Dhangadi Cricket Academy (DCA) on Sunday struck Rs 1 million sponsorship deal with Sagarmatha Cement for the Dhangadi Cricket League (DCL) 3.

Chairman of the DCA Subhash Shahi and Director of the Ghorahi Cement Industries Aditya Sanghai signed the memorandum of understanding in Kathmandu on Sunday. As per the agreement, the event will be named as Sagarmatha Cement DCL 3. The DCL 3 is following the model of Indian Premier League this year, forming five privately-owned franchises. The twenty20 event is scheduled for March 5-26 in Dhangadi.

The five teams—Santoshi, Hasanpur, Chauraha, Attariya and Campus Road—are owned by the local entrepreneurs and were formed through auction from a pool of around 100 local and national players. The U-19 skipper Raju Rijal was the highest paid cricketer as Santoshi snapped up the wicket-keeper batsman for 40,000 during the December auction. Likewise, Binod Bhandari was picked up by Attaria for Rs 36,000, the same amount Campus Road paid for a local cricketer Lalit Singh Bhandari. The other star players to feature in the DCL 3 include national team allrounder Mehboob Alam, Naresh Budhayer, Dipendra Singh Airee and Chandra Sawad.

Each team will play the other twice and the top four sides will make it to the playoff. The top two teams in playoff will fight it out for a direct qualification to the final. The losing team will have yet another shot at for qualification to the final as they play against the winners of the match between the third and fourth-place teams in playoff. The eventual champions will walk away with Rs 3,00,000, while the runners-up will earn Rs 1,50,000. Man-of-the-match in each of the 24 games will get Rs 5,000.

“DCL 3 is nothing new to those who follow cricket. This tournament only shows that if there is will, there is a way,” said DCA Chairman Shahi. “We never thought we would give this event such a big lift but our initiative was appreciated all around. The sponsors faith in us shows we are doing some exemplary work.”

National team skipper Paras Khadka praised Shahi and the DCA for their earnest efforts. “He (Shahi) is setting an example (with his efforts),” said Khadka. “If only we had people like him in every region, cricketers would have the opportunity to engage themselves regularly in the game. We need people like him in CAN (Cricket Association of Nepal).” Ghorahi Cement Director Sanghai said: “We are pleased to be associated with the DCL and we will keep promoting the event.”