Bengaluru, Oct 4 (IANS): Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI) in association with the Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled on Tuesday announced that the 6th edition of the Men's National T20 Cricket Tournament for the Blind 2023-24 also known as Nagesh Trophy will be held from November 25, 2023 to January 30, 2024.
The league matches of the tournament will be played across 7 venues namely, Jammu, Dehradun (Uttarakhand), Kochi (Kerala), Chandigarh, Tripura, and Kota (Rajasthan). The Super 8 stage venue will be decided soon.
A total of 28 Teams (states /UT’s and an Indian Railways team which is represented by the Visually Impaired working in Railways) will play the T20 format Tournament with the round robin league basis.
The 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.
"New Season with New Talents. 6th edition of Nagesh Trophy will be another milestone for CABI Samarthanam to identify the new emerging players who will be picked to the Indian Team. Let me thank IndusInd Bank for their continuous support in promoting cricket for the Blind," Chairman of Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI) Dr Mahantesh G Kivadasannavar said in a statement.
"This edition is the beginning for the Men’s Team to prepare themselves for the upcoming 4th T20 World Cup Cricket for the Blind which will be held in Pakistan 2024," he added.
The President of CABI \Buse Gowda said that the last 5 editions have been fulfilling with the growth and the new learnings. My team is all set to bring in the new energy to make the Nagesh Trophy to reach to millions across India.
The Chairman of the Nagesh Trophy \Yogesh Taneja said that there is so much do to promote Cricket for the Blind at the grassroots. The National Tournament is a platform to pick the best of Best to represent India in the coming tournaments. Our aim is to identify the best new talent and nurture the talent.
The 5th edition had the joint winners (Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka) due to the rain. Odisha has won the Nationals once while Andhra Pradesh has emerged victorious in the finals of the tournament 3 times.
"Nothing has stopped us from reaching the milestones in the last 13 years since CABI’s inception. There have been a lot of struggles and difficulties but promoting Cricket for the Blind is the utmost priority and every game that we play we want to make the country proud in all capacities," said Mr Shailender – General Secretary CABI.