Popular GT20 league spurred on by fans here to stay

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No stadium, no problem.

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The Global T20 League that has taken cricket fans in the Greater Toronto Area by storm has had to erect a temporary stadium on the grounds of the CAA Centre in Brampton from scratch every year since 2018.

Karan Singh, director of the GT20 League, admits it isn’t the ideal way to operate a league of this magnitude, but he will continue doing so until a new facility is built.

“We are here to stay,” Singh said, “with or without this facility.”

In an exclusive interview with the Toronto Sun in 2019, Brampton mayor Patrick Brown declared his city was on the verge of building a cricket facility as Brampton had established itself as the capital of the fastest-growing sport in Canada.

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But his promise fell by the wayside as he failed to garner the support of his council for such a project, although he says the GT20 League pours millions into the city’s economy.

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The league features six teams — Surrey Jaguars, Bangla Tigers Mississauga, Vancouver Knights, Montreal Tigers, Toronto Nationals and the Brampton Wolves — whose lineups are all stacked with a number of international stars from around the world, plus the majority of Canadian athletes who played in the recent World Twenty20 Cup.

Singh resides in India where he runs a tech company, but he spends four months of the year in Canada to run this league that attracts an audience of thousands on television.

The league has also signed up a number of top-flight sponsors and six team owners who are essentially the backbone of this competition. Among the leading sponsors are TD Bank, Nissan and Gatorade, who chip in between $500,000-$800,000 US, Singh said.

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The team owners also have deep pockets as it is their responsibility to entice the best players possible and also pay them.

Unlike the Indian Premier League and other white-ball leagues around the world, there is no bidding for players, instead the owners are provided with a list of some 3,000 players who have indicated their wish to play in Canada.

The players fall into different categories with the top salary scale for elite players is $120,000. The next group earns $100,000 and it drops down to $5,000 for three weeks of action.

The top Canadians earn around $40,000 and that is a huge bonus as their contract with Canada Cricket only earns them roughly $30,000 a season.

The cost of setting up the stadium with temporary stands that can sit some 5,000 fans and hiring some 100 locals comes up to $4.5 million per season, Singh added.

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Among the top-tiered players here include opening batsman David Warner of Australia and spin-ace Sunil Narine of the West Indies, who both earn in excess of $1 million to play in the IPL.

Other big names include Pakistan’s Mohammad Amir and Ifthikar Ahmed, Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Naveen-ul-Haq and Hazratullah Zazai. Also here is Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh, considered one of the world’s top all-rounders and captains Bangla Tigers.

War-torn Afghanistan created a stir in the recent T20 World Cup by reaching the semifinals and the cream of its lineup have been signed up.

Initially, GT20 had inked Pakistan’s top three fan favourites — Shaheen Shah Afridi, captain Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan — but they were denied no-objection certificates by Cricket Pakistan. The parent body said the reason was because of the heavy workload the three would encounter in the next few months.

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Singh added it was a shame the three couldn’t make it as they would draw in even more fans, but they were replaced by high-quality stars — Australia’s Test opener Usman Khawaja and fast bowler Jason Behrendorf, as well Reeza Henricks, opening batsman for South Africa.

The local players who starred in the T20 World Cup have been distributed among the six teams and already creating waves is Canada captain Saad Bin Zafar, who has made his mark with Toronto Nationals with his spin bowling.

Others who have excelled in the early part of this tournament that ends on Aug. 11 include Kaleem Sana of Montreal Tigers, Junaid Siddique of Surrey Jaguars as well as Pargat Singh and Dilon Heyliger of Bangla Tigers.

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Meanwhile, the Major Cricket League, the six-team professional T20 competition in the U.S., had another successful season with two Aussie stars piloting Washington Freedom to the title in a one-sided final over San Francisco Unicorns at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas.

Former Australian captain Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell were in super form with the bat as Washington posted an imposing 208 and then dismissing San Francisco for a paltry 111.

Smith smashed 88 and Maxwell added a quick 40 with another Australian Pat Cummins starring for San Francisco with two for 35.

When San Francisco went in to bat, it was rocked by South African paceman Marco Jansen, who grabbed three for 28.

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