Tendulkar-backed ISPL to launch Middle East edition

Sachin Tendulkar-backed Indian Street Premier League (ISPL), a franchise-based T10 cricket league, is all set to launch in the Middle East, the league's commissioner, Suraj Samat said.

The ISPL Middle East will have six teams from Doha, Jeddah, Muscat, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain, and is slated to take place in November. Three of the six team owners have been onboarded including Akshay Kumar (Abu Dhabi), Amitabh Bachchan (Jeddah) and Tamil actor Suriya (Doha). The majority owners, however, are corporate entities.

The ISPL is a 10-over-a-team tennis ball cricket which was launched last year. It has six teams with each backed by a celebrity and a businessman.


The first edition of the tournament kicked off on March 6 with the grand finale scheduled for March 15.

Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar, a strategic investor in ISPL, said the league is a boon for amateur cricketers at the grassroots level. "We are doing our best to take ISPL to every corner of our country and beyond," he told ET.