…As India Prepares For its 75th Independence Anniversary on August 15th
August 15, 2021 will be India’s 75th Independence Anniversary. To mark the occasion several events have been put in place. One of such events was the India/Nigeria Friendship Cricket Cup which took place this last Sunday, 8th of August at the Cricket Club Abuja Cricket Grounds, Package “B” of the National Stadium Abuja. The One Day Championship saw four teams of mixed Nigerian and Indian players formed into Four formidable teams namely, Zuma Pioneers, Yankari Tigers, Himalaya Warriors and Kaveri Titans.
In the first match of the day, the Zuma Pioneers locked horns in an exciting match with the Yankari Tigers. The Pioneers led by Musa Ehizoje went in to field in the opening inning. The day seemed not to be a good day for Pioneers as most of their bowlers were punished by the batting order of the Tigers save for Sylvester Okpe.
There were lots of Wide balls and Mike Egiethua was hit 24 runs in an Over that consisted of three Fours, about 4 Wides and some singles and doubles, followed by Shub with 23 runs in his overs. At the end of the first inning, Yankari Tigers scored 112 Runs in 10 overs.
The second inning saw Zuma Pioneers coming in to bat and their target was to score 113 runs to beat the Tigers. However, the bowling and fielding asserts of the Tigers kept the Pioneers short of their target as they were only able to put in 102 runs at the end of 10 overs.
The Tigers won the game by 10 runs. Gim Yusuf was Man of the Match. Young Joshua Ayodele, the Cricketer sponsored by the Indian Government to its prestigious Cricket Academy in Bangalore put up very brilliant wicket keeping. This qualified Yankari Tigers for the final between winner of the second game between Himalaya Warriors and Kaveri Titans.
The second game between the Himalaya Warriors and Kaveri Titans began at 12.30 when the first ball was delivered by the Warriors. Kalveri Titans who came in to bat played a total of 72 runs in 10 overs with the Warriors’ bowlers keeping the Titans under one hundred runs.
The second inning saw the Himalaya Warriors come in to chase 72 runs very vigorously and Pankaj Thiara simply exploded and literarily won the match for the Warriors. At the end of 8.4 overs, the Warriors scored 75 runs to win the second game of the day. Pankaj Thiara was man of the second match scoring 25 runs off 9 balls while Romi was the best bowler with 7 runs and 2 wickets in 2 overs.
This set up a 15 overs final match between the Yankari Tigers and Himalaya Warriors. The Yankari Tigers batted first and scored 103 runs in 15 overs. The Himalaya Warriors came in the second inning chased and scored 105 runs in 13.4 overs to win the maiden edition of the India/Nigeria Friendship Cup.
Pankaj Thiara was declared man of the match and Man of the Series. He played 47 runs off 23 balls in the final match. Best Bowler was Madan with 14 runs, 2 wickets in 3 overs.
At the end of the Championship certificates of participation were presented to all the players in the participating four teams namely, Himalaya Warriors, Kaveri Titans, Zuma Pioneers and Yankari Tigers. Also, Gold and Silver medals were presented to the Winners and Runners Up namely, Himalaya Warriors and Kaveri Titans respectively.
In his remarks, immediate past President of the Nigerian Cricket Federation (NCF) and Interim Chairman of the NCF, Professor Yahaha Ukwenya said the Indian government has been of immense help to Nigeria and therefore appreciated the government of India and the Indian High Commission in Nigeria. He said recently two Nigerian emerging Cricket talents were sponsored by the Indian government to India’s prestigious National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. This took place at a time one of India’s greatest Cricketers, Rahul Dravid was head of the Academy.
Prof Ukwenya named Joshua Sunday Ayodele (Male), he kept wicket for the Zuma Pioneers and showed very brilliant wicket keeping and Miracle Imimole (Female), who is already in the national female selection and Ukwenya noted that this was just to tell about how much impact the training at the Indian National Academy has made on the young players within a short period of time.
Ukwenya said Miracle Imimole is also a member of the Edo State Cricket team that won the national Sports Festival and National Female Cricket Championship. He said the partnership with India goes far beyond going to their National Cricket Academy and that he looked forward to seeing this partnership continue on a regular basis.
Prof Ukwenya said Nigeria bought a major high-performance equipment from India recently, the Pitch Vision, an equipment for recording and coaching purposes. Also, he said Nigeria’s grassroot equipment as well as our National Kits are manufactured by companies in India.
Speaking to our reporter outside the oval, Mr. Oludare Aimola, immediate past board member of the recently dissolved board of the NCF said, this event has further strengthened the bilateral relationship between the two countries through promotion of sports. He said this is a great move in the right direction for our cricket development most especially when you recall two years ago , 2 Junior Cricketers were sponsored to one of the best cricket academies in India on a training tour. This relationship will generally develop the game in Abuja, North-Central and Nigeria.
Furthermore, he said a lot of talents have been exposed in today’s tournament with Joshua showing off some his experiences gained from the India tour in 2019.
In his remarks, the Indian High Commissioner, His Excellency, Mr. Abhay Thakur said that his country will continue to support cricket development in Nigeria and hoped that the India Nigeria Cricket cooperation will be a continuous thing. Mr. Abhay Thakur said that he hoped the Indian/Nigerian Friendship Cup marks a very important day for Cricket loving people of India and Nigeria.
Also speaking, a reliable source within the Indian Community in Abuja assured that this Friendship Cup will be an annual event in the Cricket calendar of Abuja in the years ahead.
Answering questions from our reporter, Ramesh Ghadge, President MSCA And Captain Himalaya Warriors said the Friendship Cup was a great way to form friendship bonds. He said Playing Cricket was a wonderful way of making friends. Mr. Ghadge said playing in the friendship Cup with
MSCA, CCA and Nigerian friends gave the teams satisfaction.
He said when everything comes together and the our players get the rewards for their hard work, the feeling is like nothing else. He said his team enjoyed the tournament with a spirit of sportsmanship.
Concluding Gbedge said his team and other players wished that the High Commissioner of India will continue this Friendship Cup for next year and beyond while assuring of the full support of MSCA. He made a request that the event be allowed to take place for three weeks to allow for a higher spirit of sportsmanship among Cricketers in Abuja, North Central and indeed Nigeria.
The event was hosted by the Cricket Cub Abuja. Its President Mr. Reji George assured all Cricket lovers within the FCT and Nigeria of the CCA’s continued support for Cricket development in the FCT and Nigeria.
In attendance were dignitaries from the Indian High Commission, Indian Cultural Association, Abuja, Rt. Hon (Amb) Uyi Igbe – former Speaker, Edo State House of Assembly and Nigeria’s former Ambassador to Mozambique, CCA Board of Trustees members, CCA founding members, Obuks Esiri and his family, Duncan Olowu and his family, Brai Oshoma, Emuobo Odje, Kingsley Snomi, Afam Anere Ikem, Sanmi Ajayi, Emeka Onyeama and many cricket lovers within Abuja.
