By Aijaz Ahmed Khan

JEDDAH — The CIT Saudi Premier League T20 Cup, 3rd Edition, was unveiled by Chief Guest Naser Gulaid, president and CEO of CIT (Canadian International Trading Company) Group, main sponsors of the event. Before unveiling the Cup, Gulaid wished all participating teams the very best and said that it has been a privilege for CIT Group to be the main sponsors for such a meticulously organized event and assured them of his management’s support for the next edition too.

A. A. Merchant welcomed Gulaid, JCA’s Executive Patron Dr. Faiz Al Abideen, President Aijaz Ahmed Khan, Vice President Hamid Rana Afandi, Executive Secretary Haroon Abdulla and fellow executive committee members. He welcomed SPL co-sponsors representative of Initial Services Group, Ace Travel, Hyderabad Sharks, Air India, Khind Electronics, Arrow Foods Distribution Company (Mizo Juices), SIPCO (Pepsi), Malik Aijaz, UT Lines, Syed Zahid Ali, CEO Madinah Cricket Association, media personnel, captains of participating clubs, panel of umpires and elite members of Indian and Pakistani community. Merchant briefly outlined JCA’s history, success of first two editions (2015-16 and 2016-17) of SPL, which has been the brain-child of Abdulla.

Al Abideen reiterated that JCA is a close-knit parcel of what society has to offer and reminded all present by bringing back old memories of what he stated few years back that JCA will change the face of cricket in KSA, and it has by the spectacular success of two SPL and two Saudi Cup. He thanked CIT and all co-sponsors for standing shoulder to shoulder with JCA with their solid support, dedicated executive committee led by CEO Mohammed Iqbal and Khan and their diligent working team and wished participating teams success with the increased amount of prizes at stake in SPL 3rd Edition.

Khan thanked chief guest and all co-sponsors for their support, press and media representatives, sub-continent’s community representatives for their support to JCA activities throughout the year and looked forwarded for similar commitment in future. He appreciated Abdulla’s commitment to make SPL better and innovative, umpires panel for their strict conduct of matches, commentator Aamir Ghaffar for his running commentary and Syed Abdul Rafay for entertainment during the entire SPL.

Afandi, while highlighting JCA’s success role in developing and spreading cricket, informed captains of participating teams present on the occasion that CIT has given them a better platform than the previous year to achieve greater success; they must accept it with a positive attitude to the satisfaction of the sponsor for future commitment from them.

All grounds have been readied for the opening ceremony of 12 teams who will play each other on a round-robin league with 4 top teams entering the playoffs comprising qualifier, eliminator 1 & 2, and the final.

MCA CEO Syed Zahid Ali thanked Samir Nidal of My Care Hala for having sponsored SPL in Madinah last year in association with JCA. He presented plaques to Nidal, Afandi, and Abdulla for the successful conduct of SPL Madinah and to Shahid Naeem of GEO News for the prompt coverage of the same.