however, has confirmed two Australians (Smith and Marsh) and Scotland captain Scott Edwards, among those signed with the Amsterdam-based team, adding that talks with more T20 superstars, including Tim David from Australia, are ‘positive’.

"We've approached a number of players and haven't had one negative comment at all," Waugh said in a chat with ESPNcricinfo.

"They're just so fascinated by it. I think because I haven't been involved too much in cricket, they must think, well, this is a serious project. And they know what I stand for: the values, and teamwork, and working together, and being successful. They're fascinated by the fact that it's going to be in Europe.

"And the potential to expand cricket into almost a new market and to have an impact on the players in Europe and the continental players, to make them better. As a player, you want to make the players around you better, and as you get older, you realise that's really important. It's not so much about yourself, but it's the impact you have on people around you. And the players we're talking about, Steve Smith and Mitch Marsh, they're at the stage of their career where they want to help develop other players,” he said.