HPCA sets sight on Guinness Book of Records

It's a perfect case of big getting even bigger, or maybe the biggest. If the participation of 1,000 teams and 15,000 players wasn't mind-boggling enough, the numbers in the T20 tournament conduced by the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association have swollen further.

It's a perfect case of big getting even bigger, or maybe the biggest. If the participation of 1,000 teams and 15,000 players wasn't mind-boggling enough, the numbers in the T20 tournament conduced by the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association have swollen further.

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"We are expecting around 1,300 teams and about 18,000 players in the second edition," said HPCA spokesman Sanjay Sharma. Along with the numbers, the aspirations of HPCA have soared too. Last time, the association had approached the Limca Book of Records, but this time nothing short of the Guinness Book of World Records will do.

"We couldn't get the tournament registered in the Limca Book of Records due to some technical glitches, but this time we are well-informed and are confident of getting it registered as the biggest tournament in the Guinness Book of World Records."

The tournament, being held in all 52 sub-divisions on a knockout basis, has managed to take the sport to even the remotest parts of the hilly state. The HPCA will kick off the second edition on November 13 from Kalpa, a small town nestled in the mountainous Kinnaur.

While the primary idea behind hosting a tournament at this scale is to get mass participation, the HPCA, at the same time, feels it could help them unearth some serious talent, which will help the state grow as a cricketing power.

"We identified a couple of talented players in the first edition and now they are playing in our age-group state sides.

We hope to find more talented players this time and then put them in the system to hone their skills further," said Sharma.

The winning team will bag a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh, runners-up Rs 2 lakh and semi-finalists will take home Rs 51,000.