Ahmedabad: Sports are the best means to bury the hatchet and to usher in an atmosphere of mutual trust and harmony between different communities.

Towards achieving this objective, the Ahmedabad Police have organized a tennis ball cricket tournament to be played at Bombay Housing Cricket Ground in Saraspur area of the city to ensure that the Jagannath Rath Yatra is held peacefully without communal tensions.

The tournament will be played by 18 teams, of which 16 teams will be formed from communally sensitive areas of the city and a team each of the Ahmedabad police and jail department will also participate.

Every team will have a ‘mixed’ membership comprising of both Hindus as well as Muslims and will be played between June 16 and June 19, almost a fortnight before the Rath Yatra scheduled for July 1.

Saraspur has been chosen as the venue because a ritual called ‘Mosalu’ during the Rath Yatra is held in the area.

There will be 12 overs per innings in every match up to the quarter finals, and play will start from 4 pm onwards. The pontiff of the Jagannath Temple, Dilipdasji Maharaj, will grace the tournament with his presence. Religious leaders from both faiths are also expected to be present at the tournament.

This initiative by the Ahmedabad police is particularly important when one considers the communally charged atmosphere all over the country following the Gyanvapi Mosque controversy and the allegedly insensitive remarks made by former BJP spokesperson, Nupur Sharma, against Prophet Mohammed in a TV debate.