Indian cricket legend Rahul Dravid has stepped into franchise ownership as the co-owner of Dublin Guardians, joining forces with Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan to usher in a new era for the European T20 Premier League side.
The ETPB has completed the six-team franchise on an event where all six franchise owners across the tournament.
“What attracted me to ETPL was the larger vision behind it, the opportunity to help grow cricket in Europe by strengthening grassroots development and creating pathways for emerging talent across Ireland and Europe,” Dravid said in a release.
Former Indian All-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin will be captaining, who will complete against Teams like Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Rotterdam and Amsterdam.
“What attracted me to ETPL was the larger vision behind it.” – Rahul Dravid
From grassroots development to creating pathways for emerging talent, Dravid shares why the journey with the Dublin Guardians means more than just cricket. ✨ pic.twitter.com/xrJrt1lKtm
— European T20 Premier League (ETPL) (@etplofficial) May 11, 2026
“Dublin already has a passionate cricketing community and enormous potential for growth. Nurturing the next generation has always been important to me, and I believe ETPL can play a meaningful role in that journey.”
The event was attended by Vipul Aggarwal of Glasgow franchise and Jonty Rhodes and Madhukar Shree of Rotterdam Franchise, alongside ETPL co-founders Abhishek Bachchan, Saurav Banerjee, Priyanka Kaul and Dhiraj Malhotra.
Several leaders like Brain MacNeice, chair of Cricket Ireland, Sarah Keane, CEO of Cricket Irealnd, Roland Lefebvre, Director of High Performance of Cricket Netherlands, and Trudy Lindblade, CEO of Cricket Scotland were present.
“The expectation, I believe, should be one, to have a world-class cricketing tournament in Europe. And I’m very happy to note that with the kind of people that have already been signed on terms of players, I think that promise hope fully should come true.”
“When you have some of the best cricketing talent that’s going to come and play, I think it kind of speaks a lot about the kind of intention that we have of what we’re trying to achieve,” he added.
The Inaugural ETPL season will feature 33 matches across six city-based franchises representing Glasgow, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Dublin, Belfast and Rotterdam.
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