The Bengal Pro T20 League also known as Bengal Pro T20 or BPLT20, is a men's and women's professional

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

league in

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It is organised by the

Cricket Association of Bengal The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) is the governing body for cricket in the Indian state of West Bengal. It owns the Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata, where its headquarters are located. CAB is a full member of the Board of Control for Cr ...

(CAB) and contested by eight district-based franchise teams. 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 Viacom18 Media Private Limited is an independent Indian media conglomerate, part of JioStar. It is owned by Reliance Industries and Bodhi Tree Systems. The Organisation had various channels and content production studios in India. Following th ...

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 JioCinema was an Indian subscription video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Viacom18. The service was merged with Disney+ Hotstar on 14 February 2025, to form JioHotstar. In April 2022, the service was brought under Relianc ...

. 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 Eden Gardens is an international cricket stadium in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. Established in 1864, it is the oldest and second-largest cricket stadium in India and third-largest in the world. The stadium currently has a capacity of 68,000. ...

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

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

in 2024, with eight franchises. The league will 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. 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. The inaugural edition of the league reached a cumulative audience of 150 Million plus 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 Sourav Chandidas Ganguly (; natively spelled as Gangopadhyay; born 8 July 1972), also known as Dada (meaning ''"elder brother"'' in Bengali language, Bengali), is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer. He is popularly called the ...

Administration

The

(CAB) founded the league in 2024. The league is affiliated to the

Board of Cricket Control in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the principal national governing body of the sport of cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at the Cricket Centre in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. BCCI is the wealthiest governing body ...

(BCCI).

Tournament structure

In total there are 34 matches in the league stage of the tournament for each men and women. The four teams that finish top of the league progress to the semi-finals. The winners progress into the final.

Teams

There are eight franchises competing in the 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 to host all the men's matches. Jadavpur University Campus Ground is used to host all the women's matches.

Tournament seasons and results

Men's finals

Women's finals

Broadcasting

In 2024,

Viacom18 Viacom18 Media Private Limited is an independent Indian media conglomerate, part of JioStar. It is owned by Reliance Industries and Bodhi Tree Systems. The Organisation had various channels and content production studios in India. Following ...

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,

. Both the men's and women's matches were also streamed live on Fancode in English.

Team's performance

Men's

Women's

*Teams are listed alphabetically by year of entry into the league * C: champions * RU: runner-up * 3rd: third place or semi-finalist * 4th: fourth place or semi-finalist * SF/PO: team qualified for the semi-final or playoff stage of the competition

References

External links

* {{Sports leagues of India Regional cricket leagues in India Sports leagues established in 2024 Cricket in West Bengal