In a bid to foster a better relationship between civilians and cops, the Hyderabad city police on Tuesday said that it was organising a cricket tournament where civilians and policemen would play together.
The tournament will be called the Hyderabad Police League or HPL 20:20 and the inaugural match will be held at the Barkas grounds on April 21.
In a statement, the Hyderabad Commissioner of Police, Anjani Kumar, said that he wanted more than 80,000 citizens and cricket enthusiasts from the city to participate.
After the inaugural match, every police zone will have inaugural matches in their jurisdiction.
“Every sector within a police station will have a team. Then there will be police station level matches, division level matches, zonal level matches and the final match will be held at the LB Stadium in Uppal,” the Commissioner said.
“We will request the Hyderabad Cricket Association and former players of Hyderabad to be associated with this, to motivate the youth of this historical city. We have many famous cricket players here and we dream of producing more cricket prodigies,” he added.
The Hyderabad police will also tie up with the Sports Authority of Telangana for the tournament.
A new feature of the tournament will be the introduction of a women’s team, the Commissioner said.
The public have been asked to get in touch with their local SHOs or their sector Sis if they are interested in taking part.
“All matches will start early in the morning and will be over by 10:30 am. Few matches will be played in the evening as well. Every team will have a colour and a theme which represents the area they come from,” the police statement reads.
The police also said that there would be special awards for highest runs, highest wicket taker, best strike rate, most sixes, most catches, best partnership, best wicketkeeper and so on.
“Come and join us. Become our team mates and play together to make Hyderabad a happier and healthier city,” the Commissioner appealed to the public.