M. J. Gopalan Trophy

The M. J. Gopalan Trophy is a bi-annual cricket tournament played between Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Madras (now Tamil Nadu). The idea of the competition came about with the starting of a silver jubilee fund in 1952 to celebrate M.J. Gopalan's 25 years as a cricket and hockey player. [cite web | url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/01/03/stories/2002010301180800.htm | title=Honouring MJ Gopalan | date=2002-01-03 | accessdate=2007-09-23 | publisher=The Hindu] Through the fund, an annual cricket match was instituted between Madras and Ceylon (later Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka) and it was named after Gopalan. The match became a regular fixture in the annual calendar until Sri Lanka received Test status in 1983 and the competition was stopped. It was revived in 2000 with a match between Tamil Nadu and a Colombo District Cricket Association. [cite web | url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1723/17230890.htm | title=The revival of a tournament | date=2000-11-11 | accessdate=2007-09-22 | publisher=Frontline] Two years later the fixture was dropped again but on 21 September 2007, the Sri Lankan and Tamil Nadu boards agreed to restart the competition. Tamil Nadu will play two matches later that month against a Sri Lankan side comprising players from their A-team and the under-19 level. [cite web | url=http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/india/content/story/311956.html | title=Ashwin leads Tamil Nadu in revived Gopalan Trophy | date=2007-09-21 | accessdate=2007-09-22 | publisher=Cricinfo]

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