In a unique kind of exhibition match, star Bangladeshi cricketer Anamul Haque Bijoy is going to lock horns with team led by famous Kashmiri international cricketer Parvez Rasool in one-off ice cricket match at Pahalgam on February 15.
The idea is a brainchild of international cricket goods brand of J&K, Khan International Sports (KIS).
The organizers of the event said that they are working on to rope few more star cricketers from across the country, as well as from outside for the match.
So far, they said they have been successful in getting Bijoy for the match.
The 26-year-old wicketkeeper batsman, Bijoy was recently part of Bangladesh Premier League(BPL).
He will be arriving in New Delhi from Dhaka on Saturday evening, and then will straightaway head to Kashmir along with director KIS Firdous Khan.
“Bijoy has given us his confirmation. He will be leading the team against our very own star cricketer Parvez Rasool’s team. Bangladesh star cricketer yesterday finished his commitment with BPL T20. He will be arriving in New Delhi today,” said Khan.
KIS in collaboration with Tourism Department is planning to conduct 6-A-Side cricket match on ice at Baisaran, Pahalgam on February 15.
It will be one-off exhibition match in which team lead by Anamul Haque will take on team lead by Parvez Rasool.
“Last year similar ice cricket tournament of international level was held in Switzerland. I got inspired by that and wanted to conduct similar event in Kashmir. I floated the idea and got positive feedback from some cricketers including Haque and Parvez,” said Khan.
He added that they are mulling to conduct this event in future on big stage by bringing in more international cricketers from Bangladesh, West Indies and other countries.
Bijoy will lead the team named Valley Professionals, while as Rasool will be leading Valley Legends.
“Though we are yet to confirm all players for the match, but it will be mixture of outside and Kashmir based cricketers,” said Khan.
He said that they are also conducting trial match at the venue to check the preparedness for the big event.
“We don’t want any loophole before the main event. We want it to be a regular feature of international standard here. It will help local tourism industry during winter months, and also will give our cricketers a chance to play cricket throughout year,”Khan said.
Pertinently, famous South African cricketer Jhonty Rhodes was also involved in similar type of cricket on snow in Gulmarg few years ago. He played cricket match conducted by Tourism Department at Gulmarg along with some top cricketers of J&K.
Rasool, who is in Jammu to take part in ongoing selection trials for J&K’s T-20 team for Mushtaq Ali Trophy termed the event as “good idea”.
“I am looking forward to be a part of the event. It is the good idea to keep youngsters involved with the game in a fun way,” said Parvez.