Vivek Atray (right) at a press conference during 24th All India JP Atray tournament at UT Guest House in Chandigarh (Express Photo by Jaipal Singh)THE 24TH edition of the All India JP Atray Memorial Cricket Tournament will be played from February 8 to 15 at Tau Devi Lal Stadium, Panchkula; Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 26, Chandigarh; DAV School, Sector 8, Chandigarh; St John’s High School, Sector 26, Chandigarh; and Government College ground, Ropar. The tournament was postponed due to the revised domestic schedule and no state teams will be taking part in the tournament this year.
“The tournament was postponed due to the revised scheduling of BCCI domestic matches and we decided to hold the tournament in this window. Clubs and corporate teams will take part in the tournament and a total of nine teams have been divided into two groups.
The tournament will be played on league-cum-knock out basis and the matches will be of 50 overs each side. The top two teams in each group will reach the semi-finals and the final match will be played at Tau Devi Lal Stadium, Panchkula. We also hope that the 25th edition of this tournament will be played in September later this year,” said Vivek Atray, convener of the tournament. The winning team will get a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh apart from a trophy while the runners-up team will get a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh and a trophy.
The tournament committee has also instituted a special award in the memory of Sunil Sharma, a founder member of the organisation and Haryana all-rounder, who died last year. The award will be given to the player of the tournament. Apart from this, there will be man of the match award for each match as also the best bowler, best batsman of the tournament award.
Meanwhile, the North India Audit and Accounts Department Cricket Tournament will be played from Thursday at Sector 16 Cricket Stadium, DAV School, Sector 8, Chandigarh and IT Park Cricket Ground. A total of seven teams, including AG Haryana, AG Uttar Pradesh, AG Uttarakhand, Delhi Audit, AG Himachal Pradesh and AG Punjab, will take part in the tournament. AG Punjab will face Delhi Audit in the opening match while AG Uttar Pradesh will face AG Uttarakhand on Thursday.
