The Indian cricket board’s decision to invite two teams from Air India in their upcoming one-crore prize money corporate tournament has not gone down well with some of the other institutions in the fray in the inaugural event.

The tournament, to be held from September 1-8, will feature Air India (West) and Air India (North), who will include players from the former Indian Airlines. Air India and Indian Airlines had merged almost two years ago and have since played under the unified banner. “We have been invited to enter two teams because the BCCI realised that we have a large pool of players. It would be unjustified to leave out a huge chunk of them,” an Air India official confirmed on Friday.

But not many rival teams agree with this logic. “If that is true, teams such as ONGC and India Cements also have a huge pool of players from which they can make three teams,” an official from ONGC told The Indian Express.

“My understanding is that it should be 12 different institutions. If this tournament is done to promote job opportunities, having two teams from Air India defies all logic. In the current scenario, there have been reports that the company cannot even retain its complete staff. So how will they hire new people?” he asked.

As reported earlier, the board had not invited prominent corporate teams such as Chemplast and Indian Railways for the competition.

Not here, requests Delhi

In another development, the DDCA has again requested the board not to hold the event in the city, stressing that the delayed monsoon has prevented work to be completed on the relaid Ferozeshah Kotla pitch. “Kotla will not be ready before September 15, and it needs five-six practice matches before settling in for competitive games,” chief curator Daljeet Singh said.