Organising Cricket Tournaments A New Mafia In Kashmir: Cricketers

Srinagar: Organising cricket tournaments in Kashmir has become a new mafia as cricketers allege that 90 percent of the money goes into the pocket of organisers while peanuts are being given to winners.

Aijaz Ahmad a cricketer from Pulwama told that organising cricket tournaments in Kashmir has become a business as just few hundred rupees are given to the winners and runner ups while rest goes into the pocket of organisers.

He said that recently a cricket tournament was organized in Murran area of Pulwama district and at least 32 teams were part of it.

“The organisers took around Rs 1.25 lakh from the teams but at the final they hardly disturbed Rs 15,000 among winners, runners ups,” Aijaz said.

“Same thing is going on in other tournaments as well, the government must take cognizance of the issue as players belonging to economically weak families are unable to play in tournaments despite having talent,” he said.

Ashiq Hussain, another player from Srinagar raising the same concern said that the organisers are filling their pockets and are giving just peanuts to teams and players.

“Mostly the organizers conduct knock out tournaments and even for a single match Rs 3000 to Rs 4000 is taken as fee from a team,” Hussain said.

“On individual level we tried to change this trend but we have failed,” he said.

Players said that the authorities must take cognizance of the issue so that this mafia will be stopped.

“No tournament with a huge amount of fee should be allowed to take place anywhere so that players belonging to weak families can also participate and showcase their talent,” they said. (KNO)