Srinagar: Cricket fever has caught up the valley with Jammu and Kashmir getting ready to host two Twenty20 matches between local cricketers and South African university students.

The cricketing event is a part of the state's initiative to promote sports tourism in the state. The tourists will be divided into two group - juniors and seniors.

The seniors will start their campaign at the Kashmir University ground in Hazratbal while the juniors will battle it out at the Delhi Public School ground near Pantha Chowk, Director, Tourism, Farooq Ahmad Shah said.

The South African students had expressed their desire to play cricket, Shah said. The director said the state had potential for sports tourism involving cricket as the Sher-e-Kashmir cricket stadium was one of the most attractive venues in the world.

Asked if the snapping of air traffic between Srinagar and other parts of the country for the past few days would play spoilsport, Shah said it will not be a hurdle.

Sher-e-Kashmir cricket stadium here has hosted two one-day internationals featuring the then mighty West Indies in 1983 and the Australians in 1986 against India, who lost both the matches.

Source : PTI