Chandigarh: JP Atray cricket organisers to revisit 50-over format
With popularity of T20 format and other 50-over initiatives from BCCI state units coming up around this time of the year, tournaments like the JP Atray Memorial have taken a hit
It’s that time of the year when the tricity is abuzz with action preparing players in the run-up to the domestic season of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Running into its 30th edition, the ongoing 50-over All-India JP Atray Memorial Cricket Tournament, once known for bringing top-notch cricketers to the matches in Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali, is featuring 12 teams this year, its lowest number of participants.
Faced with challenges in recent years due to fewer sponsors and more cricket tournaments, including T20 leagues, being organised by state associations, fewer teams are turning up and the ones which are coming are mostly a mix of Under-19 and Under-23 teams. This time, the Punjab Cricket Association has fielded its U-23 team in the tournament and not the senior state team.
Punjab’s Manish Sharma, a former India U-19 batter who was assistant coach of the Punjab U-23 team in the tournament, gets nostalgic as he recalls the heydays. “We took the JP Atray tournament seriously. Strong teams competed but things have changed now. The state-organised T20 leagues are happening at the same time, while other state associations organise red-ball or white-ball tournaments are also being held. The window is short,” he says.
Due to the popularity of the T20 format and coming up of T20 leagues and other 50-over initiatives from the BCCI state units around this time, tournaments like JP Atray Memorial have taken a hit. In fact, the reputed Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup 50-over Tournament, being organised in Hyderabad since the 1930s, was scrapped in 2018.
Time to reinvent
Usually, 16 teams participated in the JP Atray Memorial, but this year only 12 are competing. They have been divided into four pools playing the 50-over competition on a league-cum-knockout basis.
Former cricketer and retired Panchkula-based IAS officer Vivek Atray, 58, who is also the convener of the tournament in his father’s memory, said: “Thirty years is a long time. We have to maintain the level and standards. This time, the level of teams was not according to the standards expected so we’ve got only 12 playing.”
The tournament began on September 20 and the final will be played at the IS Bindra PCA Stadium on September 30. The winning team will walk away with ₹2 lakh. Teams from North India, including Delhi, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh and teams like Indian Railways, CAG are competing in the tournament.
“Calendars are packed. It has become difficult to invite teams for our tournament as the state associations now have their own T20 Leagues and these leagues are big. We are facing a space crunch. Every state has two to three teams of various age-groups now, so, sometimes age-group teams compete in the tournament. Punjab doesn’t field their top team in the tournament anymore,” he said.
The tournament is organised annually in memory of Jai Prakash Atray, a former deputy inspector general, CID, Haryana, who was a cricket enthusiast and worked with the Haryana Cricket Association briefly. He died in 1991, and the tournament began in 1992. Since then, the tournament could not be held for three-four times for various reasons but in 2025 it completes 30 years.
Speaking on the sidelines of the tournament, Vivek Atray, who has played club cricket in the past, said: “The organising committee, comprising 10 members, would need to revisit its strategy for future editions. The timing of the tournament can be reworked.”
Ground to glory
Organising the tournament has had its ups and downs. “The first five years in the’90s were tough as we had to get the teams here by flight or train. We would arrange their stay and it was difficult to get sponsorships. Gradually, the situation eased as teams started paying entry fees and we would arrange the matches with a small band of volunteers. More than 16 teams usually took part and played 29 matches,” Atray said.
The tournament is organised under the aegis of the Punjab Cricket Association and PCA Colts XI won the last edition. “The PCA panel of scorers and umpires are officiating in the tournament. PCA Colts, alongside HPCA, JKCA, UTCA, Indian Railways and other teams are participating,” said Capt Sushil Kapoor (retd), the organising secretary of the tournament.
The tournament, which has seen the likes of former India captains Kapil Dev, Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and other Indian international cricketers competing in the past, is being played at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh PCA International Stadium, Mullanpur; IS Bindra PCA International Stadium, Mohali; Sector 16 Cricket Stadium, Chandigarh; Tau Devi Lal Cricket Stadium, Panchkula; and Mahajan Cricket Academy, Chandigarh, with the final to be played at IS Bindra PCA International Stadium, Mohali.
Players like Chetan Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir Ajinkya Rahane, Ashish Nehra, Shikhar Dhawan, Jaspreet Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant and Abhishek Sharma have played in the tournament in the past.
Sharing memorable moments from the past editions, Atray said, “The finals of the tournament have been thrillers. Shikhar Dhawan hit centuries in two of them. Once, Dhoni hit as many as 11 sixes in the Sector 16 stadium and most of the balls were lost.”
Sharing the illustrious past, Deepinder Chabra, who owned Leaders in Cricket Club earlier that competed in previous editions regularly, said: “The JP Atray tournament had tremendous reach. Teams from across the country would book their slots. I remember former India captain Sourav Ganguly playing for my club when he was trying to make a comeback in Team India in 2006. The tournament has seen the finest cricketers making a mark and then making their India debut.”
