Dublin Guardians Sign Ashwin as Captain and Mentor in European T20 League

Ravichandran Ashwin will serve as captain and mentor for the Dublin Guardians in the upcoming European T20 league. The 39-year-old all-rounder announced his IPL retirement at the end of the 2025 season and is currently playing for the San Francisco Unicorns in the United States’ MLC 2026 tournament.

The new league, operating in partnership with Cricket Ireland, Cricket Scotland, and the Royal Dutch Cricket Association, features teams from Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam. It marks Europe’s first ICC-sanctioned multi-country franchise T20 competition.

At Rotterdam Dockers, Du Plessis will be joined by South African teammates Heinrich Klaasen, Donovan Ferreira, and Anrich Nortje. Du Plessis and Klaasen are also co-owners of the team, with Du Plessis acting as captain. Glasgow Cosmic will feature South African seamer Lungi Ngidi alongside Duan Jansen and Keshav Maharaj, who is currently with Texas Super Kings in MLC 2026.

Amsterdam Flames will see Marsh partnering with Smith, while Mitchell Owen, performing well for Washington Freedom in MLC 2026, joins Rotterdam. In Edinburgh, Mitchell Santner and Trent Boult, both recently with Mumbai Indians in the IPL, will reunite as teammates, with Santner also captaining the franchise. Finn Allen will play for Glasgow, and Michael Bracewell, a white-ball specialist, joins Amsterdam.

Glasgow’s coaching will be handled by former Australia batter Matthew Hayden, while James Foster manages Edinburgh. Netherlands players Scott Edwards and Bas de Leede are affiliated with Amsterdam, and Moises Henriques, a former Australia all-rounder, represents Glasgow as a European local after switching to Portugal.

The six franchises will finalize their squads through a draft on July 2. The competition runs from August 26 to September 20 across Ireland, Scotland, and the Netherlands.

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