The International Cricket Council's (ICC) vision for cricket expansion in Europe has got a boost as the continent is set to get their first-ever franchise cricket league as multiple eminent faces from cricket and the business industry have already attached themselves as the investors in the European T20 Premier League (ETPL), Europe's first-ever franchise-based T20 tournament.

Bollywood superstar and seasoned sports entrepreneur Abhishek Bachchan has come on board as co-owner of the league. Abhishek expresses his dream to add Indian cricket legends Virat Kohliand Rohit Sharma into the league after their retirements from international cricket. 

In an online interaction, the actor said that as soon as Virat and Rohit retire from cricket, they should be asked to join ETPL. "I was about to request to tell Chiku (Virat Kohli) and Rohit (Sharma) to join the European T20 Premier League first after taking retirements," Bachchan said in a unique way, sitting alongside Australian cricket legend Steve Waugh.

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Along with Bachchan and Waugh, Aussie all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and former New Zealand internationals Nathan McCullum and Kyle Mills are among the other franchise owners. ICC has been trying to mark their footprints significantly in Europe as well. With that vision, the European T20 Premier League, an ICC-sanctioned franchise tournament, is scheduled to begin on August 26 this year.

Watch Abhishek Bachchan's request to Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma:

When @juniorbachchan stumped me with a request! As a co-founder of #ET20league , junior AB tries to reach out to #ROKO in his own inimitable style 😊 #Kohli #Rohitsharma pic.twitter.com/C3uTbryT57

— Vimal कुमार (@Vimalwa) January 21, 2026

Abhishek believes that in Europe, there is a huge market for cricket, which remains mostly untapped. Through the newly launched league, they are on a mission to explore the market.

"Europe doesn't currently have a franchise T20 league, and we felt it was time to change that. There is so much untapped potential here. Our goal is to discover new talent from European nations and put them on the global cricket map," Bachchan said at the official launch in Sydney.