The second national BAPS Twenty20 Cricket Tournament was held on Saturday 8 August 2009 at Warren Farm Sports Centre and Perivale Park, London, with 16 teams from centres across the UK arriving from early morning with a mixture of nerves and excitement. The tournament this year included players from across the board – Yuvak Mandal, Kishore Mandal and Sanyukta Mandal. The opening ceremony commenced in the presence of Pujya Doctor Swami and others sadhus at 9.00am, with a guest appearance from the famous Indian cricketer Ashish Nehra.
After some tough matches during the initial round, the eight losing teams went through to the BAPS Plate Tournament, with the eight victorious teams progressing further in the main competition with a chance to claim their hands on the BAPS Twenty20 Trophy. The quarter-finals and semi-finals were close affairs with all the teams giving their maximum effort to progress to the final. After some tough matches, this year’s final for the plate tournament was contested between Leicester B and Harrow A, while the winners of the main tournament would be decided between Finchley A and APC Lions.
The atmosphere was remarkable. After some exceptional bowling, batting and fielding from both sets of finalists, there could only be one winner. Unfortunately, a mixture of nerves and poor batting from Leicester B resulted in them being bowled out with a low score, leaving Harrow A with a modest target to chase down to see them crowned the champions of the plate tournament. A closer battle ensued for the main trophy, with APC Lions rising to the occasion to eventually win the final. The closing ceremony and trophy presentation was held in the evening sabha at the Mandir in the presence of Brahmavihari Swami.
The competition was conducted in fine spirits and all the players thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to meet satsangis from other areas of the UK.