Sportstar Trophy begins from May 2

Keeping this in mind, the MCA has now decided to hold the Sportstar Trophy (which forms the basis of selection for U-19 team) from May 2 to 8, shifting it from its scheduled slot of September which the tourney has occupied for 13 long years.

Giving reasons for the same, MCA secretary Ratnakar Shetty, while speaking at a press conference on Sunday said, “Firstly, we would get more time after the tournament to groom the probables selected for the Cooch Behar Trophy (held in December).”

“When the tourney was held in September, it would leave us with little time to pick up the right players and most of the time five or six boys, selected on the basis of the showing in the tourney, were found wanting ,” he explained.

In September, the wet pitches also helped bowlers perform exceptionally well which proved otherwise in the higher grade tournament, said Shetty.

MCA has also decided to do away with the “special nets” and will now choose the probables from the same tournament.

“We will seek help from senior players to train these probables in a week-long camp that will follow the tournament,” Shetty said.

He also informed the Kalpesh Koli tournament for Under-16 boys will now be played on a two-day format. This is done as MCA wants to curb the number of One-dayers the juniors are being exposed to, according to Shetty.

Four teams — Vijay Merchant XI, Dattu Phadkar XI, Vijay Manjrekar XI and Khandu Rangnekar XI — will fight it out for the Sporstar Trophy to be played on a round-robin format.
Schedule: May 2-4:Merchant XI vs Phadkar XI; Rangnekar XI vs Manjrekar XI May 9-11:

Phadkar XI vs Rangnekar XI; Manjrekar XI vs Merchant XI May 16-18:

Merchant XI vs Rangnekar XI; Manjrekar XI vs Phadkar XI.

Matches would be played at the Brabourne Stadium, Wankhede Stadium, Parsee Gymkhana and Elf-Vengsarkar Academy (Oval).