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Domestic tourneys losing glow as stars stay away

K. SRIKKANTH

Another edition of the Buchi Babu tournament gets underway in Chennai on Sunday, which will be followed by the Moin-ud-Dowla Trophy.

These tournaments, now we also have the KSCA competition, have so much importance since they arrive at the beginning of the season, enabling the cricketers to get into their stride.

Sadly, these tournaments are getting diluted because the stars are not participating any more for various reasons. I remember the days when the Buchi Babu and the Moin-ud-Dowla competitions were star-studded affairs. It used to be a great gathering of cricketers and a carnival atmosphere would often be prevalent at the venues.

Some of the sides were indeed glamorous. The Nirlons from Bombay had Sunil Gavaskar, Sandeep Patil, Ravi Shastri, Karsan Ghavri and Balwinder Singh Sandhu, and the State Bank side possessed Gundappa Viswanath, Syed Kirmani, Mohammed Azharuddin, Roger Binny, Yashpal Sharma, and Ashok Malhotra and the Mafatlals boasted of Ashok Mankad, Parthasarathy Sharma and Brijesh Patel.

There were so many other names from Hyderabad, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Bengal, Punjab and Maharashtra.

In fact, it was in the Buchi Babu tournament that Gavaskar first saw me in action, when I was a guest player for the VST XI. He saw me batting, and after the match, gave me a few words of encouragement. I can never forget that.

Later on in my career, it was a double hundred against the Karnataka XI that enabled me make a comeback into the Indian side. I mean, there was so much importance given to these tournaments during those times.

Then, the aspirants could rub shoulders with the stars and test their skills against them. This played a vital part in preparing them for bigger challenges. At the same time, the seniors had a chance to watch the youngsters from close quarters, and could form their own opinion.

There used to be sizable crowds for these matches too. The competition would often be so intense that if a cricketer performed well here, the chances were that he would certainly come good for his State or his zone.

These days, the tournaments are losing their significance, though they are still being conducted well. It is a reflection of the general decline in the following for the domestic matches.

However, it is crucial to revive interest in these tournaments and the media, both print and electronic, has a crucial role to perform. I am glad that Sahara, the sponsor of the Indian cricket team, is supporting the Buchi Babu tournament.

The Board too should promote these competitions. I mean, the State Associations and the Board can work things out in such a manner that there is no clash of dates, enabling all the cricketers to gain valuable match practice ahead of the first class season.

There is plenty of tradition associated with the Buchi Babu and the Moin-ud-Dowla tournaments, and we have to ensure that they not only survive but thrive.

www.kris-srikkanth.com

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