With Hayden, Mott And Aaron In Tow, ​Glasgow Cosmic's Co-funder Takes The ETPL Plunge

With Hayden, Mott and Aaron in tow, ​Glasgow Cosmics co-funder takes the ETPL plunge (Image Source: IANS)

European T20 Premier League: Glasgow Cosmic co-owner Vipul Agrawal said he aims to build a sustainable development pipeline for Scottish cricket through his European T20 Premier League (ETPL) franchise, as the inaugural season of the competition starts on August 26.

For Agrawal, Chairman of the Mugafi Group, entering European cricket is rooted in his early experiences following the sport in India as a fan, ranging from the 2001 epic Test win over Australia in Kolkata to the 2011 Men’s ODI World Cup triumph on home soil, and admiring Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, and Rahul Dravid, who is also the co-owner of the Dublin Guardians franchise.

"Basically, I've been into cricket for a fairly long time. One of my first startups, back in 2014-15, was in cricket, and I've been aware of the ecosystem. I have had a deep love for cricket and the sport itself while growing up. We have all watched a lot of players come, play for India, and be a great inspiration.

“I always wanted to find and merge my love for the sport into something which I can do on a day-to-day basis. I think that's been a larger reason when the opportunity came to me. I just jumped on it and tried my best to take it over," Agrawal told IANS in an exclusive conversation.

To instil that same winning mentality and structural rigour within the Glasgow Cosmic franchise, Agrawal has assembled a high-profile leadership setup, bringing in legendary Australian batter Matthew Hayden as the co-owner-cum-head coach, as well as Matthew Mott and Varun Aaron as assistant coach and bowling coach, respectively.

"Like me, it also came as an opportunity for all of them. They have been great warriors in cricket, I would say, and have been carrying this for their own countries, like Varun did it for India, the impact he had, or Matthew, he was back in Australia, the impact he had. Not just from batting or being on the ground, but also being a coach for multiple teams, franchises globally.

"I found it's the perfect time for him (Hayden) to have a role where he owns it and builds it from scratch. When we reached out, he was much more excited than we thought he would be. So, I think having him as a co-owner is a great source of pride for us. It puts us in a very good spot where we don't just have a coach who is gonna lead the team to great heights, but who is also gonna think of this like a family who knows that it belongs to him.

“For him, everything matters, like on-ground and off-ground things. Around him, having such a great coaching squad, from Matthew Mott to Varun Aaron, I think we can't be more proud of ourselves to have all of them together with us."

As the squad intensifies its preparations ahead of its opening fixture, Agrawal acknowledged the relentless nature of competitive cricket. "Have you ever been ready for a cricket match? I think there's always something that you think you can improve, and that's about sports, right?

"I think till the time the first ball is bowled, there's always one thing that we need to improve. So, like, you can't ever be ready at the same time. You always have to act as a team so that you can play the first match now.

“Like, we're as ready as we can go out and play the match today. But since we know it's the 27th, we're gonna play the first match. So there's always something else that we keep on improving, and we'll try to give our best on the field when we are there."

Beyond the immediate pressures of the upcoming ETPL season, Agrawal’s core thesis centres on structural sustainability. He views franchise cricket not merely as entertainment, but as an essential nursery for Scottish and European talent to gain exposure at the highest level.

"I think that's the whole agenda of having franchise cricket, right? Why else are you doing it? Unless you have a local talent who can look up to you, who can find one more opportunity to be a part of the journey and maybe make it to the national team tomorrow.

“So I think the very important thing for us is not just to have these international players, but how these international players can pass on the experience to the players at the local grassroots level who are going to and are already playing for the country and who can make a large impact."

Highlighting the current integration of local players, Agrawal pointed out that Glasgow Cosmic already serves as a vital platform for members of the Scotland national team. "Like, starting from Scotland, we want to see that, like today, if you see, like, I think four to five of our players in our squad play in the Scotland cricket main team. Now, from there, having more and more such players who are going out and playing for the national team becomes more important for us.

“The kind of way these people are gonna perform and the kind of ways the new talent is gonna come and grow will define how Europe is gonna look at cricket as a sport for the next decade, and we are fairly excited to have that. Like, we already know that Europe and the UK are big sports-friendly countries, right? Where they support the game like anything."

In Agrawal’s view, Europe possesses an untapped reservoir of sports fanaticism that rivals traditional cricket strongholds and requires only the right spark to propel cricket into the mainstream consciousness.

"After India, if you see the kind of passion, I think that's in European countries, where the passion is mad. The only thing we have to do is, among that passion, we have to make a space for cricket. Like going back to Scotland, this sport is anyway 200 years old, being played long back in the country.

"I keep saying this - the only thing that we need is that one shining light where the team performs so amazingly well that the entire next generation becomes much more inspired to be a part of the journey in the coming decades and going upwards, and that's what you want to do through the team that we own.

“Like teach people, inspire people, train as much grassroots talent as possible and eventually see Scotland, you know, reaching the highest stage at the national level or even in the World Cup."

With the ICC Men's T20 World Cup scheduled to be co-hosted in the region in 2030, Agrawal believes the next five years represent a defining operational window for the franchise and the region.

"It's a very big executional challenge. I think as an entrepreneur, that's what excites me most about this - how the next five years are gonna look, and the interesting part for us is that the 2030 World Cup is gonna happen in the same soil. We would love to have the highest impact in that World Cup for a Scotland team, and for a Glasgow team that can deliver the next set of players to the team itself."

With the ICC Men's T20 World Cup scheduled to be co-hosted in the region in 2030, Agrawal believes the next five years represent a defining operational window for the franchise and the region.

"So that's the most important, like the every match we're gonna play, the most important piece of us is to like play the most competitive cricket possible and lifting a trophy is must like we want to and we have to, and that's how we're gonna enlighten a lot of the people locally and bring their supports, not just in this season, but the seasons going forward," he concluded.

Article Source: IANS