Jaipur, 26 November 2019: In a bid to further strengthen the sport at the grassroots level in the state, IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals today announced the launch of a first-ever school level competition for girls in the state, named Rajasthan Royals School Girls’ Cup, which is scheduled to be held from 27 – 29 November 2019 at the Jaipuria Cricket Academy.
The Rajasthan Royals School Girls’ Cup will be a T20 competition to be contested between U-19 girls’ teams from four schools – Mayo College Girls’ School (Ajmer), St Teresa’s School (Jaipur), Jaipuria Vidyalaya (Jaipur) and Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls’ School (Jaipur). The tournament will follow a round-robin format, with the four teams playing each other once in the group stage, followed by the top two teams contesting in the Final match on 29 November 2019 at 1300hrs IST.
Ranjit Barthakur, Executive Chairman of Rajasthan Royals, spoke highly of this new initiative, “With Rajasthan being a well-known hub for talented young players, we started this initiative to give a platform to the young girls from the state. We know there is no dearth of talent in the state, and it’s imperative that the budding cricketers get access to top quality competition and comprehensive training. We are very delighted to be part of empowering women’s cricket in the region.”
Rajasthan Royals’ official girls’ talent pool, Royal Sparks, will also be actively featuring during the competition, with two members – Manasvi and Yashasvi Katta – set to represent the Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls’ School, while other Sparks will be a part of event operations team in order to gain valuable match-day operations’ experience.
The tournament will see fierce competition between the four sides with a total of seven players from Mayo College Girls’ School, Ajmer and Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls’ School, Jaipur, having already been part of the School Games Federation of India (SGFI) national camps and having made it to the national team in the past.
Rajasthan Royals’ Fielding Coach, Dishant Yagnik believes that the tournament will give much-needed match exposure to the girls. “Our objective with the Rajasthan Royals School Girls’ Cup is to ensure that the participating young players are playing in a professional set up as early as possible, and are getting the relevant opportunities to showcase their skills. We are hoping the tournament will potentially give them a launchpad to be a part of the Royal Sparks,” said Yagnik.
