Abhishek Bachchan's cricket venture just picked up a nod from the sport's global players' body, and it's the kind of endorsement that has nothing to do with sixes or ratings.

The World Cricketers' Association has named the European T20 Premier League in its "Positive Progress" category, part of the WCA's latest Global Leagues Hub Update. The reason, per the association, was straightforward: ETPL sat down with the Irish, Dutch and Scottish players' associations and hammered out player agreements before its inaugural season even started, rather than scrambling after the fact.

WCA chief executive Tom Moffat called it an example of "what can be achieved when leagues engage player representatives early and work constructively to establish clear arrangements before players take the field." That's the WCA's language for something franchise cricket doesn't always get right, timely pay and clarity on contracts before players show up to bowl.

Bachchan, who co-founded ETPL along with Saurav Banerjee, Priyanka Kaul and Dhiraj Malhotra, alongside sports firm GREX, called the recognition validation of the league's founding idea. "We wanted to create a league respected not only for the cricket on the field, but for the standards and values behind it," he said, adding that getting the foundations right from day one was the point.

The other three founders echoed that in their own statements. Malhotra spoke of giving players "clarity, confidence" about how the league would run. Banerjee tied it back to structure and accountability. Kaul framed it as a responsibility that only grows heavier now that the bar is set.

ETPL Board Director Warren Deutrom, who also heads Cricket Ireland, went further, arguing that a new league's staying power depends on governance being baked in rather than bolted on later.

Worth remembering here: this is a genuinely new competition. ETPL runs across Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands, with six city franchises, Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Rotterdam and Amsterdam, built in partnership with Cricket Ireland, Cricket Scotland and the Royal Dutch Cricket Association. It's the kind of multi-country T20 league that's become a template globally, and the WCA's Hub, running since 2024, exists precisely to rate these leagues on player welfare rather than glamour.

The league says it plans to keep working with players, franchises and the three boards to build out the framework it says it established in year one. No word yet on when season two details, schedule, expanded rosters or a broadcast deal, get locked down, but the WCA's tick of approval gives Bachchan and company something concrete to point to while they make that case to players and sponsors alike.

What happens next depends on how ETPL performs on the field, not just on paper. The cricket, and the crowds it draws in Rotterdam and Belfast, will tell that story soon enough.