Fadhli Ishak
KUALA LUMPUR: THE Ramadhan Peace Cup is set to become an annual affair.
It is an effort to bring together players from all over the globe to promote international peace through cricket.
Malaysia Cricket Association (MCA) confirmed that the tournament is set to grow bigger in the future.
The inaugural edition of the two-week competition is now being hosted at the Kinrara Oval. It ends on May 31.
MCA deputy president Mohammed Iqbal Ali Kassim Ali said: “We want to position cricket as a peace ambassador that will bring people together.
“We (Malaysia) are a multi-ethnic nation and we have all the reason to have differences yet cricket brings us to a point where we are able to play it together.
“That is basically the spirit behind it. It is not that we do not care about what happens around us, but cricket must go on and it must champion peace.
“That is what we talked about (when discussing the tournament) years ago, and we are grateful that we have been able to get it moving.
“At the moment, we have players from Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and Malaysia competing but more nations will be involved in the future.”
The tournament, which features roughly 40 of Malaysia's best players this year, sees players of different nations being mixed together in each team.
Iqbal was speaking during a buka puasa event hosted by MCA at the Kinrara Oval on Tuesday prior to the preliminary match between Southern Hitters and Western Warriors.