The Pramukh Cup – the National Kishore Mandal 8-a-Side Indoor Cricket Tournament – was held at Harrow Leisure Sports Centre, London on Saturday 2 October 2010. The competition consisted of 14 teams from across the UK and came to life in the quarter-finals, where North A edged out Harrow A in a closely fought game, securing their place in the semi-finals where they would face an unbeaten Nottingham team who had made an impressive start to the tournament in the group stages. In the other quarter-finals, South A came through relatively comfortably against West, while Brent A impressed against Leicester A.
The first of the semi-finals was contested between last year’s finalists South A and Brent. This fixture has been one of the most competitive in the history of kishore sporting events. South A bowled and fielded well, restricting Brent to 46 runs. This proved to be a hurdle too far for last year’s runners up as Tilak Desai inspired Brent to reach yet another final in this competition.
The second semi-final was contested between North A who battled against Nottingham. North A batted first and would always be vulnerable to losing wickets if they were to try and hit out in order to force a high score. A great bowling and fielding effort had North A struggling to get runs on the board. However a brilliant innings from Divyang Patel at the end with a flourish of sumptuous sixes eventually helped North A reach 43 runs. Nottingham started with a very measured approach. North A’s impressive bowling unit took regular wickets but under the leadership of captain Udai Pankhania, Nottingham managed to hold their nerve and reach their first Pramukh Cup final.
Nottingham started quickly in the final with brilliant aggressive batting from Anand Parekh helping them reach an imposing total of 64 runs. Brent tried to play steadily with sensible batting and good running between the wickets. However, the sustained pressure from Anuj Dal, the pick of Nottingham’s bowlers helped ensure that Brent were never in a position to mount a sustained assault. They eventually notched a total of 28 runs, conceding their title by 36 runs. Congratulations to Nottingham in winning the Pramukh Cup for the first time.
Anuj Dal of Nottingham scooped the award for the ‘Best Bowler’ while Anand Parekh of Nottingham won the ‘Best Batsman’ award. The best ‘All-Rounder’ award was presented to Tilak Desai of Brent who put on a great display with the bat and ball as well as in the field with some important catches when his team needed some inspiration.
As ever, it was a highly competitive environment but the tournament was played in a manner of fraternity among all the kishores, and in its tenth year, proved once again that kishores from across the country are able to come together through sport.