BCCI introduces inter-corporate tournament

[SachDan]

MUMBAI: The Indian cricket board on Saturday decided to introduce an inter-corporate prize money tournament, to be conducted in 50-over and Twenty20 formats, to encourage business houses to recruit cricketers into their fold and improve the players' employment opportunities. The winners of the proposed inter-corporate tournament would be richer by Rs one crore, the runners-up would get Rs 50 lakh and the losing semi-finalists Rs 25 lakh each, as per a decision taken by the BCCI's all-powerful Working Committee on Saturday. BCCI's joint secretary and former member of the national selection panel, Sanjay Jagdale, was chosen as the chairman of the new committee formed to oversee the conduct of the Inter-Corporate tournament. The other members are: KS Viswanathan, Prof. RS Shetty, Chamundeshwaranath, Ranjib Biswal and Anirudh Choudhary, BCCI secretary N Srinivasan said in a press release. The board rubbished reports in the media that sponsors associated with it have defaulted in or delayed their payments. Srinivasan also stated that the BCCI's projected revenue has taken a hit to the tune of Rs 120 crore because of cancellation of two ODIs against England (scheduled at Guwahati and Delhi) and cancellation of the tour to Pakistan in the wake of the terror attacks in Mumbai. "The BCCI clarifies that none of the sponsors associated with it are delinquent in payments. No default has been committed and BCCI enjoys a healthy relationship with all sponsors", Srinivasan said. "The Working Committee noted that there would be a reduction in revenue in the current year to the effect of Rs 120 crore, as a result of the cancellation of two ODIs against England, and the cancellation of India's tour to Pakistan", he said. "This includes the loss of revenue arising out of the postponement of the ICC Champions Trophy 2008 (scheduled in Pakistan). It is to be noted that while there will be a decrease in revenue, the BCCI will still have a healthy excess of Income over Expenditure for the current year," Srinivasan stated. The Working Committee also approved the reports of six sub-committees, including that of the Gradation Committee which formalised the new list of centrally contracted players. Former captain and ex-national selection panel head Dilip Vengsarkar had expressed his surprise at the exclusion of Mumbai's top leading run-getter and wicket-taker - Ajinkya Rahane and Dhaval Kulkarni - from the list and had hoped that the Working Committee would add their names whenever it met. The Working Committee also approved the reports of its sub-committees namely Umpires Committee, Finance Committee, Ground and Pitches Committee, Junior Cricket Committee and Senior Tournaments Committee. The Working Committee also decided to conduct specialised coaching camps for fast bowlers, spinners and batsmen at the cricket academies of Punjab Cricket Association, Tamil Nadu CA and Mumbai CA, respectively. Srinivasan would be the chairman of the committee formed to oversee these camps with Jagdale, treasurer MP Pandove, National Cricket Academy's director Dav Whatmore, Prof. RS Shetty and Anurag Thakur as his colleagues on the panel. "These camps will supplement the activities being carried out presently at the National Cricket Academy, Bangalore," Srinivasan said. It was also decided that the BCCI would encourage all its affiliated member associations to increase the number of grounds available for junior cricket, especially the quality of wickets on which these matches are to be played, Srinivasan added.

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