21 teams for Under-15 National TWENTY20 Cricket

Chandigarh, Oct 25 : With a view to provide regular competitions to players and ‘non-stop’ entertainment to the cricket crazy spectators, the Chandigarh Twenty20 Cricket Association is organising the National Twenty20 Cricket Championship for Under-15 from October 26 to 30 at three venues of the ‘City Beautiful’.

The National Championship is being conducted under the patronage of the Association of Twenty20 Cricket (India), and the Chandigarh Olympic Association has granted permission to conduct the competition and use the banner of the apex sports body of Chandigarh.

Addressing newsmen at the Chandigarh Press Club here today, Organising Committee chairman ID Kamboj, who is also president of the ATC (India) said that teams from 20 States and Union Territories and an ATC XI would compete in the popular slam-bang version of the game.

The teams have been divided into seven pools and the leaders of each group will qualify for knock out quarter-finals. The best losers team in all groups will join the group qualifiers in the knock out stage.

Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu (group A), Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Pondicherry (group B), Maharashtra, Bihar, Rajasthan (group C), Hyderabad, Delhi, Vidarbha (group D), Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka (group E), Dadar Nagar Haveli, Chandigarh, Jharkhand (group F) and Mumbai, Association of Twenty20 Cricket and Goa (group G) have entered into the fray.

The matches will be played at the Sector 16 Cricket Stadium, Punjab Engineering College in Sector 12 and DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8.

Replying to a question, Mr Kamboj said ”ATC (India) is an independent registered body to promote twenty20 cricket from the grass root level. We are not competing with any one. We are making sincere efforts to promote and encourage this game from mini to senior section.”

Won’t let Murali surpass Warne on Aussie soil: Ponting

Muttiah Muralitharan may be just nine short of overtaking Shane Warne as Test cricket’s highest wicket-taker but Australian skipper Ricky Ponting says he is confident his team can stop the Sri Lankan off-spinner from capturing the record in its backyard.

The task of taking nine wickets to surpass the record of Warne’s 708 wickets does not seem too hard for the wily bowler in next month’s two-Test series but Ponting says he is determined not to let it happen in Australia.

“He needs nine wickets to pass Warney’s world record and I want to make it pretty clear that it would be nice if he left Australia not getting those nine wickets,” Ponting was quoted as saying by ‘The Australian’.

“If that’s the case, then we’ve done a pretty good job. He’s also made it pretty clear over the years that he feels Australian batsmen play him better than any other team in the world. In saying that, and in our conditions, hopefully we can keep him under wraps,” he added.

Ponting also played down apprehensions that there would be crowd trouble when Muralitharan plays his first Test on Australian soil after 12 years.

The Aussie skipper said he was confident that spectators would behave themselves even if Muralitharan overtakes local hero Warne.

T20 cricket like chocolate, to be taken in small doses: Sidhu

Former India cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday said that Twenty20 cricket is like chocolate which is harmful for health and should be given in small doses.

“When one-day cricket became big in India I had said it was like fast food – buying a burger from outside when no one is prepared to cook at home. The staple home food will remain as the most important meal but occasionally one would go out to buy a burger and that is the difference between Test and one-day cricket,” Sidhu told PTI.

“When I say about T20 cricket, it is like chocolate which is bad for health and has to be given in small doses. At the same time chocolates are favoured by humans,” said the former batsman who played 51 Tests and 136 ODIs for India.

Comparing the various forms of cricket with music, Sidhu said, “Test cricket is like classical music which has survived since ancient ages. One-dayers are like film music that leaves people enthralled and T20 cricket is like disco and rap which provides occasional pleasure in short bursts.”