ETPL: R Ashwin becomes the captain of Rahul Dravid’s team, will play double responsibility

By Samira Vishwas On Jul 3, 2026

Former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin will now be seen taking up new responsibilities in the first season of the European T20 Premier League. Ashwin was made the captain and mentor of Dublin Guardians. He will not only lead the team in this league but will also benefit the young players with his experience.

39-year-old Ashwin had announced his retirement from league cricket after IPL 2025. Currently, he is playing for San Francisco Unicorns in the ongoing Major League Cricket 2026 in America. Now his eyes will be on making his mark in the new T20 league of Europe.

Ashwin will captain in the European League
The special thing about Dublin Guardians is that the owner of this franchise is former Indian captain and T20 World Cup winning coach Rahul Dravid. In such a situation, the pair of Dravid and Ashwin is getting a lot of discussion in this new league.

6 teams will participate in European T20 League
The European T20 Premier League is being organized in partnership with Cricket Ireland, Cricket Scotland and the Royal Dutch Cricket Association. This will be Europe’s first ICC-recognized multi-country franchise T20 league. 6 teams from Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Rotterdam and Amsterdam will participate in it. The tournament will be played from 26 August to 20 September in Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands.

Many big international stars will also be seen playing in the league. Faf du Plessis will captain Rotterdam Dockers. Along with him, Heinrich Klaasen, Donovan Ferreira and Enrique Norkhia will also be part of this team. Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith and Tim David will play for Amsterdam Flames, while in-form Mitchell Owen will represent Rotterdam.

New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner and Trent Boult will play together for Edinburgh Castle Rockers. Santner will also be the captain of the team. Whereas Finn Allen will field on behalf of Glasgow Cosmic. Michael Bracewell will play for Amsterdam, while former Australian all-rounder Moises Henriques will be part of the Glasgow squad as a European local player for the Portugal side.

Ireland’s fast bowler Jai Mundra was the most talked about name in the draft. He was selected by Rotterdam in the first round. Recently, against India in Belfast, he caught everyone’s attention by taking wickets of batsmen like Sanju Samson, Shivam Dubey and Abhishek Sharma. Apart from this, Curtis Campher, Matthew Humphries, Gareth Delaney and Brad Curry were also the major selections of the draft. This mix of experienced stars and emerging players in the new league will try to give a new identity to European cricket.