The girls come out to play in Ramazan

Khelo Kricket’s tournament at Kokan Ground kicks off from tomorrow

KARACHI: As Ramazan rolls around, boys flock to the streets of Karachi to while away the night playing cricket. Khelo Kricket aims to provide the same opportunity for girls as well.

The third edition of the annual three-day tournament at the Kokan Ground promises to be bigger and better than ever before.

The rules are slightly different from your average cricket match, with eight players per side and 10 in a squad. The matches, played under flood lights, will be six overs per side for the group stages but the final will be eight overs per side.

In an effort to make it more accommodating, the management decreased registration from Rs1,500 per player to Rs1,000, and the decision seems to have worked, with this time’s edition featuring eight teams — one more than last year

“The ever-increasing interest of girls in this tournament led us to take this step and decrease the registration fee; which includes team jerseys and prizes,” cofounder of Khelo Kricket Hadeel Obaid Rangoonwala told The Express Tribune.

The prize money of the winning team has been decreased to 50,000 from last year’s 70,000 but new individual honours have been added for each game.

“We had to cut down the prize money since we decreased the registration fee but this time around we have gift hampers for the best performer of each match,” she said. “The best players of the tournament — with both bat and ball — will be awarded Rs5,000 each.”

The players participating in the tournament range in age and locality, coming from all wakes of life and areas of the city. “The average age is 19 but we have girls as young as 14 and as old as 26,” said Hadeel. “It is also heartening to see the interest of parents in these matches. They come here to watch their daughters play a proper cricket tournament.”