In all 11 teams have been divided into two groups of five and six teams with top two sides progressing to the semi-finals of the tournament that kicks off on Wednesday. CAN has been asked to change

the domestic structure in order to develop the game from players as well as the Asian Cricket Council in recent times.

The only change in the tournament this time around is holding it in two two cities — Kathmandu and Pokhara. CAN came up with an excuse that it had no time to conduct a round robin format with Nepal scheduled to play the ACC Premier League beginning from May 1 in Malaysia.

“Due to time constraint we were not able to go for the round robin league format,” CAN General Secretary Ashok Nath Pyakurel said. “We even spread the game to Pokhara so that the players will get at least a week-long camp before heading for Malaysia.”

According to the General Secretary, CAN will include a two-day format in their calendar from next year to strengthen the domestic structure. “We will hold the Prime Minister’s Cup — a two-day tournament — for both senior men’s and women’s team,” informed Pyakurel.

An estimated budget of the tournament is Rs 2.8 million of which only Rs 3,00,000 has been set aside as prize money. The eventual champions will get Rs 1,50,000 and the runners-up Rs 1,00,000. Player of the Series, best batsman and best bowler will also get cash rewards.

Region 3 (Kathmandu) will take on Region 4 (Bhairahawa) at the Pulchowk Engineering College ground and Region  2 (Birgunj) will play Region 5 (Nepalgunj) at the Pokhara Stadium on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Kathmandu has lured  Samsung Smart Phone as sponsor for the one-day national tournament. As per the agreement the team will get two sets of jersey and a match fee of Rs 5,00 for each cricketers.