CHENNAI: A total of 12 teams, three from Tamil Nadu and nine from other state units affiliated to the BCCI will be competing in the Kalpathi-AGS All-India Buchi Babu tournament to be played in Chennai from Saturday. Mumbai, Haryana, UP, Kerala, Baroda, Chhattisgarh, Hyderabad, Saurashtra, Assam will be fielding mostly youngsters to get valuable match practice.
Inspite of Duleep Trophy clashing with the tournament, Suresh Raina, captain of India Blue in Duleep, has confirmed that he will play for UP in the first round. “I will be in Chennai for the first phase. Hope to have a good practice session before the game on Saturday,” said Suresh Raina to Express.
Mohit Sharma who made a mark here while playing for CSK and later went on to play for India, will turnout for Haryana. “This tournament has always given us an insight to the talent in the state. All three teams from Tamil Nadu have a bunch of raring youngsters. I expect a good show,’’ said S Sharath, chairman of the state selection committee.
The tournament is the unofficial selection trials for the Ranji Trophy team. The teams have been divided into four groups of three teams each. After three rounds, top team in each group will get to play semifinals.
“After TNPL it’s an excellent opportunity for them to shift from T20 to longer version. Most of the boys have played the senior division league.
But to get an opportunity to prepare for Ranji is unique and I expect the youngsters to utilise it to maximum,” said the former Tamil Nadu middle-order batsman. The winner’s prize money is `1 lakh while runner-up will get `50,000.
Teams:
Group A: TNCA President’s XI, Kerala, Assam.
Group B: TNCA Districts XI, Haryana, Saurashtra.
Group C: TNCA XI, Baroda, Hyderabad.
Group D: Chhattisgarh, UPCA, Mumbai.
ashok.v@newindianexpress.com