After a successful inaugural season of Andhra Premier League (APL), members of the Andhra Cricket Association have announced the launch of season II, scheduled to start on June 17 and conclude on July 2. In addition to the teams in the previous season, the ACA has decided to add one more franchise, taking the total to seven.
Addressing a presser here on Saturday, secretary of ACA V Gopinath Reddy said the main motto of the ACA in organising the event was to identify young talent, nurture the skills of the existing players and also to give an exposure to the players to play in a National event.
Mr. Gopinath Reddy said the response for the previous season was tremendous. Though there was good demand to add more teams, to ensure the matches were gripping, the new governing council decided to add only one more team, he said.
He said that several players, such as Nitish Kumar, who had got a chance to represent Sunrisers Hyderabad, Sheikh Rashid for Chennai Super Kings and KS Bharat for Gujarat Titans, benefited from the APL. This apart, many support staff had got a chance to take part in national tournaments, he added.
The ACA secretary also said that the league phase of the tournament would witness 21 matches, with each team playing six matches. The top four teams would qualify for the qualifiers and eliminators, with two teams making it to the finals.
“During the first season, all the matches were organised in Visakhapatnam. This time we are looking to have these matches at two venues, including Visakhapatnam,” he added.
He said that those interested for applying for the franchise could do so by paying application fee of ₹10,000 and EMD ₹2 lakh (refundable). The base price of the franchise had been increased to ₹1.35 crore from ₹70 lakh last season, he said, adding that applications forms were available at YSR ACA VDCA stadium. The applications could be sent from May 8 to 12. On May 13, the applications would be scrutinised and on May 15, successful bidder would be announced.
The ACA members were planning to conduct APL auction on May 17. Star Sports 2, Star 2 HD and Star Telugu would broadcast and Fancode app would be the OTT platform. Unlike last year, the broadcast would be also available in Star Sports English, apart from Telugu, they said.
Asked whether there were any changes and additions to the existing rules, especially on bringing in Impact Player concept on the lines of Indian Premier League (IPL), ACA management said that they were yet to organise a meeting with the existing franchises and the new franchise, during which the amendments might be discussed.
Till date, the ACA has received about 369 applications for the auction and the number is likely to go up. It may be remembered that each franchise would have a ₹30 lakh purse.
