Saudi Arabia is set to host its first franchise league later this year, with the ‘Dunes League T20’ due to launch in October. The league has been sanctioned by the Saudi Arabia Cricket Federation (SACF) and is expected to feature players who have recently retired from international cricket but remain active on the franchise circuit.

Saudi Arabia has been a major disruptor in the sporting world over the last five years as the oil-rich kingdom looks to diversify its economy, staging lucrative football, tennis and boxing events. The nation’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) also launched the breakaway LIV Golf tour, though has recently announced that it will withdraw funding at the end of this season.

There have been widespread rumours over the last three years that Saudi Arabia would disrupt cricket by launching a T20 league to rival the IPL, with further speculation last year about potential investment in a ‘Grand Slam-style’ circuit  of T20 leagues floated by the Australian Cricketers’ Association.

In practice, Arabia’s entry into the cricketing world has been gradual, via sponsorship deals with the ICC and staging the IPL auction in 2024. The SACF also partnered with the UAE’s ILT20 last year, and has signed a long-term agreement to stage the FairBreak Women’s T20 Challenge,  though the first edition has been postponed due to conflict in the Gulf region.

The six-team Dunes T20 League is planned to launch in October with matches played in Taif, near Jeddah. It has been developed in partnership with the Sports Asian Network and two talent agencies: Unique Sports Group, whose clients include Jofra Archer, and Prolithic, who manage Abhishek Sharma. Prolithic’s Yuvraj Singh will act as the league’s ambassador.

The SACF initially announced provisional plans for the league late last year and said that it was designed to put Saudi Arabia “on the global cricket map” and “develop Saudi talent”.

The league is expected to feature a maximum of four players who have played full-member international cricket in the last two years, thereby falling under the threshold that demands approval from the ICC. Top salaries could reach USD 100,000.

[Cricinfo]

After back-to-back ducks in his last two innings, Virat Kohli showed most emphatically that he had merely been out of runs and not out of form, scoring his ninth IPL hundred to lead Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to the top of the IPL 2026 table with a commanding win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Raipur.

Kohli’s unbeaten 60-ball 105 was a vintage effort in a run-chase – smooth, controlled, and full of both relentless sprinting between the wickets and gorgeous strokeplay, particularly at either end of his innings. That he never seemed stretched, however, was perhaps the story of the match – it may have been decided by the relative quality of the bowling attacks, particularly the seamers.

RCB’s bowlers did a superb job to keep KKR down to below 200 even though they only lost four wickets, and KKR’s inexperienced seam attack simply couldn’t match them for discipline and ability to extract misbehaviour from a slightly two-paced surface – with the caveat that it may have eased up a little during the second innings.

This was the first time RCB had fielded all three of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy and Josh Hazlewood – the legspinner Suyash Sharma made way. This suggested RCB expected conditions to play similarly to their previous game in Raipur, against Mumbai Indians, with seam movement and inconsistent bounce throughout.

When the match began – after a rain delay of an hour and a quarter – it became clear that this was a much better pitch to bat on, but there was still something in it for the seamers. Bhuvneshwar showed this with a cross-seamer that nipped away to nick off Finn Allen in the third over, and Hazlewood showed this by getting a short-of-length ball to rear at Ajinkya Rahane and have him caught and bowled off a miscued pull in the fifth over.

KKR still scored 56 in their powerplay, though, and 31 of those runs came in two overs from Duffy, who took the new ball ahead of Hazlewood, and didn’t do too much that was obviously wrong, but Allen, Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvansh were good enough to put away marginal errors in line and length.

A Special Coordination Committee meeting for the Badulla District was held on Wednesday (13)  afternoon  at the Badulla District Secretariat under the patronage of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to review the progress of measures taken to restore normalcy to the lives of people affected by the cyclone “Ditwah” and to develop infrastructure in the district.

As a result of the disaster situation, 90,667 individuals belonging to 26,517 families in the Badulla District were affected. A total of 77 estate houses and 507 rural houses suffered complete damage. In addition, 1,376 estate houses and 1,474 rural houses have been identified as high-risk dwellings. Accordingly, the total number of families that need to be resettled in the Badulla District is 3,434. During the meeting, the President inquired separately at divisional secretariat level about the resettlement process and the issues that had arisen.

Special attention was also given to the speedy release of state lands currently occupied by private companies, which have been proposed for resettlement purposes. The President instructed officials to commence housing construction work immediately after reaching agreement among the relevant institutions regarding the release of these lands.

The President further emphasized the need to expedite the resettlement process and stated that authorities should move beyond reports and plans and ensure that people who lost their homes gain confidence and hope in owning a new house.

The President also instructed that people who are hesitant about relocating to different lands should be given time until June 15 to make a decision.

The President separately reviewed the progress of compensation payments to affected people in the Badulla District, including compensation for loss of livelihoods, compensation for small and medium-scale business establishments, housing rental assistance and compensation for loss of life.

Attention was also drawn to the process of removing sand and rocks deposited on paddy fields and agricultural lands due to the disaster. It was decided to provide an allowance of Rs. 25,000 per acre for this purpose and to implement the programme with the support of farmer organizations.

Special focus was also given to the development of roads in the Badulla District damaged by the disaster. The President instructed that work on all 21 affected roads under the Road Development Authority be completed within this year.

The President also inquired about the programme being carried out for provincial road development and the required allocations and instructed officials to prepare and submit estimates for the necessary funding for all those roads.

The President further instructed officials not to consider financial constraints as an obstacle in restoring normal life for those affected by the disaster. President Dissanayake stated that the district should recover from the destruction caused by the cyclone within this year and be prepared to restart the Badulla District development programme from next year onward.

Also attending the meeting were Badulla District Coordination Committee Chairman and Minister of Plantation and Community Infrastructure, Samantha Vidyarathna; Co-Chairman and Uva Province Governor, Attorney-at-Law Kapila Jayasekara; Deputy Minister of Tourism, Ruwan Ranasinghe; Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs, Dinidu Saman Hennayake; Members of Parliament Kitnan Selvaraj and Ravindra Bandara; the Mayors of Badulla and Bandarawela Municipal Councils; Chairpersons of Local Councils; public representatives; the Chief Secretary of the Uva Province; the District Secretary; government officials of the Badulla District; Heads of relevant Departments; and representatives of the security forces.

(PMD)