After T20, it's T10 in cricket

New Delhi, Dec 7 (PTI) With Indian pace spearhead Ishant
Sharma as brand ambassador and former Team India manager
Lalchand Rajput as Tournament Director, cricket is all set to
experiment with the 10-over-a-side gully format next year.

Targetted at 15 to 24 year olds, who have not yet made
the first-class cut, the tournament is all set to roll January
16 with a few batsmen-friendly innovations and absolutely
nothing for the bowlers.

Eight teams from Surat, Pune, Ludhiana, Thane, Lucknow,
Jalandhar, Kanpur and Nashik will vie for a Rs 10 lakh
winners' purse out of a total prize money of Rs 25 lakh.

The preliminary stage will see four sponsored teams in
each city competing against each other to qualify for the
final play-off.

The play-off will feature two groups of four teams each
with the top-two qualifying for the semi-finals. The winner of
group A would meet the runners-up of group B in the first
semis while the winner of group B would meet the runners-up of
group A in the other semis to be followed by the grand finale.

"I loved playing gully cricket. Everybody starts with it.
This is the format that takes everyone forward," Ishant said
at the launch.

Rajput said the tournament could act as a stepping stone
for those aspiring for a place in the Twenty20 side.

"It is like a selection trial for twenty20. If we manage
to produce even two or three good cricketers, then that would
be great," he said.
"There are a lot of cricketers in the gullies, who don't
get that platform and opportunity. I think this will give them
an opportunity. Cricket has shifted from metros to small
towns. If we can promote the game there, India will be the
number one," he added.

The organisers -- Reasonable Communications Private
limited, who say they don't need BCCI's approval as they are
taking players who are not a part of the first-class set-up,
said the initiative is aimed at taking cricket to the small
towns.

And to ensure that people turn out in hordes, they have
come up with innovations that will primarily suit the batsmen.

The first of it being a bat-out, instead of the bowl-out
that is used in T20 to decide tied matches.

One batsman from each team will face six bowlers in case
of a tie and scoring would done only through sixes with the
team with most sixes winning the match.

The stadiums where the matches will be played will have a
'Max Zone' and if a batsman hits a ball through that area, the
runs he scores will be doubled.

The batsmen will also get a power-over, which the batting
side will have to decide at the time of the toss, and runs
scored in it will be doubled in the final count. The teams
will not be allowed to choose the first and the last over for
this, however.

Every sweep shot that goes past the rope will get Willow
wielders 10 runs.
There is something for the paying public as well and for
once they will get free water at the venues. Cheerleaders,
celebrity appearances and song-and-dance performances, all T20
regulars, will be there in T10 matches as well.

Rajput will oversee the selection trial of players in all
the eight cities. PTI PM
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