Sports News | Buchi Babu Memorial Tournament to Get Underway on August 15

Chennai, Aug 9 (PTI) The Buchi Babu Invitational multi-day tournament will be played across four venues in Tamil Nadu, starting from August 15.

The four venues include Tirunelveli, Coimbatore, Salem and Natham.

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The semifinals are scheduled in Tirunelveli and Natham, with the latter also hosting the final.

The competition will be played per the Ranji Trophy's four-day format.

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The winner will receive a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh, whereas the runner-up will get Rs 2 lakh.

The tournament will be comprised of 10 state-based sides -- Madhya Pradesh (defending champion), Jharkhand, Railways, Gujarat, Mumbai, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Chattisgarh, Hyderabad and Baroda -- besides two local teams -- TNCA President's XI and TNCA XI.

The tournament used to be a season opener in Indian domestic cricket and all Test stars would turn up at the start of the season.

It lost its sheen in recent years failing to attract big names. The last players among those who played while still being India captains were Krishnamachari Srikkanth and Mohammad Azharuddin.

Even Sourav Ganguly, who was dropped by the then India head coach Greg Chappell, had played Buchi Babu during his comeback trail in mid 2000s.

However, India T20 skipper Suryakimar Yadav will play a game for Mumbai in the upcoming edition.

Groups

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Group A: Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Hyderabad

Group B: Railways, Gujarat and TNCA President's XI

Group C: Mumbai, Haryana and TNCA XI

Group D: Jammu & Kashmir, Chattisgarh and Baroda

Schedule

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Round 1 (Aug 15-18) : Madhya Pradesh vs Jharkhand, Railways vs Gujarat, Mumbai vs Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir vs Chattisgarh

Round 2 (Aug 21-24): Jharkhand vs Hyderabad, Railways vs TNCA President's XI, Haryana vs TNCA XI, Jammu & Kashmir vs BAR

Round 3 (Aug 27-30): Madhya Pradesh vs Hyderabad, Gujarat vs TNCA President's XI, Mumbai vs TNCA XI, Baroda vs Chattisgarh.

Semi-finals (Sep 2-5): Winner Group A vs Winner Group B, Winner Group C vs Winner Ground D

Final (Sep 8-11).

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)