News & Pics: Rons Bantwal
Daijiworld Media Network – Mumbai (RD/VA)
Mumbai, Apr 1: A cricket match was held between the young team from Australia Com Inc. and Ryan India, at the RCF sports complex grounds, Chembur here on Wednesday Mach 31. The Ryan India team comprised students from Mumbai and Navi Mumbai schools.
The match was flagged-off by Dr Augustine Pinto, educationist and chairman of Ryan Group, renowned cricket legend Balwinder Sandhu, former badminton champion Ami Ghia, Bollywood actor Johny Lever, famous cricket commentator Milind Wagle and former Olympian hockey player Rahul Singh. Various personnel from HPCL, RCF and BPCL also attended the event.
The Ryan Indian team won the toss and elected to bowl. The young Australians scored 196/6 wickets in 20 overs, while Ryan India fell 53 runs short of the target. There were 4 Ryan Indian students who played within the Australian team, 3 of whom batted and bowled exceptionally well. The Man of the Match award was won by a young Australian player Jasan Want who scored 59 runs and took 1 of the crucial wickets.
The Young Australian cricketers enjoyed their game and complimented the presence of the Ryan Indian students in their team, which helped them tremendously. It was a day when Indians cheered the Australians and the Australians cheered the Indians.
After the match, the Australian students visited the Ryan International School, Chembur and interacted with the Ryan students of the school. They also exchanged their cultural performances with the Indian students.
Grace Pinto, the managing director of Ryan Schools said, ‘It is very important to build a cultural bridge between different countries and sports offer a unique platform to connect our students with the Australian students. Such mutual exchange programmes strengthen the understanding of one’s culture, which is critical in a student’s learning process. The earlier visit of Steve Waugh to our schools have always inspired our students to play with the Australian cricketers in our home soil and this is a dream come true for the players from the Ryan team, he added.
In a time when the Indian Premier League (IPL) is being followed by billions of viewers worldwide, there is a young team of cricketers from Melbourne, Australia who are visiting 5 cities of India to play friendly Twenty 20 cricket matches with institutions in India. This is part of a mutual exchange programme initiated to promote peace and harmony in the areas of sports, music and education.