CricInfo Rani Jhansi tournament from April 2

The Rani Jhansi tournament, the premier national cricketing event for women in the country, is being sponsored this year by CricInfo and will be held in Chennai from April 2 to 8.

Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, the president of the organising unit Tamil Nadu Women's Cricket Association said the tournament features the cream of the Indian cricketing talent. ``The tournament is a challenge to the organisation capacity of the TNWCA especially as the competition will be played on turf wickets. Moreover, this year's tournament assumes added significance as the Indian team for the World Cup, to be held in New Zealand later this year, will be selected based on the performances during the week long event.'' About 30 probables will be chosen at the end of the tournament.

The CricInfo Rani Jhansi tournament 2000 will have seven participating teams - South Zone, East Zone, North Zone, Central Zone, West Zone, Indian Railways and Air India. The tournament is played on a round robin format with each team playing 50 overs a side. There will be three matches every day and the games would be held at the CPT-IP, ICF, AC Tech, IIT, Southern Railway and Sree Ramachandra Medical grounds. On the last two days, matches will be played at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chepauk.

This is the first time that the Rani Jhansi tournament has a corporate sponsor and Murari Venkatraman, CEO, CricInfo India, while speaking on the occasion, said ``women's cricket has come a long way and the Indian team ranks amongst the top four international teams. In spite of having players of international calibre, our team has come close but never won the World Cup yet. With support, encouragement and proper preparation, I am sure that the Indian women's team stands a very good chance of bringing home the World Cup.'' Incidentally, CricInfo had announced on February 15 this year that it would be sponsoring the Women's World Cup 2000.

Sudha Shah, former Indian captain and coach of the Indian women's team for the 1997 World Cup said, ``it is a welcome move to conduct the Rani Jhansi tournament seven months in advance. This will provide enough time for the selected team to prepare for the CricInfo Women's World Cup to be played in New Zealand from Nov 28 to Dec 23.

Indian Railways and Air India are favourites to win the tournament. Along with other teams, the two teams had played in the senior Women's championship held at Jorhat from March 20 to 27. Railways were the winners on that occasion when the teams battled it out for the CricInfo Trophy.