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ShareMumbai: Come Independence Day, cricket, literally speaking, will be reaching new heights. In a unique concept, an All Stars match comprising former greats has been organised on top of the Bernese Alps. Yesteryear cricketers like Kapil Dev, Ajay Jadeja, Chris Broad and John Embury will feature in the 5-overs-a-side match, the first of its kind being held in snow. Each team will consist of six players.
The match was announced at a press conference on Wednesday. Speaking on the occasion, Jean-Philip Benoit of Swiss Air and Daniela Fuchs said that the purpose of holding such a cricket match was more than just promoting tourism. "Almost every game -- from football to tennis and from skiing to scuba diving -- is played in Switzerland. However, we hardly see cricket being played in our country," Benoit, the India head of Swiss Airlines, said.
Jaideep Singh Parmar who has been the brainchild behind this concept said that a cricket pitch will be created at 11,333 feet. "The pitch has been laid on a wooden base which will be laid on the snow field. The length of the wicket will be 18 yards instead of the usual 22 yards while the boundary itself will be of 30-yard radius," Parmar said.
When asked about the kind of ball that will be used, he remarked that because of the windy conditions they were experimenting with different types of balls. "The breeze will play an important part. A red-coloured hard tennis ball is what we plan to use," he said. The other rules of snow cricket will be similar to beach cricket, he added.
Daniela Fuchs, head of sales of Jungfraubahnen, said that though the temptation of involving Bollywood celebrities was quite high, it was decided to involve cricket players for promoting the sport. "May be, we could work something out in the future," she said.
Teams: India: Kapil Dev, Ajay Jadeja, Sandeep Patil, Syed Kirmani, Roger Binny, Anshuman Gaekwad; All Stars: Alvin Kallicharran, Geoff Howarth, John Embury, Chris Broad, Collis King, Neal Radford; Umpires: Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and Farokh Engineer.
