Overview
- ETPL co-owner Abhishek Bachchan publicly urged Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to join the league once they finish their India careers, calling for them to play there before any other competition.
- The inaugural ETPL tournament is slated for August with three city-based teams in Amsterdam, Edinburgh and Belfast, with franchise names yet to be announced.
- BCCI policy bars centrally contracted, active Indian players from competing in overseas leagues other than the IPL, so any ETPL move hinges on retirement status.
- Overseas leagues have long courted Indian names, with SA20 signing Dinesh Karthik and appointing Sourav Ganguly as a head coach, while the BBL showed interest in Ravichandran Ashwin before an injury kept him out.
- Kohli and Sharma are currently focused on the 2027 World Cup in South Africa, and given they would be 40 and 41 by then, reports suggest a post-tournament exit is plausible though not confirmed.