London: The European T20 Premier League (ETPL), partly owned by Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan, and involving city-based franchises from Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands, has been shelved until 2026, according to a report.
The ICC-sanctioned six-team tournament, which was to take place from July 15 to August 3, is not happening this year as three potential owners are instead focusing on completing deals to buy team stakes in ‘The Hundred’ tournament, the BBC Sport reported.
Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Amsterdam and Rotterdam were the designated venues for the ETPL, which promised to “elevate local talent, draw global superstars, and ignite a wave of cricketing enthusiasm across Europe”.
The report said that deals for at least three of the six city-based franchises were “understood to be very close to being signed off, and it was initially hoped that once they were wrapped up, the remaining three would soon follow”.
“However, three of those potential ETPL franchise owners are also acquiring stakes in The Hundred and are said to have prioritised those deals,” it added.
In April, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) extended the deadline to complete sales of the Hundred franchises that were agreed earlier this year.
Bachchan was announced as part-owner of the ETPL in conjunction with Rules Sport Tech when it was launched in January, the ‘BBC Sport’ report said.
Rules Sport Tech are a private Indian company who “promote and create high quality sports initiatives, tournaments and events”, it said, adding that Bachchan travelled to Dublin in March to promote the tournament via a series of media interviews and Instagram posts.
It is not the first time a European T20 franchise tournament involving the Dutch, Irish and Scottish cricket boards has struggled to get off the ground.
In 2019, the Euro T20 Slam — which had different backers — was postponed just over a fortnight before the opening game. That came after team names were announced, a draft held and marquee players, including Eoin Morgan, were allocated to franchises.
The tournament was then postponed several times over subsequent years and never took place.
