Dimapur, March 26: Nagaland is set to host the first edition of the North East Cricket Development Committee (NECDC) Senior Men’s Interstate Friendship Tournament that will be held from March 29 till April 3, 2023. NECDC comprises of six member states and constitute the North East Zone of the BCCI.
Interacting with the media persons here at the premises of the Nagaland Cricket Stadium, Hyunilo Anilo Khing, Honorary Secretary of the Nagaland Cricket Association (NCA), said that the finale of the tournament is expected to also be attended by the officials of BCCI and IPL and it will be instrumental for the selection process of the North East Zone team for the upcoming Duleep Trophy.
On questions if the team would be based on fixed number of players from each of the six states, he cleared that the selection would be purely based on merit and there would not be any quotas.
Khing said that while BCCI allows 12 local players and 3 guest players from outside in the state teams, for this tournament, all the 15 players and additional two as standbys would be locals. There will be a total of nine 50-overs match in the tournament and the teams have been divided into two groups- Group A (Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya) and Group B (Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim).
Allegations and developments
Khing, reacting to a question that many people allege that the same names are being included in the Nagaland team over the years and new players don’t get opportunities, stated that as long as the players are performing well, they will be in the team.
He also highlighted the strides that NCA have made throughout the years and credited Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio. He said that NECDC had came into existence in the year 2015 and with Rio as its convenor fought for the full membership of BCCI for the six member states and the Justice Lodha Committee recommendation of one state one board eventually enabled the states to be full members of BCCI in 2017.
Assam and Tripura are but exceptions. While the two states are part of the north east geographically, they are counted in the East Zone, he said.
Talking about the various developments that have been happening in Nagaland in the cricket scene, Khing said that the NCC has constructed 53 concrete practice pitches across the states and to promote the game among the children, inter-school tournaments are being organised and crick kits are being distributed among the schools, clubs, and district associations. He said that it is the motto of NCC to take the game to the people, and while football remains the first love for the people here, cricket is also growing in the right direction.
He revealed that NECDC has been able to secure the approval and sanction of six indoor cricket practice facilities by BCCI in the six states. He said that each of these facilities will have four to five practice pitches, state of the art indoor swimming pool, gymnasium, office area, locker room for players, cafeteria and a viewing gallery. The project is expected to get completed by the beginning of 2024.
Encourage sports in Nagaland
During the interaction, Khing urged the people of the state to encourage their wards to see cricket and other sports as a career opportunity. He said that people here tend to see sports only as a hobby and there is a lack of vision and cited that when screening is done for U16 players, there are only a handful of local players. He, however, also admitted that the schedules of the BCCI and the academics usually clashes and people understandably give more weightage to academics.
On women players, he said that while their participation is low, they but are also doing fantastic in the state and in 2022 NCA had held T20 tournaments and at present has three women teams in the state.
The matches of the Friendship Tournament will be held at Nagaland Cricket Stadium and Sovima Cricket Ground and will be live streamed by CricHeroes. Except for the finale which will be a day-night game, the rest of the matches will start from 8:45 am.
(Page News Service)
