Jamshedpur, April 8: Posting a letter at a post office could well prove to be a memorable experience for both the cricket-lover as well as the philately enthusiast. Unfortunately, the offer is only for Saturday.

A special postmark to commemorate the third One-Day International between India and Pakistan will be released by the Jamshedpur Philately Society tomorrow at the Bistupur head post office by the senior superintendent of postal services, Shanker Das.

The postmark, according to Ashok Tiwary, assistant secretary of the society, will be round-shaped and bear the symbol of a batsman in action. The postmark was made possible due to the efforts of the Jamshedpur Philately Society which had applied to the chief postmaster of Jharkhand circle, Ranchi, almost a fortnight back. ?After being granted the permission and depositing a fee of Rs 1,500 with the department of post and telegraph, we have managed to bring this memorabilia to the city on the occasion of the match,? Tiwary said.

According to Tiwary, it is for the first time in Jamshedpur that a sports event is being commemorated through a postmark. In the past few years, events like inauguration of Tata Timken in 1991, birth centenary of J.R.D. Tata last year and 75 years of industrial harmony have gone down the postal records with specially made postmarks to mark the occasions.

?There is a dual purpose behind such postmarks. Since every event cannot be displayed on stamps, postmarks turn out to be very subtle commemoration of events that hold great importance in the city. These also turn out to be good collectors? items, especially for the philatelist, for whom every stamp and a unique postmark tells a tale,? Tiwary said.

The postmark, bearing the symbol, will replace the usual round plain postmark on the day of the cricket match.

Though the initiative of the Jamshedpur Philately Society is well lauded by the stamp collectors, they feel restricting it to just the head post office is unfair. ?Though a letter bearing the symbol of a batsman is meant for collection, the decision to limit the issue of the postmarks only to the head post office is unjust. It would have been a great idea if all the post offices in the city had the provision of issuing these postmarks. But I would still post a self-addressed letter tomorrow so that I get to keep the unique postmark for myself,? stated Rachita Anand, a philately enthusiast.