The School Games Federation of India (SGFI) will conduct three-day trial cricket camps in 20 cities across the country from July for the National School Cricket League (NSCL), it was announced on Friday.

The trials will be open to players in the 12-18 years age bracket and SGFI has shortlisted 20 cities — among them Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Delhi, Dehradun, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Ranchi, Guwahati, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Noida, Indore, Varanasi, and Allahabad — to roll out the nationwide cricket talent hunt.

“We are announcing the registration from today and we will be utilizing all our on-ground machinery to reach out to as many students across the country. We have zeroed down specific centers as we believe that these places have huge potential and will help us identify the best budding youngsters the country,” Joint Secretary of SGFI and CEO of NSCL, Pradeep Mishra said.

The selection committee will comprise of former players with sizable experience of playing first-class cricket. SGFI Panel will select 16 players for each city with a provision of 4 players on standby.

Representation from each zone will mean the 16 teams will be divided into groups of four categorized on the basis of their zone and will play three matches each. Top two teams from each group will qualify as Zonal Champions and will play the knockout stage to compete for the NSCL crown.