Maharashtra Premier League-3 : MPL players to go far and wide for blessings

PUNE, 1 September 2011: Maharashtra’s biggest festivity – Ganeshotsav, is here. And, what better occasion to kick start the countdown to the state’sbiggest sporting event, the Maharashtra Premier League (MPL).

While Twenty20 fans and party wait for yet another year of slam-bang on-field action during the MPL-3 scheduled later this month the organizers Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) and Sakaal Media Group have jointly decided to be part of the celebrations and seek blessings of Lord Ganesh in their own special way. This year, the Maharashtra Premier league stars, who hail from all over the state, will assemble themselves to represent their teams and visit historic and traditionally rich Ganesh mandals situated in eight districts of the State.

The first of these visits by teams of three players each (nominated by the team) will have Devgiri Emperors travel to Aurangabad on September 3 and perform the maha-arati.

“The intention is to bring together districts, who form an integral part of contributing to the success of the league. As all know a host of players’ in this IPL-modeled league hail from district and it was only just to have them visit districts to build a fan base of their own and promote the team,” said Indranil Datta, Senior Vice President Marketing- Sakal Media Group

The Maharashtra Premier League (MPL), first-ever State based T20 league in India, jointly organized by the Maharashtra Cricket Association and the Sakal Media Group, is all set to get underway on September 28.

The MPL has been designed to give an opportunity to cricketers from various districts of Maharashtra to display their talent and hence, it’s ideal that stars of the MPL go to various districts and take the already popular league to different parts of the State in this festive season.

MPL heroes will also visit well known and historically traditional mandals in PCMC, Nashik, Ratnagiri, Kolhapur, Navi Mumbai, Satara, Jalgaon, which is sure to take the league’s popularity to an even higher level.

“It is necessary to reach out to cricket fans in various districts who yearn to see innovation in a sport that is a religion in the country. We feel, this could bring in even bigger crowds, especially people from outside Pune, for the MPL matches this season,” Maharashtra Cricket Association President Ajay Shirke said.

As part of MPL’s celebration of Ganesh Festival, the eight franchisees are likely to join one of the biggest and most popular Ganesh mandals in the city on the last day of the celebration, the day when every devotee bids the Lord goodbye.

Meanwhile, an exclusive MPL float will parade along with the chosen mandal during the immersion process. Details of the mandal are yet to be finalized.

Details of MPL team players’ visiting Ganesh mandals;

Sep 3 - Devgiri Emperors (Soloman Chopde, Akash Benali, Rohan Matale) – Aurangabad

Sep 4 – Torna Tigers (Amit Kadam, Pankaj Kalyankar, Virag Awate) – Nashik

Sep 5 - Shivneri Lions (Rahul Desai, Rajesh Mahurkar, Chetan Telang) – PCMC

Sep 6 - Sindhudurg Sailors (Rahul Tripathi, Sangram Bagul, Jagdish Varde) – Ratnagiri

Sep 7 – Panhala Panthers (Deepak Shailamkar, Anupam Sanklecha, Manish Desai) – Kolhapur

Sep 8 – Raigad Royals (Harshad Khadiwale,, Rohit Motwani, Digambar Waghmare) – Navi Mumbai

Sep 9 – Pratapgad Warriors (Parag More, Samad Fallah, Satyajit Satbhai) – Satara

Sep 10 – Sinhagad Supremos (Jitendra Patil, Varun Deshpande, Mehul ingale) – Jalgaon