MPL 2016 in December; IPL, NRI players from Mangaluru Zone in auction list

Mangaluru, Aug 8: After the success of last year's Mangalore Premier League cricket tournament, the Karnataka Regional Cricket Academy is gearing up to host the MPL-2016 with further added attractions from December 17 to 31 this year at Dr B R Ambedkar Cricket Stadium, near NMPT, on the outskirts of the city.

Announcing this at a press meet here on Monday, Sirajuddin and Imthiyaz, the office bearers of KRCA said that the event will be held in association with Mangalore Ocassionals and with the approval and guidance of Karnataka State Cricket Association.

The MPL has become a proper plat form for the upcoming cricket talents of Mangaluru Zone (Consisting of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kodagu Districts) to step into further heights in the cricket field. The names of about 24 players who played in the last MPL are placed in the players' auction list of coming Karnataka Premier League.

They said that the matches would be played during day and under the floodlit also. This year 8 lighting towers with the height of 60 feet would be provided so as to the players can feel that they are playing in the day light.

There is a proposal to provide the Astro Turf Wicket and turf for 30 yard circle. There will be live telecast of the match through local TV Channel and the matches from quarter final onwards will be telecasted through DD Sports Channel. Also live scoring facility will be provided, which can be assessed worldwide. The live will be recorded through high dimension cameras to enhance the quality of live coverage.

Fun park will be an added attraction this year in which the children coming with their parents can enjoy the cricket along with fun games. Air conditioned live coverage/commentary arena and cabin for press will be arranged.

The tournament will be held on league cum knock out basis. The twelve teams of different places of Mangaluru Zone will be divided into two pools. Each team has to play 5 matches in the particular pool. Qualifiers will play in the knock out stage. This year a few new teams from Karkala, Kundapura and Baikampady are taking part in the event.

The IPL players K.C. Cariappa from Kings XI Punjab, Shivil Kaushik from Gujarat Lions and Kishore Kamath from Mumbai Indians will be playing in the MPL this year, the KRCA claimed.

Players' Auction

To make the MPL further attractive this year, a provision is given to the 24 icon players who have represented in IPL/KPL and national level tournaments, to play in the MPL. Each team will select 2 players each through the auction. There is a provision given to the owner to choose a player of his own apart from the auction process. An opportunity is given to the 24 NRI players of Mangaluru Zone to show their talent in motherland. The players from Mangaluru Zone will be distributed into three pools i.e. 48 players to A pool, 24 players to B pool and remaining to the C pool. The players' auction process will be held in the month of September.

The interested players to take part in the MPL have to registered their name by submitting the registration forms which is available in the website www.krcaindia.com and www.facebook.com/mplofficial. Also players can register their name in the office of KRCA, Hampankatta, Mangaluru, they said.