The Pramukh Cup – the National Kishore Mandal 8-a-side indoor cricket tournament – was played in great spirits at the Nottingham Community Sports Centre on Sunday 25 November 2012. The competition consisted of 16 teams from across the UK with many young players participating in this year’s event. The 2012 event also welcomed an additional new trophy called the Narayanswarupdas Trophy.
The highlight of the group stages featured a great contest between defending champions North London A and the hugely talented West London team, where North London A pulled off a cricketing miracle to score the 12 runs needed from the last two deliveries courtesy of captain Milan Raghwani’s batting heroics. Their triumph, however, was short-lived as they were beaten by West London in the quarter-finals.
Nottingham and South-East London met in the semi-finals and both teams had looked very promising in the earlier matches without being tested to the fullest. Nottingham, helped by the support of a vociferous local crowd, came through with relative ease. West London posted a competitive score against Leicester A in the second semi-final and supported their total with athletic fielding and consistent bowling to secure their place in the final.
Nottingham, led by talented all-rounders Anuj Dal and Deep Desai, disrupted West London’s batting in the final, restricting them to a low score which was chased professionally and comfortably. The calm and composed nature of the Nottingham team at the batting crease negated the bowling threat from West London and by doing so became the Pramukh Cup Champions of 2012.
The inaugural Narayanswarupdas Trophy final involved North London B and Brent, both teams fielding young cricketers with the match played in great spirits. Brent won a close encounter by taking wickets at crucial times and with it, they became the first Narayanswarupdas Trophy winners.
The ‘Best Bowler’ award went to Sharad Patel of West London who constantly struck regularly for his team. Anuj Dal of Nottingham won the ‘Best Batsman’ award with many great displays of his batting talent. The ‘Best All-Rounder’ award was presented to Deep Desai, also of Nottingham, who put on a great display with both bat and ball when his team needed it the most.