Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (ANK)

Mangaluru, Dec 25: For a change, the Dakshina Kannada police and members of the media, two of the busiest lot of professionals, kept aside their usual duties for some hours to test their skills with the bat and ball. It was an exciting day of keen contest as the two sides gave their best on the cricket field.

Ultimately, it was the athletic police who outplayed all others to win the cricket tournament organized at Nehru Maidan here on Sunday December 24.

Earlier in the day, police commissioner T R Suresh and deputy commissioner Sasikanth Senthil inaugurated the cricket tournament between the police and the media.

Two police teams and two media teams battled it out in the tournament. The teams were district police, city police, city media, and rural media. The matches consisted of 10 overs a side.

The district police team was led by none other than DK superintendent of police (SP) Sudheer Kumar Reddy, who impressed the onlookers with some good batting.

District police versus city media, city police versus rural media, district police versus rural media, city police versus city media, and city police versus district police were the matches played.

The highlight of the tournament was the magnificent performance by Shivakumar of district police team. In the semi-final match between his team and the city police, Shivakumar belted a whopping 14 sixes and 3 fours in 25 balls, scoring 104 runs.

Needless to add, the fiery batting display enabled the district police team to sail through to the final. Based on run rate, the other team to enter the final was rural media.

In the final match, rural media put in to bat scored just 36 runs in 8 overs after some tight bowling by the district police team. In reply, the district police chased down the target in just 5 overs and emerged champions. In the end, it was the sportsmanship displayed by the police and media that ultimately won the day.