Kings XI Punjab kicks off IPL fever with Kings XI Punjab Cup

Kings XI Punjab on January 27, 2009, officially inaugurated its Season II of Indian Premier League (IPL) with the launch of the Kings XI Punjab Cup, a T-20 format game to be played between five teams from the Kings XI Punjab’s catchment area of Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, and Himachal Pradesh. The tournament will be conducted in Chandigarh and Mohali over a period of six days starting January 28 with the finals scheduled for February 2 at the PCA Stadium.

Preity Zinta, co-promoter of Kings XI Punjab, said, “Last year, the franchise promised to offer an opportunity to nurture talent at grass root levels. The Kings XI Punjab Cup is our first initiative in this direction, aimed at identifying and developing North Indian talent. We look forward to encouraging our budding cricketers selected through this tournament to play alongside the playing 11 of our team through this tournament and various other programs under the Kings XI Punjab Academy.”

The KXIP Cup will be played in a round robin format and will comprise of five teams, two from Punjab – the PCC XI and PCA Colts – and one each from the other three states of Haryana – Haryana Colts, Himachal Pradesh – HPCA Colts, and Jammu & Kashmir – JKCA Colts. Each team will comprise 14 players and two officials. Every team will get a chance to play the other teams once and the top two teams will qualify for the finals. Two games will be played every day with the matches being played at the PCA Stadium, Mohali and Sector 16 Stadium, Chandigarh.

Tom Moody, Coach, Kings XI Punjab, said, “It is a very exciting time for us all as the KXIP Cup draws near, the competition will allow us to find and recruit cricketers out of our region. The opportunity for our emerging talent could well be life changing, we are setting up our Kings XI Punjab Academy in conjunction with the PCA to help develop players for the future.”

The Kings XI Punjab Academy will also scout for talent across India through open trials on February 16 and 17 at the PCA Stadium in Mohali.

This year, the franchise promoters have decided not to levy any Gate Money for the inaugural 2009 Cup, thus keeping their focus on nurturing skill and passion for the game at the grassroots level.

Kings XI Punjab is part of the eight competing teams promoted by the DLF Indian Premier League. It is held and promoted by a consortium, which includes, industrialists Mohit Burman, Karan Paul, Ness Wadia and actress Preity Zinta. The team is led by Yuvraj Singh, who is also the icon player and captain.