Mokokchung, January 4 (MExN): The 25th edition of the Mokokchung District Cricket Associations (MDCA) Tournament is all set to begin on January 5 where 12 teams will battle it out against each other to lift the district’s biggest cricket trophy on the 15th. The matches will be played in the T20 format at Imkongmeren Sports Complex. The 12 teams are divided into 4 pools with three teams each and the top two teams from each pool will move on to the knock-out stages. There are about 30 clubs registered with the MDCA out of which only 12 turned up for this year’s competition. However, although the number of teams competing are comparatively lesser this year, the quality of matches promises to be far better this time with more matches going all the way down to the wire as all the local talents are evenly represented in all the teams.
Another exciting feature about the tournament is the presence of players from other states too. Four Assam-based players Sadek Imran, Biplab Saikia, Azar Ali and Bastav will be playing for Team Bendangsunep. They play for the Under-19 and U-23 teams of that state. Some of Nagalandr’s top cricket players are also reportedly playing for various teams including Imliwati and Tejasol for Sovran CC, Sunny and Rohit for Titans CC while Hokaito Zhimomi, Vicky Hangsing and Jalal Uddin Laskar are playing for Züngameden CC.
The top two Naga cricket players today, Jonathan Rongsen Longkumer and Hokaito Zhimomi, are both featuring in this tournament, playing for Sovran CC and Züngameden CC respectively. They are perhaps the only two Naga cricketers playing in the Ranji Trophy – Jonathan plays for the Railways while Hokaito plays for Assam – and their playing in this tournament is expected to help attract more interest in the game in the district. Another interesting feature is the presence of Longmiasang CC from Mopungchuket village, the only team from the rural areas playing in this tournament. MDCA Trophy is perhaps one of the oldest cricket tournaments in the state. There has also been a change of leadership in the MDCA recently and it is expected that the sport would gain more fan following in the following years.
