Perhaps never before in the history of Indian district-level cricket has a bid of Rs 1.35 lakh been made for a cricket player. Now, thanks to the initiative of the Pune District Cricket Association (PDCA), Aniruddha Oak has been sold to the Ambegaon Tigers for the said amount.

The city is set to host a T20 cricket tournament, the AMIT PDPL (Pune District Premier League), from November 13-20, at Deccan Gymkhana, Manchar and Baramati, on the lines of the IPL.

The PDCA, which was established in 1957, has been conducting over 800 matches every year, giving opportunities to Pune players to participate at the top level. More than 3,000 players compete in various tournaments organised by the PDCA — the prominent competitions being the Sadu Shinde League, Summer League, Bhandarkar-Lele Trophy, Kohinoor Karandak and Maharshi Karandak (inter-school), Damodar Karandak (inter-collegiate). These matches are held on more than ten grounds throughout the district.

The PDCA also owns an academy that caters to various age groups. The academy conducts several rural development programmes by organising inter taluka and interclub tournaments .

“The motive of the T20 league is not only to give due credit to the talent of players at the district and taluka levels, but also to give them good cricketing infrastructure and facilities which would help them to enjoy the game in its real sense,” said Ramesh Bondre, chairman, PDCA. “Our vision is to have five grounds in the next five years in rural Pune”, Bondre added.