For 11 months every year, Abrar Tamboli and Azhar Kazi work as apple sellers outside the Dharur bus depot in central Maharashtra’s Beed district. The childhood friends have been in the business for over a decade and are among the many street vendors who make a living in the bustling market area. But, for two weeks every year, the street sellers turn into local celebrities. Their photos are printed on posters and in local newspapers, and the market gears up in support. Tamboli and Kazi co-own a cricket team in the highly celebrated Dharur Premier League (DPL) tournament in the drought-affected town. Their 15-member franchise is named Bagwan Warriors.

Established and run along the lines of the professional Twenty20 Indian Premier League, the DPL is an annual cricket championship that runs for two weeks in January. “We begin to practice only a few days before the tournament. It is very difficult to find time through the year,” says Kazi, 28, who began his DPL career as a right-arm bowler in 2013, when the league was first launched. He grew into a franchise co-owner in 2018. “The two weeks of the DPL are celebrated like a festival in our town.”