DUBLIN: Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar and his Pakistani counterpart Wasim Akram backed the newly-floated Euro T20 Slam, which will give good exposure to players from Scotland, Ireland and Holland as they play alongside top international stars.
The inaugural edition of Euro T20 Slam will have six teams, two each from Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands.
The tournament, which is scheduled from August 30 to September 22, will feature Dublin & Belfast from Ireland, Edinburgh & Glasgow from Scotland and Amsterdam and Rotterdam from the Netherlands.
However, the matches will only be played in three cities- Dublin, Edinburgh and Amsterdam.
The league comprises 33 matches across three countries that includes semi-finals and a final. Each team will play in the round-robin format.
As per the tournament rules, each city will have nine domestic players and up to seven overseas players in their squads.
The rules will also have the mandate to play six domestic players in the playing 11 in every match.
"It is a great opportunity for players from these three countries. The best part of the league is that each team will have six local players in the playing XI.
"Imagine the kind of exposure they get playing alongside with likes of Chris Gayle or Andre Russell. Their game is bound to improve by leaps and bounds," Akram said.
Vengsarkar echoed the same sentiment saying, "if they can pick brains of the T20 stalwarts, it will help them when they next play for their countries.
"The aim is to promote talent in these three countries and Euro T20 Slam is a very good platform for these youngsters.
"Cricket boards of Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands have finalised the cities after due diligence. We are in talks with a number of sponsors across the world and we will announce the franchise names after discussing with the committee members and confirmed sponsors," Gurmeet Singh, the promoter of the league, said.