Bhubaneswar: Thirty seven teams will participate in the OCA Inter-District Senior Men’s T20 League which will be played December 14 to December 22. Giving this information at the OCA office in Cuttack, secretary Sanjay Behera stated that the matches will be played at nine venues. They are the Barabati Stadium, DRIEMS, Nimpur, Bidanasi, Ravenshaw, KIIT, Vikash, Centurion and the Town Club grounds.
The final will come off at Barabati Stadium. A total of 103 matches will be played overall during the entire tournament.
The 37 teams have been divided into six groups with one of them having seven teams. The matches will be played in three stages – preliminaries, super league and the final. The top teams of the six groups will qualify for the super league stage. They will again be divided into two groups. The teams finishing on top of each of the two groups will qualify for the final.
Behera informed that the OCA will provide accommodation, food and transportation of all the participating teams. Bio-secure bubbles will be created at all places of accommodation, venues and transportation so that the players can stay safe. All players and officials associated with the tournament will be tested as per COVID-19 guidelines in the state, informed Behera.
The OCA also informed that a pool of 40 players will be selected from the tournament to build the team for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy cricket tournament which will be played in January. They will undergo training before the final squad is selected.
PNN