Ramazan Cup Cricket from 14th

KARACHI: The sixth edition of the Naya Nazimabad Ramazan Cup Twenty20 Cricket Tournament 2018, to be held from May 14 to June 4, will be offering a record prize money of over Rupees two million.

The salient features of the tournament, to be contested by exactly a dozen outfits, were unveiled by Muhammad Ijaz, Director, Javedan Corporation, in a media briefing here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Wednesday. The tournament is being sponsored by Naya Nazimabad for the fifth year running with Fatima Fertilizer and Power Cement being the co-sponsors and Geo Super being the media partners. The total prize money at stake will be Rs 2,085,000 with the winners to receive a staggering purse of Rupees 12 lakhs while the runners-up will be getting a reward of Rupees six lakhs.

There will be individual prizes of Rs 285,000 on offer as well for the outstanding performers.Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), the winners of the tournament for the past couple of years, will be aiming to complete a hat-trick of title wins. All the 25 matches of the 21-day event will be played under floodlights here at the Naya Nazimabad Lawai Stadium. As far as the format of the tournament is concerned the 12 participating teams have been divided equally in three groups for the preliminary rounds at the end of which top two teams from each group will qualify automatically for the quarter-finals. Two more teams, having the best net run rate, will join them in quarter-final line-up.

The Group A comprises of Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGC), State Bank of Pakistan, Brighto Paints and Rahman Foundation while the Group B features defending champions SNGPL, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Omar Associates and Sindh Police with Dollar East, K-Electric, Pakistan Customs and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) constituting the Group C.

The league matches, starting on May 14, will conclude on May 27 while the quarter-finals will be played from May 29 to June 1. The semifinals will be held on June 2 and 3 with the final due to take place on June 4. All the knockout matches will be telecast live on Geo Super.

The President-Elect of the Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA), Nadeem Omar, the outgoing KCCA President, Prof Ejaz Ahmed Farooqui, the Chairman of the Pakistan Veterans Cricket Association (PVCA), Fawad Ijaz Khan, and former Test left-arm spinner, Iqbal Qasim, also shared their views on the occasion while the vote of thanks were presented by Samad Habib, CEO, Javedan Corporation.