Kent RO Northern Stars Jamia Milia Islamia were declared winners of the inaugural match of the
Toyota University Cricket Championship
Toyota University Cricket Championship
· Guests of Honour Shah Rukh Khan and Rahul Dravid support the initiative
· Actor Rahul Bose, Isa Guha, former England cricketer and former Indian player Atul Wassan were present to support the initiative
· Shankar and Ehsaan perform during the evening
· Jamia won by 5 wickets
Mumbai, February 23rd, 2013:
A grand opening ceremony officially marked the start of the Toyota University Cricket Championship (TUCC), setting the stage for 16 days of a high-voltage cricketing contest. Guests of Honour, Shah Rukh Khan and Rahul Dravid assured their full support towards encouragement of sports in India. Drama, dance performances, drummers and fireworks lit up the sky as the 8 captains were introduced to the country by Shah Rukh Khan and Rahul Dravid.
Also enthralling the crowd with performances during the evening were, Shankar and Ehsaan who also belted out the catchy finger snapping TUCC theme song ‘Ab Hamari Baari Hai’ composed by the trio and penned by famous lyricist Prasoon Joshi, which was launched earlier this month by renowned international cricketer Wasim Akram.
Joining the enthusiastic crowd at the inauguration were Guests of Honour Shah Rukh Khan and Rahul Dravid, Dr. Gurdeep Singh, Under Secretary (Sports), Association of Indian Universities, Mr. Vikram Kirloskar, Vice Chairman, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Mr. Hiroshi Nakagawa, Managing Director & CEO, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Mr. Sandeep Singh, Dy. Managing Director & COO, Toyota Kirloskar Motor; from NDTV Dr Prannoy Roy, Executive Co-Chairperson, Mr KVL Narayan Rao, Executive Vice Chairperson and Mr Vikram Chandra, CEO & Executive Director; actor Rahul Bose; former India player Atul Wassan; former England Cricketer, Isa Guha among others.
Promising to be the next best thing, the grand opening ceremony was followed by the Inaugural Match of the Championship which saw Kent RO Northern Stars from Delhi's Jamia Millia Islamia take on Mumbai University's Western Wolves in an interesting and engaging combat. Kent RO Northern Stars won the toss and decided to field. Finally Jamali of Delhi's Jamia Millia clinched the win beating Mumbai University by 5 wickets in a nail biting down to the last ball finish. The mood was upbeat and the spirit infectious as Mumbaikars turned out to support and back their team. The exciting match saw some superb batting with sixes and boundaries, great catches and bowling from both teams.
Praveen Singh Yadav of the winning team, Jamia was declared the Man of The Match.
Speaking on the occasion Guest of Honour Shah Rukh said, "I am very happy to be associated with University Cricket Championship. Initiatives like UCC promise a brighter future for the young and aspiring sportsmen of our country. I hope that more initiatives like this are taken to broaden the scope of sports in India. I wish lots of luck to the eight teams participating in UCC.”
Leading organisations, along with the Association of Indian Universities and the Ministry of Human Resource Development have joined hands to support this effort to promote University cricket talent.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor has always believed in promoting sports among the youth and supporting this Championship was yet another step towards this endeavour. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Vikram Kirloskar, Vice Chairman, Toyota Kirloskar Motor said, “At the outset, I would like to congratulate all the eight teams who have made it this far in this journey. Toyota is very glad to be associated with University Cricket as we have always believed in promoting sports among the youth. TUCC is a very good initiative to promote cricket at the university level and we are glad to contribute to this revolutionary concept of promoting young talent. We look forward to a very exciting series and wish all the participants the very best.”
Also speaking on the occasion, Mr. Sandeep Singh, DMD and COO, Toyota Kirloskar Motor said, “We are very happy to be a part of TUCC as it encourages and promotes young cricketing talent in India. It is our endeavor to connect with the youth of today and what better way than the most popular form of sports in India to connect with the youth. On behalf of Toyota I wish all the players the best of luck and let’s enjoy an exciting and thrilling season of cricket.”
MRF, through its Pace Academy, has a rich history of promoting talent at all levels in cricket and they are backing TUCC to unearth fresh talent. Mr Koshy Varghese, Executive Vice President, Marketing & Sales, MRF said on their association with TUCC, “For many years now MRF has been nurturing talent at our PACE academy and probably we are one of the first corporates to invest in promoting new talent in a big way when it comes to the cricketing world. Many great cricketers like Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir etc. have been associated with our initiatives. Also world cup winning bowlers like Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel etc. have been involved with our PACE academy which is currently being headed by Glen McGrath, the Australian legend. Therefore, we find this initiative a natural fit with our company’s passion towards promoting world-class talent.”
Coca-Cola, known for its association with grass root sports as a long standing partner of Olympics globally and U16 cricket and football in India is the Associate Sponsor and also beverage partner of the Championship. Deepak Jolly, VP Public Affairs and Communication Coca-Cola India and South West Asia added, “Coca-Cola believes in supporting active sports as part of sustaining a healthy active lifestyle. That is why we support and promote active sports at U16 level and are happy to be part of this effort to re-invigorate University cricket. Congratulations to the winning team today and on behalf of Coca-Cola, wish all the teams playing a great championship.”
Eleven matches will be played in the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore; Jamia Millia Islamia Sports Complex, Delhi; Capt Roop Singh Stadium, Gwalior and the Brabourne Stadium, CCI, Mumbai between 24 February and 6 March from 7:30pm leading to the Semi Finals in Gwalior on 7 March and Mumbai on 8 March at 7:30pm. The Final Match and Trophy presentation will be on Sunday 10 March at the Brabourne Stadium, CCI in Mumbai.
