While Dinesh has been lucky enough to have played and led the zone-22 team to victory in the Zonal tournament, experts find a novelty in the tournament and hence the rewards.

"It's the first time a tournament has been organised exclusively for government schools. Ninety-five per cent of the kids studying there are financially backward. Most of these schools don't have any cricket infrastructure and hence no teams at all. This programme is just an effort to bring them forward," Vinod Tihara, convenor of the DDCA Sports Committee said.

The benefit will also include coaching and training facilities with the specifications to be decided later. "It (the scholarship) will be for a minimum of one year subject to renewal, analysing the performance. It has to be also ensured that the child continues with his studies," Tihara added.

While on the face of it, 14 schools participating from the 154 invited shows the real picture behind the scenes, DDCA has further plans involving women's cricket. "We are planning a similar programme for women's cricket in Delhi. Our (DDCA's) direct association with women's cricket is restricted to logistics only. We've an exclusive seven-member committee which is going to take further decisions for them," Tihara said. er decisions for them,” Tihara said.