HYDERABAD: The focus will be on former India captain Sourav Ganguly when he plays for Cricket Association of Bengal in the all-India Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup invitation cricket tournament commencing at different venues here from September 2.

Ganguly has expressed his eagerness to perform well and thereby send a message to the selectors that he is still in the business of scoring runs. D.S. Chalapathi, Joint Secretary, Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), told the media on Thursday that Ganguly had confirmed his participation in the tournament, which will feature 20 teams and will be played over three days on a knock-out basis.

The top four teams will qualify for the semifinals. The final will be played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium (Uppal) from September 18 to 20.

Big guns in action

The other big guns in the tournament include V.V.S. Laxman, who will lead Hyderabad, Y. Venugopala Rao, skipper of Andhra and Dinesh Mongia among others.

Dr. M.V. Sridhar, Senior Vice-President of HCA, said the format was reverted to the original three-day affair after experimenting with limited-overs matches for a few years.

"There is no specific reason except to give chances to the players to blossom in different formats over a period of time," he said.

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