Queen’s Events Pvt Ltd on Wednesday opened the registration of players for the upcoming Pokhara Premier (PPL) Twenty20 scheduled to begin in Pokhara from October 26 to November 6.

A total of six city-based franchise teams are participating in the tournament—the third professional Twenty20 league of the country. The players have been divided into three categories—capped senior, capped age level and uncapped. Cricketers from the senior national team have been categorised in the capped senior with their base price for the auction set at Rs 50,000. The maximum bid limit has been kept at Rs 250,000. The U-15, U-17, U-19, U-21 and U-23 players are categorised in the capped age level. They will have a base price of Rs 50,000 and have a maximum bid limit of Rs 150,000.

Cricketers playing the national and age-group tournaments form the uncapped category. They will have a base price of Rs 30,000 and their maximum bid limit is Rs 100,000. Every franchise can rope in 15 to 18 cricketers for the tournament. Each team needs to pick 10 players from the auction who will be joined by a marquee player, two foreign recruits and two local iconic players.

For the first time in domestic Twenty20 league, the auction will see the players given authority to raise their base price. The players have given a separate platform in PPL’s official website www.ppl-t20.com to raise their base price. The deadline for the players’ registration is for September 25 midnight. Each player requires to pay Rs 1000 to register his name.

According to the organisers, the participating teams and marquee players will be announced in due course before the auction. Queen’s Events recently signed broadcasting agreement with Himalayan TV HD in a deal worth Rs 30.7 million.