Former India captain and T20 World Cup-winning coach Rahul Dravid has been announced as the owner of Dublin Guardians, one of the European T20 Premier League (ETPL) sides that will compete in the six-team league, ahead of the 2026 launch in August.
The league, launched in partnership with Cricket Ireland, Cricket Scotland and the Royal Dutch Cricket Association, features teams from Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. It is also Europe's first ICC-sanctioned multi-country franchise T20 league.
"What attracted me to ETPL was the larger vision behind it, the opportunity to help grow cricket in Europe by strengthening grassroots development and creating pathways for emerging talent across Ireland and Europe," Dravid said in a statement. "Dublin already has a passionate cricketing community and enormous potential for growth. Nurturing the next generation has always been important to me, and I believe ETPL can play a meaningful role in that journey."
The league, co-owned by Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan, features franchises owned by several former and current international cricketers: Glenn Maxwell (co-owner of Irish Wolves), Steve Waugh (co-owner of Amsterdam Flames), Nathan McCullum and Kyle Mills (owners of Edinburgh Castle Rockers), Chris Gayle (co-owner of Glasgow Cosmic) and Jonty Rhodes, Faf du Plessis and Heinrich Klaasen (owners of Rotterdam Dockers). Du Plessis and Maxwell will also play in the league, alongside the likes of Steven Smith, Mitchell Marsh, Tim David, Mitchell Santner and Liam Livingstone.
"I know some of the names...some absolutely great players," Dravid was quoted as saying. "A great opportunity for them to be able to play with so many of the local Irish, Scottish, Dutch and European players. I think that in itself should be a really exciting opportunity."
Dravid said growing the sport in the region would depend as much on building a strong fan culture and match-day experience as on the quality of cricket itself. "At the grassroots level, it's about creating that awareness for the fans, it's about getting people on the ground, it's about giving them a great experience," he said. "When they come to the cricket, the quality has got to be of a high standard but the experience of everything else at that venue has to be top-notch. Because we are competing with some very, very established sports."