After actor Abhishek Bachchan explored the chaotic yet touching life inside the Walled city with Delhi 6, here comes the sequel — starring Virender Sehwag.

The swashbuckling Indian opener, who is recuperating from a shoulder injury, will be present to inspire youngsters at the Ramlila maidan on the Friday night premiere of the Delhi Daredevils Cricket Dhamaka — a six-a-side, tennis-ball competition exclusively for the Walled City.

The three-day competition, to be held on July 17, 18 and 19 under lights, will pit eight teams from different mohallas of Chandni Chowk for the prize money. The players will also vie for an opportunity to enroll themselves in the IPL team’s coaching scheme, and thereby win a chance to bulldoze into mainstream cricket.

Daredevils COO Amrit Mathur told Newsline on Tuesday: “Whenever you pass through the Walled City, you see kids playing on the streets or colonising any free space for a good game of cricket. This area is also considered the heart of Delhi. So, when the Daredevils thought of organising a tournament to take forward the momentum of the IPL and to connect more with the public, we decided the venture had to start from this place. The game has so many die-hard fans here; they are very passionate about their cricket.”

“The emphasis is not so much on the prize money. Rather, we wanted to give these players a platform to showcase their skills and also to meet their heroes face-to-face.”

The tournament will be played under the standard six-a-side rules on a league-cum-knockout basis — five-overs-a-side, where every player apart from the wicketkeeper will bowl one over each. Any batsman, who scores more than 30, also has to retire. “Tennis ball cricket is so popular that we didn’t want to tamper too much with the format. These teams are also used to playing the game every evening. I am sure we will see some very entertaining cricket and am confident of huge turnouts. If we spot good talent in the competition, we will absorb them under our coaching scheme,” Mathur added.

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