Media Release
Dubai, Jan 9: Mangalore Cricket Club (MCC) kick-started its inaugural edition of Mangalore Cricket League Season 1 by organizing the opening ceremony along with a team jersey launch in Dubai on January 4.
MCL Season-1, a three-month event, is slated to begin from Friday January 10 onwards at Zohra ground, Ajman.
Sayyed Faisal of Auto Deal Automotive Services, who is the official sponsor of Mangalore Cricket Club welcomed the chief guests Fayaz, head coach of MS Dhoni Academy, Azmat, owner of Sahara Building Material and Jigar Bhaysar, Medcytes Smartsonix. MCC support sponsors, Unicorn (venue partners), franchise owners and captains of the participating teams also adorned the occasion.
Pradeep Hegde welcomed and thanked the guests, sponsors and well-wishers for their support in organizing this league and wished luck to all the teams. Satish Shetty presented the gathering with a few words on MCC Club activities since its formation nine years ago for keeping up with its vision of providing a platform for deserving players in grade-level Cricket in UAE. Mithun from Unicorn (venue partner) officially launched the jersey of all the eight participating teams along with the names of their 15-member squad.
Players from Karnataka who are residing in UAE are participating in this tournament. MCL will play a T20 format. MCL consists of eight teams. Each team will play seven League matches. After the league stage, the top four teams will qualify for the playoffs. The top two teams from the league phase will play against each other in the first qualifying match, with the winner going straight to the MCL final and the loser getting another chance to qualify for the MCL final by playing the second qualifying match. Meanwhile, the third and fourth place teams from league phase play against each other in an eliminator match and the winner from that match will play the loser from the first qualifying match. The winner of the second qualifying match will move onto the final to play the winner of the first qualifying match in the MCL final match, where the winner will be crowned the Mangalore Cricket League champions.
Teams participating in MCL Season-1
1. Abhi's Karkala Gladiators
2. Autozone Prince X1
3. Sahara Cricket Club
4. Udupi Cricket Club
5. V R Willows
6. Auto Deal MCC
7. Blenders Cricket Club
8. Anib XI On Top
The occasion was graced by the presence of the below guests who are also the official sponsors for this event.
Chief guests
• Azmat, Sahara Building Material Trading LLC
• Jigar Bhavsar, Medcytes Smartsonix
• Raj, J7 Sports Equipment
• Jethesh Aranha, founder member of MCC
• Fayaz, head coach MS Dhoni Cricket Academy
MCL League sponsors and supporters
- Auto Deal
- MS Dhoni Cricket Academy
- Armaf
- Baig Engineering
- SBM Contracting LLC
- Arbah Hamra Decoration
- Sahara Building Material Trading LLC
- Naeem Pharmacy LLC
- J7 Sports Equipment
- Mangalore Chef
MCL chief guests offered their guidance and wished good luck to all the teams. MCC thanked everyone for their support and generosity in their build-up to the launch of MCL and wished everyone a fair and spirited league.