Gudiyattam comes up with its own cricket league

VELLORE: Gudiyattam, a small town situated 35 kilometres away from Vellore, has set up its own franchise-based tournament titled the Gudiyattam Cricket Premier League.

The player auction for the inaugural edition of the local competition, in which 12 teams will compete, was held at a private marriage hall in the town on Saturday. A total of 315 players went under the hammer, with the winning bid chosen based on points and not cash. The brainchild of Gudiyattam councillor D Kamalraj, the tournament will be hosted from August 15 with matches on weekends and go on for three months.

When asked why he came up with the unique idea, Kamalraj, founder and chairman of the league, told DT Next: “We felt that something needed to be done for local youth. They should not be deprived of participating in tournaments like these just because they are not from the cities or districts. We hope that they now have a platform to showcase their talent.”

Talking about the auction, Kamalraj said: “Each team had selected four players ahead of the auction. Each of the 12 teams picked up 11 players during the auction, so 132 players were successfully sold. The rest of them went unsold.” The players who were sold for the most points were Vijayakanth (5,100 points – Master Blasters), Silambarasan (4,600 points – Super Strikers) and B Ganesh (4,100 points – Run Machines).

The teams that will vie for honours in Season 1 are Blasters, Strikers, Machines, Perfect Fighters, All Rounders, Sixer Squad, Boundary Blasters, Power Hitters, Yorker Kings, Cricket Commanders, Ball Breakers and Game Changers.