Cricket: India House Premier League Finals

By Ravi Ozarker

HOUSTON: What a final! Fans witnessed a keenly fought cricket match at India House Cricket Ground between two strong contenders, Cliff Jumpers Cricket Club (CJCC) and WOM Cricket Club (WOMCC)

CJCC batted first and scored 160 runs in 20 overs which is considered a very good score going by the past records on India House Cricket Ground. WOMCC opening batsman started very strongly but Waqas got injured in between, pulling his hamstring.  Waqas could barely run and almost everyone thought that he would retire hurt. However, to everyone’s surprise, Waqas stayed on with Manju and helped WOMCC compile 121 runs opening stand.  Mark of a truly dedicated cricketer! Both players scored 50+ in the first 10 overs. First wicket of Manju fell at 121 and Ashish joined Waqas. Ashish and Waqas ensured no more loss of wickets and secured 9 wickets’ victory for WOMCC team with 8 overs remaining. Waqas was simply superb and was declared MVP of the match.

India House management and organizers thanked all teams for their participation in this tournament.  This “thank you” was extended to every single player and their family members who directly/indirectly were responsible for the success of this 3 month long exciting tournament which started off with 16 teams. Dedicated cricket players played matches in the cold weather which was close to freezing temperatures on some days. India house also thanked all volunteers and neutral umpires for their dedication and support. 

Congratulations to WOMCC for winning the tournament by becoming the best team of the 16 participating teams, but the real success that India House had seen for the past few months was the formation of a community that had started to come together during these cricket matches. A great win-win situation for all. The gentle and caring gestures of both teams towards their opponents formed a very close nit family of the members of all participating teams. This friendly gathering can be seen at India House ground on every weekend.

Keeping all this in mind, IHPL Organizer Sanjay Aggarwal had proposed the idea of celebrating Holi after the final match of this tournament. About 200 people attended post match presentation and award ceremony.

The awards were given away by the sponsors of the final match, Ajay Gupta of Indus Management and Dinesh Purohit of Café India, and the Guests of Honor of the day, India House Trustees Durga Agrawal and Bal Sareen.

There is lot of hard work put in by the volunteers to make events like this successful. All these volunteers do not get paid for their work. They just volunteer for a good cause. To name a few:

1.Col. Vipin Kumar, Executive Director of India House.
2.Sanjay Aggarwal whose dedication and passion for the community cricket is phenomenal.
3.Saurabh Malhotra – Hats off man for the great work he has done to keep things in order in IHPL.
4.Gopi Krishna – He has been the go to person with any cricket rules/scores related issues on the Website.
5.Vijay Ahire – Very knowledgeable about rules of cricket and helped immensely in dispute resolution.
6. DJ Andy – He did a great job with the live commentary and DJ Songs
7. Dhruv Vashisth-  He had prepared evite and flyers that were sent to the players and their family members.
8. Last but not the least: Vrushali Ahire who was operating the collection desk, Megha Ozarker who took lovely photographs and controlled the crowd, and Ravi Ozarker who also took photos and provided support through out the tournament.

The icing on the cake was the announcement by the GBG that Bal Sareen had very kindly agreed to help in building the shed for the players.

After the prize presentation, every attendee enjoyed the lunch that was sponsored by Café India of Sugar Land.

The event ended on a colorful note where all payers and family members played Holi and danced to the music played by DJ Andy.

For updated results and score card please visit https://www.indiahouseinc.org/programs-services/taped-ball-cricket/