Guwahati, May 4: Four years ago, Futuristic Event Managers ushered in the concept of corporate cricket, on the lines of the Merchants Cup of Calcutta. Now, the firm has come up with an innovation for its annual corporate tournament — a TV umpire, better known as the third umpire.

The fifth edition of the PIBCO Hero Honda Corporate Cup that begins at Nehru Stadium tomorrow will make use of a TV umpire for the first time in the Northeast.

“The TV umpire has been introduced not only to add glamour to the tournament but also to give an opportunity to veterans who are past their prime and may never get to play under the watchful eyes of a third umpire like in international cricket. It also helps to sort out possible disputes over close decisions,” organising body official Nishanta Bordoloi told The Telegraph.

Spectators can also catch the game on a giant 20-foot by 10-foot LCD screen at the stadium. All matches will be played under floodlights. Altogether 24 teams, including Star Cement, Aircel, Standard Chartered, Reliance Industries, HDFC Standard Life, Air Deccan, Star TV, Tata AIG and UB Group are participating in the tournament.

“More than just a cricket tournament, it is a funfair for corporate honchos who are under tremendous strain throughout the year. The players’ families, too, are entertained with games like tambola and music in ICC Twenty20 cricket style,” Bordoloi said.

The organisers are also mulling the idea of a similar state-level inter-college tournament in the city to revive the culture of cricket in colleges.

“Cricket at the college level could be the key to the development of the sport. I am working on creating a database of cricket playing colleges in Assam,” Bordoloi said.

“Once the exercise is over and the other modalities are worked out, we propose to make arrangements for an annual inter-college meet here,” Bordoloi said.

He also proposes to secure the recognition of the Assam Cricket Association for the tournament, so that the performance of players in the meet is taken into consideration for state team trials.

Dibrugarh University holds inter-college meets every year. But Gauhati University, which is also affiliated to the ACA, and the two central universities of the state, do not organise any college cricket tournaments.