FAQ
Follow UsYou must be wondering what is the Buchi Babu Memorial Tournament?
One of Indian cricket’s oldest and most prestigious tournaments is back, and this year, the tournament is much grander than before, with the return of both Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan, who reignite their red-ball ambitions.
So, tell me, why this name?
Mothavarapu Venkata Mahipathi Naidu, popularly known as Buchi Babu Naidu, was a pioneer in bringing cricket to the masses in the then-Madras. His idea of bringing a Madras Presidency match allowed the best players in the city to take part and showcase their skills against the Englishmen.
However, his untimely demise before the first edition led to the tournament being named after him. While it was a local tournament with the club, to begin with, it transformed into an invitational tournament later in the 1960s.
Believe it or not, it was the biggest fixture in the Indian cricketing calendar before the Ranji Trophy began in the 1930s.
What are some of the names featured in the tournament, then?
“After the 1971 tour to the West Indies, Sunil Gavaskar came to play Buchi Babu that year for ACC against Jolly Rovers at Loyola College. There were 10,000 people to see who Sunil Gavaskar was. I was a seventh-standard boy and watched him play for the first time,” Kris Srikkanth told The Hindu.
Even the likes of Srikkanth, Mohammad Azharuddin, and Sourav Ganguly have featured at later periods in the tournament’s history.
Okay, can you tell me about the tournament?
It is a four-day clash tournament between 12 teams, who are drawn into four groups of three each. While there are 10 state teams, there will be two teams from Tamil Nadu, the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) President’s XI and TNCA XI.
The groups are divided in this order:
Group A: Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Hyderabad
Group B: Railways, Gujarat and TNCA President’s XI
Group C: Mumbai, Haryana and TNCA XI
Group D: Jammu & Kashmir, Chattisgarh and Baroda
When’s it starting this year, and what is the schedule like?
Oops, sorry. I was so caught up in giving you the detailed information that I forgot the basics. The near-month-long tournament begins on August 15 (scheduling right on cue), with the next two rounds set for August 21 and August 27. Baroda will take on Chhattisgarh in the last group clash.
The two semi-finals will be played simultaneously on September 2 and the final on September 8.
What are some of the big clashes, you ask?
Oh, the curtain-raiser, the contest between Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand on August 15 in Tirunelveli, is a cracking contest. Mumbai’s fixture against Haryana in Coimbatore, too, is enticing.
There’s also the fixture between Gujarat and the TNCA President’s XI in Salem on August 27.
WHERE????
Calm down. This year’s competition will be held at Natham (Dindigul), Salem Cricket Foundation Ground in Salem, SNR College Cricket Ground in Coimbatore, and Indian Cement Company Ground in Tirunelveli.
Tirunelveli will host the first semi-final, while Natham will be host to the second semi-final and the final.
There’s a cash prize too!!
The winner will take home INR 3 Lakh, and the runner-up INR 2 Lakh.
So, who won last year?
Last year, it was Chandrakant Pandit’s Madhya Pradesh who beat Delhi in the final by 250 runs to lift the trophy at the Sri Ramakrishna College Ground. MP’s Sumit Kushwah was the best player from last year’s event.
“It was a great experience for the young, talented boys. The way they have played the entire tournament, they can take a lot of confidence and continue. There were a lot of good individual performances as well,” Pandit told The Hindu.
Who were some of the top performers?
Musheer Khan was one of the names who put on a stellar show last year in the Buchi Babu Invitational tournament, where he carved a niche for himself.
Read: Musheer Khan: carving his own story beyond Sarfaraz's shadow
Not only did Musheer dismantle the Delhi bowlers with a century, but he also ensured that the tournament would make the audience capture their imagination about the cricketer’s talent, with him later going on to become an integral part of India’s U-19 World Cup plans, where they were bested in the final.
Okay, now time for big names
Two big names have already confirmed their presence for the upcoming tournament: Mumbai’s Suryakumar Yadav and Jharkhand’s Ishan Kishan.
Sarfaraz Khan will lead Mumbai in Ajinkya Rahane’s absence. Shams Mulani and Angkrish Raghuvanshi won’t be available for the tournament due to injury concerns. Barring those, there is still no confirmation about the rest of the squads.
Will it be telecast?
Unfortunately, no details of a telecast are available yet, but live streaming will be on TNCA’s app.
Here are the first-round fixtures!
August 15-18:
Madhya Pradesh vs Jharkhand, Tirunelveli
Railways vs Gujarat, Salem
Mumbai vs Haryana, Coimbatore
Jammu and Kashmir vs Chhattisgarh, Natham
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