Cricket fever set to grip Lucknow
LUCKNOW: It’s going to be unlimited cricket in the state capital this season as matches of all categories, and that too of repute, are planned at the newly-constructed Ekana International Cricket Stadium.
Before hosting its first-ever international match — a twenty20 game between hosts India and West Indies on November 6 – the venue will witness an under-19 quadrangular tournament from September 12 to 18.
The state cricket body, Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association, is also expected to slot one or two Ranji Trophy matches at this venue only after its annual general meeting, scheduled for September 10 in Kanpur
The under-19 quadrangular tourney, a 50-over format, will see the participation of teams like India A, India B, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and is being dubbed as a lead-up to the Under-19 ACC (Asian Cricket Council) Asia Cup scheduled to take place in Bangladesh in September/October.
As per the Asian Cricket Council’s schedule, all five full members in the region – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan – and non-full members Nepal, Hong Kong and UAE will form the eight-nation U19 Asia Cup.
Chief junior national selector Rahul Dravid, who seems to be the brain behind this four-team event, will also be observing the Indians during the event along with his team of selectors.
Meanwhile, preparations have begun on the war-footing and the UPCA on Friday dispatched as many as five ground covers for the B ground of the stadium here.
“We are thankful to the BCCI as well as the ICC for recognizing our effort to built state capital’s first international cricket stadium by selecting the venue for a series of matches here,” Ekana Sports City’s director Udai Sinha said on Friday. TEAMS India A: Pavan Shah (captain), Devdutt Padikkal, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat, Prab Simran Sing, Yash Rathod, Ayush Badoni, Nehal Wadhera, Siddharth Desai, Harsh Tyagi, Ajay Dev Goud, Yatin Mangwani, Mohit Jangra, Sameer Choudhary, Rajesh Mohanty.
India B: Vedant Murkar (captain), Thakur Tilak Verma, Qamran Iqbal, Vamsi Krishna, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, Rishab Chouhan, Siddhant Rana, Sayan Kumar Biswas, Shubhang Hegde, Rizvi Sameer, Pankaj Yadav, Akash Singh, Ashok Sandhu, Aayush Singh, Nitish Reddy, Sabir Khan, Sahil Raj, Rajvardhan Hangargekar.
FIXTURES September 12: India A vs Afghanistan; Nepal vs India B. September 14: Nepal vs India A; India B vs Afghanistan. September 16: India A vs India B; Nepal vs Afghanistan. September 18: Final; 3rd-4th (play-off).