Sheesh Mahal cricket tourney from June 3

Lucknow, May 31 (UNI) The 56th annual All India Sahara City Homes Sheesh Mahal cricket tournament, one of the country's oldest summer tourneys, would be held here from June 3.

Eight prominent teams, including one each from Pakistan and Sri Lanka, would participate on a league-cum-knock out basis in the nine-day tournament, which carries a total prize money of Rs 25 lakhs. The winners of the tournment would be rich by Rs 11 lakh, highest prize money in this region.

The league matches as-well-as semi-finals will be played at the K D Singh Babu Stadium and Chowk Stadium, while the finals will be held at K D Singh Babu Stadium on the June 11.

The Indian Oil, Air India, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association, Rizvi Builders and Sahara India have confirmed their participation as teams.

To add to the fervor of the event, two International teams -- Karachi Jelani Tigers (Pakistan) and Colombo Colts (Sri Lanka) -- would participate in the tournament.

Sahara India Pariwar, Head-Corporate Communications Abhijeet Sarckar here today told mediapersons that for the first time the tournament has been insured against weather as per the International Cricket Council (ICC) guidelines.

Though Mr Sarckar said names of the players participating in the tourney would be announced after the IPL finals tomorrow, but still cricketers like Saurav Ganguly, Ramesh Pawar, Dinesh Karthik and Venugopal Rao could be seen in action.

He said this time Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had directly interacted with us for the tournament.

When asked if Sheesh Mahal tourney could be converted into a T-20 format, he said ''we want to conserve the traditional cricketing form of one-dayers, but nothing could be said about the future.'' He further admitted that this tournament was being held every year in April, but this time it had to be delayed due to the IPL.

''I can assure that most of the IPL players, who would not go for international duty, could be seen in this tournament representing different teams,'' he further claimed.

UNI MB JAS RKM HS1842