Chennai, Aug 14 - One of India's premier cricket competitions, the Buchi Babu cricket tournament, will begin here Sunday, coinciding with a BCCI selection committee meeting.

Over the years, the tournament has attracted some of the top teams of India and even the likes of Sunil Gavaskar had utilised the event to assess or regain their form ahead of the domestic season.

As in the recent past, a New Zealand A squad containing several Test and ODI hopefuls will be participating, along with their coach John Wright, who trained the Indian team not long ago.

In all, 16 teams will be playing on a league-cum-knockout basis. The teams have been divided into four groups of four each for the preliminary league and the matches will be of two-day duration with 90 overs allotted to each side.

The top team from each group will advance to the semi-finals. The tournament concludes Aug 29, according to a press release from Tamil Nadu Cricket Association secretary Kasi Viswanathan.

Among the notable players in the Kiwi squad is fast bowler Shane Bond who is coming out of a stress fracture for which he is undergoing treatment.

Incidentally, Bond, who had a stint in the Indian Cricket League before and is now back in the mainstream, has happy memories of the Buchi Babu tournament as his performance in the competition some eight years ago earned him a berth in the New Zealand team.