Chandigarh, Jul 27 (IANS): After nearly four decades, Chandigarh has finally received affiliation from the Board of Control for Cricket in India, thus providing an opportunity for the city cricketers to play in BCCI tournament.

"Today, in the meeting of BCCI, the affiliation of Chandigarh has been approved. I got the message from BCCI that Chandigarh has been formally inducted as cricket playing state with the Board," Union Territory Cricket Association (UTCA) President Sanjay Tandon told reporters on Friday.

UTCA was registered in 1982 and since then various attempts were made to get the affiliation, said Tandon.

The BCCI had earlier this month told Chandigarh Cricket Association (Punjab) and Chandigarh Cricket Association (Haryana) to merge into the UTCA and form a unified body to represent Chandigarh. While CCA (Punjab) agreed to the merger, their Haryana counterparts failed to reach any decision.

Following the development, Chandigarh cricketers, who were earlier forced to represent Punjab or Haryana to be able to play at the national or international level, can now directly represent the city.

The city can also now have its own team in the Ranji Trophy and other domestic tournaments organised by the BCCI. Delhi is the only other Union Territory with BCCI affiliation.