KARACHI: The 32nd edition of the Omar Associates Karachi Gymkhana Ramazan Cricket Festival, which starts from the first day of the holy month, has opted to give cash awards to outstanding performers on the field of play.

Unlike previous years, the tournament committee of the oldest cricketing event announced on Monday that from now onwards, batsmen hitting most boundaries, fielders holding most catches and bowlers taking highest number if wickets during a particular match will be presented with Rs1,000 apiece for each category.

The figure has been enhanced to Rs2,000 each category for the semi-finals and the final out of the total sum of Rs84,000 allocated for this new segment.

While addressing a media briefing at the Karachi Gymkhana, Nadeem Omar, managing director of Omar Associates who are tournament’s main sponsor for the fourth year running, lauded the initiative undertaken by Jam Nafees Ali, the convener cricket and chairman of tournament committee, to generate keen interest in all 31 fixtures.

“I think this is a great idea to motivate the players. The sense of urgency in order to give top performance would automatically lead to intense competition among the players,” Nadeem, who also owns Pakistan Super League franchise Quetta Gladiators, said. “As main sponsor once again, we are proud to be part of festival cricket being staged at the Karachi Gymkhana. Hopefully the organizers will succeed in staging the competition professionally.

“I’m sure this year’s tournament will be even more popular with other sponsors also joining hands with us.”

Karachi Gymkhana president Fawad Saleem Malik applauded the induction of three co-sponsors — Agha Steel Industries, Acme Technologies and Scentsation.

“Without their valuable contribution this tournament would not have been possible since Ramazan Cricket Festival is one of the most popular cricket events of Karachi Gymkhana where top teams participate and the fans get to see a number of national heroes in action,” Fawad noted.

The 16 teams taking part are equally divided in four pools with the champion side to receive Rs700,000 out of the total prize-money of Rs1,463,000. The runners-up would get Rs350,000 and the losing semi-finalists Rs50,000 each.

Holders Tapal CC are bracketed with Heroes CC of Quetta, Friends CC of Khandkot and Opera CC in Group ‘D’. last year’s runners-up Eaton CC are in Group ‘C’ alongside Magnus Sports (the adopted name of well-known Qasmi Gymkhana), Sojhla Cricket Academy of Dera Ghazi Khan and New Al-Habib CC.

Omar CC, Dubai Hawks, Advance Telecom and Karachi Port Trust are placed in Group ‘A, while Group ‘B’ includes hosts Karachi Gymkhana, Dollar East, Mohammad Hussain CC and Acme Technologies.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2017