Bahrain: A Festival of Cricket by Moghaveers Bahrain
from Ronald D’Souza & Joe Andrade for Daijiworld News Network
Bahrain, Nov 12: It was a day of reckoning for all cricket enthusiasts from Karnataka! A much-hyped Festival of Cricket that went hand-in-hand with the Festival of Lights! 'Mogaveers Bahrain' took on the task of organizing a unique 8-Over Soft Ball Cricket Tournament for all cricket players and enthusiasts for the Mogaveers Bahrain 2007 Trophy for the first time in Bahrain, exclusively for teams from Karnataka’s hinterland on Friday November 9, 2007. In all 14 teams were pitted against each other for the Trophy and cash prizes, at the spacious Hidd grounds on a bright sunny day with an occasional cool gust of wind, just ideal for a cool game of cricket.
Cricketeers from the length and breadth of various Societies in Karnataka gathered together at the Hidd grounds during the wee hours of the morning. The tournament was inaugurated by Abdul Razak, managing director of Metalco Group and President of Mangalore Muslim Welfare Association at sharp 7.00 am., with the commencement of the first match.
If cricket is a game of numbers, this tournament was a novelty-comprised of 16 matches, 14 sporting teams, a total of 154 cricket players, 24 umpires, half a dozen commentators giving running commentary in English, Kannada and Tulu, sometimes a mix of all these three languages, besides an equal number of coordinators. There were so many cheerleaders and spectators supporting each team sporting their colourful T-shirts and caps! It was sumptous cricket in the air and the only food for thought for the spectators was to gulp cricket down their throat and experience the difference! The organizers took the trouble of looking into every aspect of requirement for the whole day, including a blaring sound system that vibrated the thin air flawless from 7.00 am to 4.30 p.m. There was something for everyone in terms of cricket. All in a day’s hard work to conclude smoothly with the distribution of the trophies and awards at 5.30 pm in a crisp award presentation ceremony. Hats-off to the organizers of Mogaveers Bahrain who had done a tremendous job!
The first semi-final match was between the teams Metalco Mangalore and Riffa Friends while the second semi-final between Mogaveers Blues and Mogaveers Whites. In the finals, Metalco Mangalore, who made 101 for 2 with Prashanth Shettigar scoring 62, were victorious bagging the trophy against the Mogaveer Whites who were able to manage only 83 for 5, with their highest scorer Arun Sashihitlu scoring 43 runs.
The Man of the Match award went to Prashanth Shettigar who richly deserved it for his huge sixes. The best all-rounder, Man of the Series was Vasanth from Moghaveers team and Suraj was adjudged as the best bowler of the tournament.
The main sponsors for the event was Metalco Bahrain. M/s Abdulla Khamees Glass and Mirrors and Creative Advertising were co-sponsors. There were a number of other sponsors and supporters who made it all possible.
In this tournament, everyone looked like a cricket star on or off the field.