Published: Dec 17, 2015, 08:20 PM (IST)
Edited: Dec 17, 2015, 08:22 PM (IST)
New Delhi: The 22nd National Cricket Tournament for Blind, which will also act as a selection event for the Indian team ahead of the Twenty20 Asia Cup in January, was inaugurated in the Capital on Thursday amid much fanfare. Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI) in the presence of chief guest Shri Oscar Fernandes, and union minister Ananth Kumar inaugurated the tournament at Central Civil Services Cultural & Sports Ground in Chanakyapuri. Starting Thursday, the tournament will be played in Delhi and Gurgaon till December 21. The Indian cricket team for the blind made the country proud by winning both T20 World Cup in 2012 and One-Day International (ODI) World Cup in 2014. READ: The heart-wrenching account of India’s visually-challenged cricketers – a team that won the T20 World Cup
The national tournament will played in league format followed by the semi finals and the final. Eight teams from all the four zones will play a total of 15 matches in Central Civil Services Cultural & Sports Ground and Devi Lal Stadium in Gurgaon.
The eight participating teams are Haryana and Uttar Pradesh (North Zone), Odisha and West Bengal (East Zone), Gujarat and Rajasthan (West Zone) and Andhra Pradesh & Karnataka (South Zone). All the league matches will be played between December 17 and 19 followed by the semi-finals on December 20 and the final. READ: India blind cricket team to tour England, Bahrain
The outcome of the National Tournament would be formation of a 17 member Indian team which will be selected to play T20 Asia from January 16- 24, 2016 in Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi, according to a report from news9express.
