{"id":444212,"date":"2026-05-12T01:46:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T01:46:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/444212\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T01:46:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T01:46:28","slug":"ex-india-captain-rahul-dravid-unveiled-as-the-owner-of-new-dublin-t20-franchise-in-european-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/444212\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-India captain Rahul Dravid unveiled as the owner of new Dublin T20 franchise in European competition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Rahul Dravid was Rajasthan Royals head coach in the Indian Premier League\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ab0ef1cc-53f6-4630-af61-af252e3f5386.jpg\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"100%\" data-testid=\"article-image\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_caption1 indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_secondary indo-66f0fec7_regular indo-1d70522a_marginbottom0 indo-1d70522a_marginleft0 indo-1d70522a_marginright0 indo-1d70522a_margintop3 indo-b48c4984_left\" style=\"color:var(--color-grey-60)\">Rahul Dravid was Rajasthan Royals head coach in the Indian Premier League<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Dhiraj Malhotra and Abhishek Bachchan, co-founders ETPL, . Sarah Keane, CEO of Cricket Ireland, Brian MacNeice, Chair of Cricket Ireland, Rahul Dravid, owner of Dublin Guardians, Ajit Ravindran from Dublin Guardians and Priyanka Kaul and Saurav Banerjee, co-founders ETPL in Dublin\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/94b494c6-acd0-47d3-8121-d567796378c7.jpg\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"100%\" data-testid=\"article-image\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_caption1 indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_secondary indo-66f0fec7_regular indo-1d70522a_marginbottom0 indo-1d70522a_marginleft0 indo-1d70522a_marginright0 indo-1d70522a_margintop3 indo-b48c4984_left\" style=\"color:var(--color-grey-60)\">Dhiraj Malhotra and Abhishek Bachchan, co-founders ETPL, . Sarah Keane, CEO of Cricket Ireland, Brian MacNeice, Chair of Cricket Ireland, Rahul Dravid, owner of Dublin Guardians, Ajit Ravindran from Dublin Guardians and Priyanka Kaul and Saurav Banerjee, co-founders ETPL in Dublin<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"thumbnail: Rahul Dravid was Rajasthan Royals head coach in the Indian Premier League\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778550387_496_ab0ef1cc-53f6-4630-af61-af252e3f5386.jpg\" height=\"40px\" width=\"auto\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"thumbnail: Dhiraj Malhotra and Abhishek Bachchan, co-founders ETPL, . Sarah Keane, CEO of Cricket Ireland, Brian MacNeice, Chair of Cricket Ireland, Rahul Dravid, owner of Dublin Guardians, Ajit Ravindran from Dublin Guardians and Priyanka Kaul and Saurav Banerjee, co-founders ETPL in Dublin\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778550387_648_94b494c6-acd0-47d3-8121-d567796378c7.jpg\" height=\"40px\" width=\"auto\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom0 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">The European T20 Premier League (ETPL) today announced that Indian cricket icon Rahul Dravid is the owner of the Dublin Guardians, completing the league\u2019s six-team franchise structure ahead of its 2026 launch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">ETPL will feature six franchises \u2013 in Glasgow, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Dublin, Belfast and Rotterdam \u2013 competing in what is set to be a landmark tournament for cricket in Europe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Dravid was officially unveiled as owner of the Dublin franchise in an event ahead of the league\u2019s 2026 launch. The event brought together franchise owners from across the league, including Vipul Aggarwal from the Glasgow side, Jonty Rhodes and Madhukar Shree of the Rotterdam team and ETPL co-founders Abhishek Bachchan, Saurav Banerjee, Priyanka Kaul and Dhiraj Malhotra.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Dhiraj Malhotra and Abhishek Bachchan, co-founders ETPL, . Sarah Keane, CEO of Cricket Ireland, Brian MacNeice, Chair of Cricket Ireland, Rahul Dravid, owner of Dublin Guardians, Ajit Ravindran from Dublin Guardians and Priyanka Kaul and Saurav Banerjee, co-founders ETPL in Dublin\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778550388_362_94b494c6-acd0-47d3-8121-d567796378c7.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" data-testid=\"article-image\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_caption1 indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_secondary indo-66f0fec7_regular indo-1d70522a_marginbottom0 indo-1d70522a_marginleft0 indo-1d70522a_marginright0 indo-1d70522a_margintop3 indo-b48c4984_left\" style=\"color:var(--color-grey-60)\">Dhiraj Malhotra and Abhishek Bachchan, co-founders ETPL, . Sarah Keane, CEO of Cricket Ireland, Brian MacNeice, Chair of Cricket Ireland, Rahul Dravid, owner of Dublin Guardians, Ajit Ravindran from Dublin Guardians and Priyanka Kaul and Saurav Banerjee, co-founders ETPL in Dublin<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">\u201cWhat attracted me to ETPL was the larger vision behind it,\u201d said Dravid, the former India captain and T20 World Cup-winning coach. \u201cThe opportunity to help grow cricket in Europe by strengthening grassroots development and creating pathways for emerging talent across Ireland and Europe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">\u201cDublin 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Chair of Cricket Ireland Brian MacNeice added: \u201cThis is a landmark moment for cricket in Ireland and for the wider European cricket ecosystem. ETPL has the potential to significantly elevate the visibility of cricket, participation growth and quality of cricket playing opportunities for our players across the region while strengthening pathways for future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Dravid said, \u201cWhat 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. 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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">The league is expected to feature international stars including Mitchell Marsh, Tim David, Mitchell Santner, Liam Livingstone, Glenn Maxwell, Faf du Plessis, Heinrich Klaasen, among others, creating a unique opportunity for emerging players from Europe and other associate nations to compete and share the dressing room with some of the biggest names in world cricket.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rahul Dravid was Rajasthan Royals head coach in the Indian Premier League Dhiraj Malhotra and Abhishek Bachchan, co-founders&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,898,112],"class_list":["post-444212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news-ticker","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}