Sewa International “De Ghuma Ke” Cricket Tournament 2016 raises money to support 21 kid’s education in India
Winner Team
Sewa International concluded its annual “De Guma Ke” Charity Cricket Tournament in collaboration with Houston cricket clubs. This was a friendly tournament open for all age group including men’s and women’s interested in playing and promoting cricket in greater Houston area. This year 12 teams participated from different parts of Houston: Telfair Tigers led by Arun TV, Star India led by Anand Bhattad, Pearland Lions led by Tariq Ekwal, Star Pipes led by Manoj Rathi, Sabko Batting Milega led by Achalesh Amar, Sewa Servers led by Kaushik Chatterjee, Star Houston led by Raja Elayamani, KPMG led by Zara Khan, Pearland Hawks led by Vtesh Challapa, Mugambos led by Apoorva Kulkarni, Pearland Strikers led by Mehul Vora and Dhurandhars led by Veera Prasad. The teams were divided equally into four groups and each group winner progressed to the Semifinals.
Star India, Sewa Servers, Pearland Hawks and Pearland Strikers made it to the semis. The two winners from this stage: Star India and Pearland Hawks played for the coveted title. Star India headed by Anand Bhattad won the title, their second consecutive year for winning this tournament. Star Pipe Products is a big supporter of Sewa International charitable efforts and had sent three teams (including the winning team) this year. Star Pipe graciously donated $1500 towards this charity cricket tournament and fund raising event (this amount was twice the minimum suggested from each team).
Runner Up Team
All the games were played on the matted pitch of India House ground on the weekends starting from Nov 5th and ending on Nov 13th morning. Each team consisted of 8 players and all games were 8 overs each side, with each match equipped with live DJ and commentary from DJ ANDY with Neil Armstrong 9year old daughter Ms Tejashvin who did great help in commentary with her charming voice. Also, we had support for this event from Supravam International: Sanjay and Priti Aggarwal, Biryani Express: Ravi Mallapuram, Star Plus Dental: Dr. Rashmi Biyani, Law Offices of Leena Bhasin: Attorney Leena Bhasin, and Deep Foods: Umang Mehta supported the tournament with their generous contributions. the
On a beautiful Sunday morning of 13th Nov2016 – followed by Semi-final rounds – the final was scheduled between two winners of semis: Pearland Hawks and Star India. Star India won the toss and opted to bowl first. Right from the onset of the game, Star India team tried to be positive and kept the pressure on Pearland Hawks batsman and didn’t allow them to score big shots. Some disciplined bowling by Star India from Pavan, Neil Armstrong, Balaji & Pratik restricted the Pearland Hawks to 61 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in their stipulated 8 overs. Continuing with the momentum after the innings break, Star Indian captain Anand decided to open the innings with Raunak. They gave a decent start and scored 31 runs in first 4 overs without losing a wicket, frustrating the Pearland Hawk bowlers. Later Raunak was replaced by Pratik who smashed the Hawk bowling attack all over the park – hitting 3 huge sixes and ending the match with over 2 overs to spare. He was awarded Man of the Match as well as Man of the series for his contributions.
The game was followed by a well-organized prize distribution ceremony arranged by Sewa Team. The presentation party included Gitesh Desai, Sarojini Gupta, Vasudev Singh. They all spoke about the fun and time advantage of zestful cricket games and paid rich tributes to Sewa for their initiative in youth cricket. They thanked the Sewa volunteer team of Anita Ravat, Kavita Tewary, Anuja Deshpande, Anand Bhattad and Kunal Deshmukh for putting together another successful cricket tournament. The money raised through this tournament went for the education of 21 kids in India, under Sewa International’s sponsor a child program (more details on this can be found on https://sac.sewausa.org/).
Some highlights from the tournament:
1) Man of the tournament trophy – Pratik Hande
2) Best Bowler of the tournament – Karan Pasey (who took a hat-trick in one of the games he played)
3) Best Batsman – Anand Bhattad
4) Best Fielder – Raunak Goswami
5) Man of the match (Finals) – Pratik Hande
6) Zara Khan – a woman cricketer – captained the KPMG team
7) Anuja Deshpande – another woman cricketer – played from Sabko Batting Milega team