25th Sukhdeo Narain memorial inter-school cricket tournament begins

Patna, November 15, 2009:
The silver jubilee edition of the All-India Sukhdeo Narain memorial inter-school cricket tournament, organized by BP Sinha Foundation got off to a colourful start at the Moinul Haq Stadium here on Sunday.

The opening function began with welcome song presented by the girls of Litera Valley School. Chief guest Navin Kumar, Development Commissioner (Government of Bihar) hoisted the tournament flag. Guru Govind Singh School, Patna Sahib girls led the march past by the participating school teams under the tune of BMP band. Then the Chief guest Navink Kumar declared the tournament open amid thunderous applauses.

Patna Central MLA, Arun Kumar Sinha was the special guest. Dr Achal Sinha, Bihar Cricket Association secretary Ajay Narayan Sharma, Dr Chitranan Sinha, Pratyay Amrit (IAS), Ajay Kumar Sinha, SK Mehrotra, Alok Raj (IPS), Guru Charan Gandhi, Atish Chandra, Binod Kumar, DK Jha, Ravi P Sinha, Mirtunay Tiwari, president Bihar Players Association and LP Verma, former international umpire were present at the inaugural function.

On the occasion, organising committee felicitated sports scribes Md Ishauddin, Shabab Anwar, Prashant Kakkar, Arun Kumar Singh, Ajay Rashmi, Pramod Kumar Singh, Abhijit Biswas, Razi Ahmad, Ashish, Amarnath and Krishna Murari Kishan (photographer).

An exhibition cricket match between Punjabi Bradri and BP Sinha Foundation was also played. BP Sinha Foundation beat Punjabi Bradri by 43 runs.

Later in a scheduled on field action, St Karen’s High School thrashed Sidhant Public School, Sasaram by nine wickets, Gaurav Agrawal ran though the Sidhant Public School innings claiming 7 wickets for five runs.Gaurav was declared man of the match.

Batting first after winning the toss, Sasaram School were bundled out for 18 runs off 9.4 overs. None of the Sasaram batsmen could reach the double figures.
In reply, St Karen’s raced to the target off only two overs without losing a wicket. Suraj (14) and Anujeet (10) remained unbeaten.

Photo captions: Top: Development Commissinoer (government of Bihar), Navin Kumar and Patna Central MLA, Arun Kumar Sinha inaugurating the 25th All-India Sukhdeo Narain memorial inter-school cricket tournament in Patna on November 15, 2009.

Bottom: Players of the exhibtion match pose for a group photograph.

Photo: Aftab Alam Siddiqui