by Rohit Bhandiye

Under increasing pressure from the Indian Cricket League, BCCI on Thursday decided to form its own professional league. BCCI will name the league as Professional Cricket League (PCL) and it will be headed by Sunil Gavaskar.

The Twenty20 domestic tournament will be converted into the Professional Cricket League, which will include all the state associations of BCCI.

Each state association in the country will float a team that will include domestic, national and international players. Two to three international players will be picked up for each team.

A sponsor for each team will also be roped in for a contract period of 5 years.

BCCI's Professional Cricket league has come after Indian Cricket League announced its players on Monday.

Indian Cricket League unveiled the name of its cricketers on August 20 naming some big players from the Indian and international cricketing fraternity.

The ICL announced plans to expand it from the initial six to a 12-team format within the next three years. The league would feature teams like Bombay Jets and Madras Heat.

The ICL website indicated that retired New Zealand all rounder Chris Cairns was more likely to join it while denying that captain Stephen Fleming had been approached. It reiterated that negotiations were also on with retired Australian greats Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.

The ICL had already roped in former West Indies great Brian Lara as the first high-profile signing for its inaugural six-team Twenty20 tournament later this year.