GEORGETOWN: Franchises from cricket’s five leading nations will be fighting it out for a $1 million prize money when a new T20 league kicks off in Guyana next month in further proof of the format’s growing popularity.

Three-time Vitality Blast champions Hampshire Hawks are among the five teams competing in the Global Super League (GSL) to be played between Nov 26 and Dec 6 in Providence, organisers said on Wednesday.

Caribbean Premier League side Guyana Amazon Warriors, Rangpur Riders of Bangladesh, Victoria in Australia, and Pakistan Super League team Lahore Qalandars are the other sides in the tournament.

“We are looking forward to welcoming the teams to our beautiful country where we are sure the action on the field will be fantastic,” GSL chairman and former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd said in a statement.

“These are five well known cricketing entities and we know that their fans from around the world will be tuning in to see them compete for the inaugural GSL title.”

The cash-awash Indian Premier League continues to dominate the T20 landscape, partly helped by the Indian board’s policy of not allowing their male cricketers to play in any other league.

The emergence of lucrative T20 leagues in South Africa and the United Arab Emirates has made it a fiercely competitive market in which GSL will need to attract top talents to gain a toehold.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2024