KARACHI: Renowned cricketers of the country are expected to light up the Osaka Naya Nazimabad Ramazan Cup which starts from Thursday at the Lawai Cricket Stadium with 16 competing vying for honours.

Arif Habib, chairman of Arif Habib Group, while addressing a media conference at the Karachi Gymkhana premises on Sunday, expressed the hope spirit of cricket is maintained during the holy month of fasting.

“As always the competition this time is going to be as intense as ever. I take this opportunity to wish the organisers the best of luck in staging a top-class tournament which will provide a source of great entertainment for the people who come for the matches,” Arif said. “The onus is on all teams playing in the Naya Nazimabad Ramazan Cup to thoroughly entertain the cricket-loving people of Karachi by setting fine examples of sportsmanship. I’m sure everyone will enjoy the festivities that have been planned.”

Broadcaster Sikandar Bakht and former first-class cricketer Mohammad Masroor, who is now a PCB coach, provided details of the tournament that concludes on May 26 with the final.

The 16 teams competing for prize-money of more than Rs5 million have been divided in four pools. Group ‘A’ includes Omar Associates, Pakistan Air Force, Agha Estate and Santex Group; Group ‘B’ features National Bank, K-Electric, Al-Rehman Foundation and Saima Group; State Bank, Karachi Port Trust, Pakistan Currency and Alamgir Gymkhana make up Group ‘C, while Group ‘D’ consists of SSGC, Port Qasim, Pakistan Customs and KK Panthers.

Two matches are scheduled daily during the league phase with the first starting at 8:00pm and the other at 12:00 midnight. The quarters-finals are scheduled for May 23 and 24 while the semi-finals will be staged on May 25.

The winners will be awarded Rs1.2 million and the runners-up Rs600,000 while the man-of-the-match of each game would get a motorbike.

For the first time all 31 fixtures will be telecast live while two drone cameras will be also be used during the coverage.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2019