Virender Katyal, founder-member of GG Dutt Cricket Society, no more

Virender Katyal, the man who co-founded and helped Capital’s iconic Goswami Ganesh Dutt Memorial Cricket Tournament grow, passed away on Monday, February 24.

He was 82 and is survived by a daughter and two sons.

“He had been suffering from problem in lungs. They weren’t working. He was on ventilator for 7-8 days,” said son Vikas Katyal, the current general secretary of the GG Dutt Memorial Society that runs the tournament which is one of the premier Hot Weather tournaments in Delhi.

Virender Katyal was born on July 3, 1943 in Chiniot, a city now in Pakistan and 158 kilometres from Lahore.

Post-partition, the family moved to Delhi where he studied and then worked with Union Bank of India from where he retired as manager.

Virender Katyal’s father Chaman Lal Katyal, who was the founder member of Sanatan Dharma Pratinidhi Sabha of Punjab, and was also its finance and office secretary, decided to get into cricket and promote it. To realise that, Chaman Lal Katyal formed the Goswami Ganesh Dutt Memorial Society in 1972 in which Nihal Singh Maggo was the general secretary and Virender Katyal was the secretary.

In 1974, the society established the Goswami Ganesh Dutt Cricket Club, known as GG Dutt Cricket Club and it got immediately affiliated with the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA). That very year, that is 1974, the society began the Goswami Ganesh Dutt Memorial Cricket Tournament.

In 1980, after the death of Nihal Chand Maggo, Virender Katyal took over as the general secretary of the GG Dutt Memorial Society. He represented his bank as a batsman.

“He devoted his entire life to this society.”

The society established another club called Ashoka Club in 1993. However, Virender Katyal’s cousins, late Ashok Katyal and Vinod Katyal split from the society and began running the Ashoka Club from 2011.

In 2015, both Ashok Katyal and Vinod Katyal, who were sons of Chaman Lal Katyal’s brother officially split and formed their own tournament, called Tyagmurti GG Dutt Memorial Cricket Tournament which takes place prior to the one run by Virender and Vikas Katyal.

Tags : Virender Katyal, DDCA, Delhi cricket, GG Dutt Memorial Cricket Tournament, Union Bank of India