MS Dhoni launches MCL ticket sales
Mahendra Singh Dhoni who is the brand ambassador of the Masters Champions League (MCL) tournament launched the ticket sales for its inaugural edition, with a special video message. The MCL will begin on 28 January where Sourav Ganguly's Libra Legends and Virender Sehwag's Gemini Arabians will face each other at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium (DICS).
The Masters Champions League (MCL), a T20 tournament, was launched at the Burj Al Arab in Dubai. The tournament's inaugural edition would see six teams with 15 squad members each making a total of 90 players. The players were supposed to be former International cricketers who had retired from all forms of cricket. The inaugural matches would be played in February 2016.
MCL's governing council had announced that the players who were willing to play in the tournament had to register online. Players who had played a minimum of five international matches for their countries were eligible to register. The submitted forms would be reviewed by the governing council of the league. The final date for registrations was set as 15 July 2015.
In the next stage of the process, the coach and support staff online registration was started by MCL council. A similar procedure as followed in the cricketers' registration was used. Alternatively, those registered with the Federation of International Cricketers Association (FICA) were emailed forms to enrol for the positions. The positions included head coach, batting coach, bowling coach, fielding coach, physio, trainer and masseur.
Former cricketing legends like Brian Lara, Virendra Sehwag, Adam Gilchrist, Wasim Akram and Jacques Kallis are going to be part of MCL. UAE Legend Khurram Khan would also be a part of the league.
Rhiti Sports Management, the company that handles Indian Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's interests, had bought a team in MCL. Videocon group chairman Venugopal Dhoot had said that the company was in talks but nothing was finalised yet. Mumbai based Everymedia technologies was also planning to buy a team. MCL's chairman Zafar Shah said the name of the teams were not decided yet.
MCL had hosted a dinner party to announce the event details. They also launched the league's official anthem. The party was attended by many former cricketers including former South African captain Graeme Smith and Indian cricketer Virendra Sehwag. MCL Chairman Zafar Shah had said that the tournament was based on four extraordinary pillars - Players, Fans, Competitive Spirit and Entertainment.
Actor Sanjay Dutt has bought a team the UAE-based Masters Champions League (MCL). He is currently in jail for his role in the 1993 Bombay blasts. The deal was made by Dutt's wife, Maanyata who is looking after his business interests in his absence. Maanyata said that their whole family was passionate about sports and that MCL was a unique concept.
The owners of the six teams would pay $25 million each as franchise fee for 10 years. A total of 260 players had registered with the league.
