BCCI hosts Associate and Affiliate tournament for U-19 players

The Associate and Affiliate tournament for Under-19 players is currently being played at Alur, Bangalore, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has said.

Six teams are taking part in the league-cum-knock-out tournament which is being held from September 15 to September 21.

The six teams will constitute five North Eastern States, i.e. Arunachal, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Nagaland and Manipur, along with Bihar.

The teams have been divided into two groups and the top two teams will qualify for semi finals.

The junior national selection committee Chairman, Venkatesh Prasad and Rakesh Parikh are stationed at the stadium witnessing the match, in order to select a combined Associate and Affiliate team. This team will further participate in Vinoo Mankad tournament in east zone.

Commenting on the same, BCCI president Anurag Thakur said, "We at the BCCI are committed towards uplifting the Affiliate and Associate States. In a quest to do so, we are constantly working towards providing them with the right platform, facilities, exposure and opportunity, thereby paving a way for the mainstream. This initiative marks another step in this direction and we hope that this will ensure that the right talent meets opportunity and more number of youngsters get motivated and take up cricket as a sport."

Ajay Shirke, Honorary Secretary BCCI, said, "We have organized this tournament in Bangalore, with intent to provide these budding cricketers with the best of facilities and infrastructure. We hope to host more of such tournaments with intent to inspire youth to play cricket in the affiliate and associate states. We wish all the players luck for this tournament and all their future endeavors."

Similarly, separate tournaments will be conducted to select combined teams for Under- 16 and Under-19 to participate in Vijay Merchant Trophy (Under-16 East Zone) and Cooch Behar Trophy (Under-19 Plate Group).

All these team will have a coaching camp at National Cricket Academy, Bangalore, prior to their participation in the tournaments. The BCCI will appoint support staff for the teams and take care of all the expenses.