Rotterdam Dockers cricket franchise launches with Indian faces as Kashyap boards festival drama
Rotterdam is picking up two threads of the South Asian story this week: a cricket franchise co-owned by Bollywood actor John Abraham that carries the city's name into the inaugural European T20 Premier League, and a Bangladeshi festival drama, 'Delupi', that first premiered at the Rotterdam film festival and has now pulled Indian director Anurag Kashyap on board as a producer-side backer. Between them, the two items give the Dutch port city a Desi footprint that runs from the crease to the arthouse cinema, with South African cricket legends and a Mumbai jersey unveil rounding out the picture.
John Abraham fronts new Rotterdam Dockers cricket franchise for European T20 Premier League
t2ONLINE reports that Bollywood actor John Abraham is co-owning the Rotterdam Dockers, a new professional cricket franchise built for the inaugural European T20 Premier League (ETPL). The ETPL is an ICC-sanctioned, city-based competition featuring six teams, and its first season is scheduled to run from 26 August to 20 September 2026. Abraham's fellow co-owners are three South African players — Jonty Rhodes, Faf du Plessis and Heinrich Klaasen — with du Plessis, the former Proteas captain, also confirmed to lead the side on the field. The Dockers' squad blends established international names, including Klaasen and Anrich Nortje, with Dutch internationals Logan van Beek and Roelof van der Merwe to anchor a local presence. Home matches will be split between venues in the Netherlands and Ireland, giving the Rotterdam name a wider European reach. Abraham and Rhodes formally unveiled the team's jersey at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai, tying the Netherlands-based franchise directly back to India's cricketing headquarters ahead of the league's start. [1]
Anurag Kashyap boards Bangladeshi drama 'Delupi' that premiered at Rotterdam
Variety reports, in an exclusive dated 6 July 2026, that Indian filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has boarded the Bangladeshi drama 'Delupi', a feature that first premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. The trade paper places the deal inside its film-news vertical and credits Naman Ramachandran with the byline. Kashyap's involvement gives the Rotterdam-launched film a high-profile South Asian producer-side presence as it moves through the festival-to-distribution circuit. Rotterdam continues to function as an entry gateway for Bangladeshi and other South Asian arthouse work into the European festival ecosystem, and 'Delupi' fits that pattern by using its Rotterdam berth as the launchpad for wider exposure. Variety frames Kashyap's boarding as a straightforward vote of confidence in the film's material rather than a signal of any change in creative direction, and notes that his slate of producer credits already leans toward independent South Asian cinema with festival ambitions. Further release plans for 'Delupi' were not disclosed in the Variety report. [3]
Jonty Rhodes says Rotterdam Dockers stint is about growing European cricket
The News Mill, running an ANI-sourced dispatch dated 11 August 2026, quotes South African fielding legend Jonty Rhodes on his co-ownership stake in the Rotterdam Dockers and his stated aim to help develop cricket in Europe through the new European T20 Premier League. Rhodes joins John Abraham, Faf du Plessis and Heinrich Klaasen in the ownership group of the Netherlands-based franchise, and frames the venture as more than a commercial play — his focus, per the report, is on giving European cricketers, and particularly Dutch talent, a professional pathway that has been thin on the ground. The News Mill notes that the Rotterdam Dockers will play in the inaugural ETPL season, an ICC-sanctioned tournament with six city-based teams. Rhodes has coached and mentored across formats, and his comments position the Dockers less as a franchise vanity project and more as a competitive vehicle intended to feed European cricket's development pipeline, with a Rotterdam base that anchors the effort in Dutch waters. [4]
Sources: [1] t2ONLINE · [3] Variety · [4] The News Mill