Bengal Pro T20 League

The Bengal Pro T20 League is a men's and women's Twenty20 cricket league that is annually held at the state of West Bengal in India and contested by eight city-based franchise teams. The league was formed in 2024 by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB). It is usually played during post summer season from June to August of every year.

The format was invented with the expectation that each match would last around three-and-a-half hours. The Viacom 18 showed Sports18 TV broadcasts of the competition, while all of the women's matches and some of the men's matches were available to stream for free on JioCinema.

Almost all matches take place as back-to-back double-headers at the same venue on the same day. The venue for Men's was the historic Eden Gardens and the women's played at the Jadvapur University Salt Lake Campus ground, which also hosts First Class Matches.

History
The inaugural season was held at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata in 2024, with eight franchises.

The league shall feature top players of the state (across IPL and international). Inspired by the success of India Premier League (IPL), the league will have world class production quality and broadcast. It is the grand exemplar of cricketainment thrilling experience for local fans and audiences. The major aim of this league is to unearth new talents from the state.

The first season of the league was initially planned to be held from 11 June to 28 June 2024.

In the league's first seasons, teams chose players using a draft system, having previously had the opportunity to sign a limited number of players directly.

The inaugural edition of the league reached a cumulative audience of 1 million through TV, digital-social media and traditional media.

Background
In 2024, the Bengal Pro T20 League was launched. The West Bengal franchise playing Indian Premier League (IPL), the league was aimed to make up for the absence of high-profile matches in Kolkata in the year and to expose talented players from districts. It was conceived by former BCCI president and then CAB president Sourav Ganguly.

Administration
The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) founded the league in 2024. The league is affiliated to the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI).

Tournament structure
Eight city-based teams compete in the League for both men and women. All men's and women's matches are held on the same day at two different grounds. In total there are 31 matches in the league stage of the tournament for each men and women.

The four team that finishes top of the league progresses to the Semi Finals. The winners of the Semi Finals progress into the final.

Teams
There are eight franchises competing in league. The franchises are named after a city it is representing in the state. Each team can have a maximum of 17 players that includes two outstation players.

Venues
Eden Gardens is used as the venue for the first few seasons until 2024 to host all the men's matches.

Broadcasting
In 2024, Viacom18 acquired the media rights and became the broadcast partner of the league. Viacom18 broadcasts the matches on Sports18 3 TV channel with Commentary in English, Bengali and Hindi and also streamed Live at their OTT platform, JioCinema. Both the men's and women's matches were also streamed live on Fancode in English.