Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu will be the chief guest on the final night of the Shimla Cricket Carnival-2026 to be organised at the Police Ground, Bharari, from June 1 to 13. A delegation of the Himalayan Sports and Cultural Youth Club, Shimla, paid a courtesy call on the Chief Minister on Wednesday to invite him as chief guest at the closing ceremony of the carnival. The Chief Minister accepted the invitation. The delegation also briefed Sukhu about the upcoming cricket carnival and its two main social objectives of chitta-free Shimla and environmental protection.
The organisers said that the carnival was a mass movement against the menace of “chitta” in Shimla, operating with the core mantra of “Quit Drugs – Play Sports”. They added that over 1,000 young players from all 34 wards of the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) would be participating in the tournament, making the journey from street cricket to professional knockouts.
To promote environmental conservation, the club had introduced a unique initiative where one sapling would be planted for every ‘dot ball’ bowled throughout the tournament. For the first time in the history of Shimla, cricket matches would be played day and night under floodlights at the Police Ground at Bharari.
The organisers said that the club would dedicate the cricket carnival to its late former members Sanjeev Thakur, Amit Thakur, Neeraj Thakur and Avinash Negi, who had lost their lives in the tragic Shiv Bawdi temple landslide in 2023.
The organisers stated that the carnival would serve as a powerful medium to channel the energy of the youth in the right direction and promote sportsmanship along with environmental responsibility in society.
