Jammu & Kashmir defeated Goa by 51 runs while Railways beat Punjab in a nail-biting encounter in the ongoing 6th edition of Men’s National T20 Cricket Tournament for the Blind 2023-24 also known as Nagesh Trophy on Saturday.
Nagesh Trophy kicked off on Thursday with all four teams of Group E battling out for the glory here at the University of Jammu. The tournament will run till January 30, 2024, and the League stage will be played till December 29, 2023.
In the first match on Saturday, Jammu & Kashmir scored 173/6 in the allotted 20 overs and then bundled out Goa for 122 in the 19th over to seal a comprehensive win. Mohd Azeem and Sahil smashed 75 and 41 runs respectively for Jammu & Kashmir. Azeem was adjudged the Player of the Match. Jammu & Kashmir has now moved into the eliminator round which will be played in January.
In the second game, Punjab scored 147/7 in the allotted 20 overs. But Railways riding on consistent batting performances, chased down the target with two balls to spare. Paras Bhatia was named the Player of the Match for his gutsy knock of 27 runs.
In Group E, Jammu & Kashmir won all matches and now sits on top of the table with 6 points. Goa is in the second spot with 4 points while Railways on third with two points. Meanwhile, Punjab wasn’t able to win a single match and ended the Jammu leg with zero points.
Karnataka, Delhi, Maharashtra, Pondicherry, and Uttarakhand will now lock horns with each other in Group B which gets underway from December 4 at Kasiga School Ground in Dehradun.
Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif has also joined hands with the Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI) as the Brand Ambassador for the Nagesh Trophy.
Meanwhile, after the league matches end on December 29, 2023, the Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI) in association with the Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled will hold the Super 8 Stage Matches at Nagpur, Maharashtra in January 2024.
The league matches of the 6th edition of the IndusInd Bank Nagesh Trophy will be played across 6 venues namely, Jammu, Dehradun (Uttarakhand), Kochi (Kerala), Chandigarh, Agartala (Tripura), and Kota (Rajasthan).
A total of 28 Teams (State /UT) and an Indian Railways team which is represented by the Visually Impaired working in Railways) will play the T20 format Tournament. 28 teams are divided based on the last year’s ranking into 6 groups. The first 4 groups have 5 teams each and the last 2 teams have 4 teams each.
The 5th edition had the joint winners (Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka) due to the rain. Odisha has won the Nationals once while Andhra Pradesh had emerged victorious in the finals of the tournament 3 times.
Group A: Group A brings together teams from Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.
Group B: Group B will have trams from Karnataka, Delhi, Maharashtra, Pondicherry, and Uttarakhand.
Group C: In Group C, the stage is set for a competitive showdown as Odisha, Jharkhand, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar face off.
Group D: Group D is a collection of teams, featuring Gujarat, Chandigarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana.
Group E: Jammu & Kashmir, Railway, Punjab, and Goa will compete against each other in Group E.
Group F: Group F comprises teams from the north-eastern and central regions of India. Manipur, Assam, Tripura, and Chhattisgarh will showcase their talents.
The Nagesh Trophy was launched in memory of the Late Shri SP Nagesh, Founder President, of the Cricket Association for the Blind in India and Founder Trustee, of Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled. The launch of the tournament brought together the entire blind cricket community into one huge platform, by creating a milestone in blind cricket history. (ANI)
