Mauritius to host T10 League with international cricketers and UAE players

By K.R. Nayar

The T10 format, which originated from the UAE, has now spread to other parts of the world with the Mauritius Cric10 League set to begin from December 2. This league will see the likes of Sri Lanka’s Dilharo Fernando, India’s Pravin Kumar, and Pragyan Ojha, as well as West Indies’ Kennar Lewis, Ryan Emrit and Kevon Cooper taking part.

The T10 format, which has its origins in the UAE, is now spreading to different parts of the world. It is understood that very soon Test-playing nations like Sri Lanka and the West Indies too will be staging tournaments in the T10 format. Interestingly, even countries where cricket is just gaining popularity are planning to stage T10 tournaments.
The Mauritius Cric10 League, which will be held from December 2nd to 19th, will feature cricketers from South Africa, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, UK, Australia, Singapore, Canada, hosts Mauritius and the UAE, and this is expected to attract a lot of attention internationally. Emerging players from the UAE have been invited for this tournament, and they have flown to Mauritius to get into the bubble before the start of the tournament.

Seventy-eight international players, including iconic players like Dilharo Fernando, Kennar Lewis, Ryan Emrit, Ajantha Mendis, Suchitra Senanayake, Pravin Kumar, Pragyan Ojha, and Kevon Cooper, and 12 local cricketers will be playing as members of the six competing teams. This event is being powered by Quasar Sports Management, a fully integrated sports management company in the UAE  in association with  Royal Cricket Management Ltd, is a Mauritius based sports management company.

The six teams have been named as Curepipe Crushers, Goodlands Riders, Mahebourg Storms, Saint Pierre Quakers, Bambous Raptors, and Rose Hill Warriors. All these names are associated with iconic places in Mauritius, which is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar, and is one among the finest tourist destinations in the world. Club cricket has been growing rapidly in this country, and organisers believe that cricketers will enjoy playing in this country of sand and beaches. The Government of Mauritius will be supporting this event that is being held under the aegis of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Mauritius Cricket Federation. All matches will be broadcast on Channel ‘1 Sports’, an Indian sports channel owned by Lex Sportel vision Pvt. Ltd., and will be held at the Anjalay Stadium, a multi-purpose stadium that was built in 2003 at a cost of $15million. 

Some of the UAE players participating are Faisal Thaikandy, Muhammad Rawaid, and Sandeep Singh for Saint Pierre Quakers team, Akshay Jotin, Kamal Thanki, and Sajad Malook who will play for Curepipe Crushers, Bharat Jetwa and Abhishekh Tiwari will represent Mahebourg Storms, Ameer Hamza,  Ashok Kumar Faraz Imran Sheikh, Janaka Chaturanga, Muzammil Afridi, and Thabreezali Azeez will be playing for Rose Hill, while Ali Abid, Jamshad Zafar, and Nadeem Muhammad Rahim and Vibhor Shahi are part of Goodlands Riders.  These players will be interacting with top players like South Africa’s Herschelle Gibbs, India’s Munaf Patel, and Sri Lanka’s Ajantha Mendis.
Sri Lanka’s Chamara Kapugeda will play for Goodlands Riders, while Mendis will play for Rose Hill. West Indies star Kevon Cooper will represent Mahebourg Storms. Indian spinner Pragyan Ojha will play for Bambous Raptors and so will Indian pacer Praveen Kumar.  Saint Pierre Quakers will have West Indies’ Ryan Emrit, Sri Lanka’s Dilhara Fernando and former UAE wicketkeeper Swapnil Patil.