VIDARBHA Cricket Association inched a step closer to realising its dream of its own franchise-based T20 league with the announcement of nine teams (six men, three women) for the inaugural Vidarbha Pro T20 league, during a short but impressive function held at VCA Recreation Club, Jamtha, on Saturday evening. The maiden VPTL is scheduled to be played from June 5 to 15, 2025 at the world-class VCA Stadium in Jamtha. The team allocation function was attended by all the franchise owners and some top officials of VCA. As expected India T20 wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma, along with Atharva Taide, Darshan Nalkande, all IPL players, Mandar Mahale, Yash Kadam and Vidarbha Ranji Trophy winning captain Akshay Wadkar were named captains of six teams.

 

The six men teams were named as Neco Master Blaster (owned by Neco Group), Orange Tigers (owned by Abhijit Realtors & Infraventures Pvt Ltd), Nagpur Titans (owned by the Sanvijay Group), Bharat Rangers (owned by Rohit Iron & Steel India Pvt Ltd), Nagpur Heroz (owned by Lily Infraventure) and Pagariya Strikers (owned by the Pagariya Group). The women’s tournament will run concurrently with the men’s event. The following three franchises will also own an additional women’s team: Neco Master Blaster, Orange Tigresses (Abhijit Realtors & Infraventures Pvt Ltd) and Nagpur Titans (The Sanvijay Group). “It was a dream of our former President Adv Adwait Manohar to have our own franchise based T20 league.

 

Today, we are on the cusp of fulfilling that dream. Together, with everybody’s support we would make this inaugural edition a memorable one,” declared Prashant Vaidya, Chairman of the VPTL Governing Council. The six franchises were each allotted a 16-member squad and a list of support staff. With no players’ auction in this inaugural edition, each squad was pre-selected by VCA’s Senior Selection Committee, ensuring good balance in the line-up to boost keen competition. The process of allotment of the teams involved drawing of lots. First, a draw of lots was conducted to determine the sequence in which the franchises picked the squads. It was followed by another draw of lots as each franchise picked a ‘bail’ from the box which had the name of the team (A, B, C, D, E, F). The corresponding team lists prepared by the VCA selectors were then allotted to the franchises. The Vidarbha Pro T20 League will be broadcast live on a premier national sports channel and streamed on a leading OTT platform.