Sheesh Mahal tourney from May 2

Lucknow, Apr 26 (UNI) The 55th All India Sahara City Homes Sheesh Mahal cricket tournament, the and oldest summer tournament of the country, begins from May 2 to 10 here.

Top players like Sourav Ganguly, Irfan Pathan, Deep Das Gupta, Ranadeb Bose and Rohit Sharma are likely to add charm by participating for Sahara team, provided if they qualify for semi final stages.

Addressing mediapersons, Head Corporate Communications, Sahara India Abhijit Sarkar said the 40 overs tournament would be played on league-cum-knockout basis, where eight teams would battle for the prestigious trophy. It has the highest cash prize money of Rs 25 lakh.

While the league matches will be played at K D Singh Babu and Chowk stadiums, the semi finals and final would be held at Babu stadium.

The participating teams comprise Indian (Airlines), ONGC, ITC Delhi, Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA), Punjab Cricket Association (PCA), Sahara India and two international teams from Pakistan's Rashid Latif XI and Colombo Colts of Sri Lanka.

The winner will get a cash prize of Rs 11 lakh, runners up Rs 5.5 lakh, while the both semi final losers will also get Rs one lakh each.

Sahara has decided to name the Man of the Series award as 'M Askari Hassan Man of the Series' to pay tribute to the founder of the Sheesh Mahal Cricket trophy M Askar Hassan, who passed away recently.

UNI