The fourth edition of Uttar Pradesh T20 League (UPT20) will witness performances by Dhurandhar-fame singer Jasmine Sandlas and Rishab Rikhiram Sharma during the opening ceremony at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Cricket Stadium on August 14.
Besides, a theme-based drone show and dazzling fireworks will also be the highlight of the opening ceremony that will be hosted by Jatin Sapru. The opening match will be played between last year’s winners Kashi Rudras and runners-up Meerut Mavericks.
Terming it a UP Ka Utsav, UPT20 League Governing Council chairman Sanjay Kapoor tells HT City, “We are doing an opening concert which will have a storyline before the inaugural match with international artist-musician Rishab and music sensation Jasmine. This time we have 22 matches in Lucknow and 12 matches in Kanpur as we want it to reach more people, hopefully we will add Varanasi next year.”
All star UP players, excluding the ones playing for Team India during these days, will be playing in the league that will have finals in Kanpur on September 6.
“We are curating a UP and cricket-based drone theme which will have other interesting elements too. To involve more people and make it affordable, Awanish Awasthi who is advisor to the chief minister, has introduced inaugural tickets priced at just ₹349 and 499. We have picked up four themes – concert, cricket, celebration and food and in the coming days we will reveal everything,” he adds.
The league is next gearing up for the auctions to be held in Agra on July 24 with actor Angad Bedi as auctioneer.
During his address Awasthi suggested that on the lines of UPT20 a women’s edition must be launched soon which should have at least four teams to start with. Kapoor assured that the governing council will surely work on the suggestion made by the chief guest. He added before the final match, a theme-based cultural evening will also be hosted in Kanpur.
Six teams:
Gorakhpur Lions Squad, Kanpur Superstars, Kashi Rudras, Noida Super Kings, Lucknow Falcons, Meerut Mavericks
Star players:
Rinku Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Dhruv Jurel, Piyush Chawla, Mohsin Khan, Sameer Rizvi, Swastik Chikara, Karan Sharma, Yash Dayal, Shivam Mani, Akash Singh, Priyam Garg, Zeeshan Ansari
