Cricket fans have another option to watch their favourite stars of yesteryears play. Surat will host the Big Cricket League in December with some of the superstars teaming up with players who have not made it big yet. Ahead of the debut season, former India captain and chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar inaugurated the Big Cricket League in Mumbai on Saturday. The first-ever BCL draft also took place.
“It’s a great platform for aspiring cricketers. Thank you all for being on at And for providing them with this great platform. Hope it gets bigger over the years,” Dilip Vengsarkar said ahead of the BCL Draft in Mumbai.
Former Indian cricketer RP Singh, who is the President of Big Cricket League, said that his vision is to provide a platform for players who could not make it to the national side or the state teams for different reasons.
“All cricketers have a dream of playing for the state team or the national team and become a big player. But for various reasons, even the most talented players fail to make it big. So this initiative is for those players to realise their dreams,” RP Singh told InsideSport in an exclusive chat in Mumbai.
“We want to give them the experience of playing in a professional league. There are trials, and camps and then they will play in the league. The idea is to showcase their talents. If Pravin Tambe can fulfill his dream at 40 like we have seen him doing in real life and in the movie, it’s for everyone,” he added.
What is Big Cricket League?
Unlike the likes of LLC and other T20 leagues for retired players, Big Cricket League offers budding cricketers a chance to rub shoulders with some of the superstars. The likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Irfan Pathan, Suresh Raina, and Harschelle Gibbs will be some of the superstar players in the league.
Each team will have an 18-member squad. There will be 6 international stars in the squad including a marquee player. Apart from them, there will be two First Class players and 10 aspiring Indian talents. In each Playing XI, there will be four former internationals including a marquee player, two First Class players and five aspiring players.
Big Cricket League format
BCL 2025 will have six teams of 18 players each. Every team will play against each other in a round-robin format. The team that finishes the league stage on the top of Points Table will directly qualify for the final. In all, there will be a total of 18 matches including 15 league stage games, two playoffs and the big final.
BCL will have an eliminator and a Qualifier. The team that will finish third will take on the fourth-placed team on the Points Table. The winner of the Eliminator will clash with the second-placed team. The winner of the qualifier will play the final against the team that finished the league stage on top. The winning team will bag a prize money of $50,000.
