East Delhi Premier League to be held in November: BJP MP Gautam Gambhir

BJP MP Gautam Gambhir on Friday announced to host a T20 cricket tournament on the lines of the Indian Premier League in east Delhi. He made the announcement during the inauguration of the newly redeveloped archery-cum-cricket stadium at DDA Yamuna Sports Complex here. The stadium was inaugurated virtually by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal.

Former Indian cricketer Gambhir said East Delhi Premier League will be held in the second week of November this year in which teams from 10 constituencies in east Delhi will participate, adding that the matches will be played at the Yamuna Sports Complex. The ground will host both cricket and archery day and night, he said.

According to DDA officials, the cricket ground in the complex has been upgraded to Ranji Trophy standards with facilities, including two dressing rooms, high mast lights for night cricket, six pitches, practice pitches, digital scoreboard display and canopy. The entire project cost around Rs 9.25 crore, they said. Gambhir said players from the age group of 17 to 36 years will be playing in the tournament. He said auctions for the team will be held soon.

"Every team will be auctioned with a fixed base price. Money received from sponsors will be used to provide facilities to the players in the team,” the BJP MP said in a statement.

He said the purpose of the tournament is to give people from the region an opportunity to play cricket. Meanwhile, Delhi L-G congratulated the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for the project and said many facilities at DDA sports complexes have been upgraded in the last two years, including relaying of tennis, basketball and outdoor badminton courts. DDA vice chairman Anurag Jain said Master Plan Delhi 2041 is expected to be approved by December 2021.

“This will be the first time that the Master Plan of Delhi will be approved in time. Besides, Transit Oriented Development (TOD) policy was approved by DDA and redevelopment of the New Delhi Railway Station will be the first project under the policy,” he said.