Ferit Cricket Bash for budding cricketers

There is a league now for budding cricketers who aspire to make it big at the international stage by honing their skills.

The officials of Ferit Cricket Bash with former Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan at The Hindu office on Saturday.

It is a cricket league for the amateur cricket enthusiasts. The matches will be 15-overs-a-side and will be played with a synthetic ball.

Muttiah Muralitharan, the mentor for players of the upcoming Ferit Cricket Bash (FCB) said “As a fan, you will have your dreams and aspirations of playing some form of competitive cricket. The FCB will make that possible.”

The tournament, open to cricket aficionados above the age of 15, will be conducted in July/August this year and the registration of players has already begun.

Muralitharan said, “In all, we will have 16 teams, including Chennai, drawn from 26 centres. The registration fee will be Rs. 500 and there will be a selection process overseen by former Ranji players. We have already identified the grounds and the entry for the matches will be free.”

Chris Gayle, Zaheer Khan and Praveen Kumar are the other mentors in a competition founded by Jasmeet Bhatia and Mitesh Sharma and involving Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty.

The matches will be telecast live. The winning team will take home Rs. 31 lakh and the runner-up, Rs. 21 lakh. For details, give a missed call to 9871063063 or log on to www.feritcricketbash.com.