Odisha Premier League 2012 Cancelled

Odisha Premier League 2012 Cancelled

The second edition of the Odisha Premier League (OPL) has been cancelled this year following lack of enthusiasm on part of the franchise owners. Secretary of the Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) Ashirbad Behera today said they were forced to cancel the cricket league since three franchisees had already pulled out and they had not found any takers for its proposal to invite new franchisees.

“We have decided not to host the OPL this time as three franchisees had opted out of the tournament following some problems in the first edition. We had extended the dates till April 30 for the remaining seven team owners to submit caution money towards franchise renewal and for interested individuals to apply for franchises but got no response,” said Behera.

Players, who featured in the tournament last year, expressed disappointment at the news of the tournament being cancelled. Ranji player Nataraj Behera, who had captained the champion team — Western Samurai (Rourkela) — in OPL-I, said: “Apart from the name, fame and money, the league had brought to the fore many talented cricketers such as Govind Poddar, Amit Das, Ranjit Singh and Subhit Biswal. They had caught the attention of state selectors. People had started recognising new players. I am deeply disappointed that OPL won’t be held this year.”