A glitzy ceremony Friday marked the start of India's breakaway Twenty20 cricket league in the northern town of Panchkula.
The Indian Cricket League (ICL) has been dubbed a rebel league as it was not sanctioned by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which has retaliated by planning its own Indian Premier League (IPL) to be launched in April.
The six-team ICL, promoted by a television company, offers prize money of US$3.85 million.
The inaugural match of the league Friday featured Delhi Jets, captained by former Sri Lankan skipper Marvan Atapattu, and Chanidgarh Lions, which is being led by ex-New Zealand allrounder Chris Cairns.
Ex-West Indies captain Brian Lara and former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq are the biggest stars featuring in the tournament for which several young Indian players have signed up, despite the risk of in future being barred from matches sanctioned by the BCCI.
Lara is leading Mumbai Champs, while Inzamam is the captain of Hyderabad Heroes.
Other teams have been named Kolata Tigers and Chennai Superstars.
A new rule has been introduced in the ICL which disallows any overthrows if the fielder's throw hits the stumps.
Four top teams from the round-robin league spread over two weeks will advance to the knockout semifinals.
The ICL's executive board is headed by India's 1983 World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev.
Dev's decision to join the breakaway league prompted the cricket board to remove him from the honourary position of chairman of the National Cricket Academy
Sandip Patil, Madan Lal and Balwinder Sandhu, all members of the 1983 World Cup champion team, have followed Dev and signed up with the ICL. They have taken up coaching assignments for ICL teams that feature some top foreign stars and Indian youngsters.
Lal and Sandhu had opened India's attack during the triumphant 1983 World Cup campaign.
India's cricket board tried to block the ICL's progress by making it difficult for the unofficial league's promoters to hire cricket grounds.
The rebel league is being compared with Kerry Packer's World Cricket Series that split world cricket in the 1970s.
Packer's World Cricket Series signed up top international players from several countries in an era when players were not well remunerated and had no endorsements.
While Packer got the cream of world cricket, the Indian league seems to be attracting only the retired stars.
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