How the Saath7 cricket tournament in Rajasthan is aiming to set a Guinness World Record

Cricket has come a long way over the years. What started with men dressed in white has now seen the sport evolve into a 20-over format. The game has grown by leaps and bounds, and to continue the tradition, Rajasthan now are all set to create a Guinness World Record, with their new initiative.

Imagine a tournament with more than 40,000 cricketers and close to 4000 teams participating in tit. Yes, the ‘Wonder Cement #Saath7 Cricket Mahotsav’ aims to reach that feat with its 7-a side tournament. Former Indian captain Kapil Dev inaugrated the event last month and the tournament is set to commence from 10th of December, 2015, with the sole aim to promote budding talent in India.

The winners will be awarded Rs. 3,40,000/- whereas the Runners-up will walk away with a sum of Rs. 1,40,000/-.

“The thought process came 4-5 months back in an internal discussion as we wanted to spread our brand awareness in the rural market, so we just came up with this idea of cricket and eventually started thinking about it and just landed with the idea of ‘#Saath7’ where there will be seven players and seven overs,” Vivek Patni, the director of Wonder Cement told Sportskeeda.

The tournament is set to last for a total of four weeks and will see a 7-over game. The event has also promoted the participation from women, by awarding seven runs to a team if a girl is a part of the playing squad.

Any resident of Rajasthan can be a part of this tournament by registering his / her team by visiting Wonder Cement’s selective authorised dealers across the state. Anyone over the age of 15 is permitted to play in the tournament. Registrations are free of cost.

After 15 hit-out matches between the 16 shortlisted teams, the winning team will emerge as the Team of the Tehsil. Tehsil Teams will then converge at District Headquarters and face each other to shortlist the District Team. 33 District Teams converge at 6 Zones around Rajasthan to identify 6 Zonal Teams. 6 Zonal Teams meet at Udaipur on the 10th of January 2016 for the Playoffs.