Kerala Veterans Premier League to be played in UAE

The UAE is set to stage the fifth edition of the Kerala Veterans Premier League, under the Dubai Cricket Council (DCC), on February 10-11 at the Dubai Sevens ground. This league will include former Kerala state players not only living in Kerala but also in the UAE and in different parts of the world.

The initiative is a brainchild of the Veterans and Cricketers Association of Kerala (VCAK) which was founded in 1995 and affiliated to the Board of Veterans Cricket in India. Jayesh George, the secretary of the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA), along with Sunil Kumar, secretary of VCAK and former Kerala wicketkeeper Ranjit Thomas, visited the Dubai Seven Ground for pre-tournament arrangements and held a discussion with Shiva Pagarani of DCC.

Kerala Overseas Cricketers comprising of former Kerala cricketers working in the UAE are responsible for VCAK to stage this year’s edition in Dubai supported by KCA. The UAE edition will be titled as St Mary’s VPL Dubai as St Mary’s Group of Schools based at Thiruvalla, in Kerala are the title sponsors.

For the last four years, VCAK included six teams — Malabar Warriors, JK Malabar Tigers, Kochi Royals, Kochi Muthoot Tuskers, Absolute Sobers and Travancore Panthers. They were formed through an auction similar to Indian Premier League. Last year the event was conducted at the picturesque Krishnagiri Stadium in Wayanad. The first champions of this league were Kochi Muthoot Tuskers followed by Travancore Panthers in the second edition and JK Malabar Tigers in the third. Absolute Sobers are the defending champions.

VCAK has over 200 members comprising national and international cricketers, celebrities and sports administrators. The VPL promo has renowned Malayalam film actor Mohanlal, who had played cricket alongside some of the veterans during his college days, wishing the event all success, as reported by Gulf News.

VCAK had once become winners of the South Zone veterans cricket tournament held in Chennai defeating teams like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Hyderabad. They also went on to become the runners-up in the All India Championship held at Ghaziabad where they were upset by a star-studded-Delhi by a narrow margin, after beating fancied teams like Gujarat and Rajasthan.