Women's only 40-over tournament in Delhi gets underway

New Delhi: The third Kalpana Chawla Memorial Cricket Tournament, the only tournament in the Capital to offer women 40-over games, got underway at the Siri Fort Sports Complex on Tuesday (May 12), with City Cricket Club beating Noida Wonders by six wickets in the tournament opener.

Batting first, Noida Wonders were all out for 192 in 38.1 overs with Monika (51 off 37 balls), Riya Rawat (50 off 60 balls) and Ekta Bhadana (40 off 49 balls) making main contributions. Anshu Nagar (4/26) was the pick of the bowlers while Shiksha Koli (3/38) and Pragati Bisht (2/35) were the main wickettakers for City Cricket Club.

In response, City chased the target in 30.4 overs, scoring 193/4. Shweta Sehrawat scored 79 off 62 balls (6x4s, 4x6s), Pragya Rawat scored 49 off 67 balls (4x4s) and Anshika was unbeaten on 35 off 28 balls (5x4s).

"Three years ago, when we thought about hosting a 40-over tournament for women, the need of the hour, we couldn't think of a bigger name than late Kalpana Chawla (Indian-American astronaut and aerospace engineer and the first woman of Indian origin to fly to space). We got his brother Sanjay Chawla to inaugurate it," said Paweriya, the brain behind this project.

Ravi Chaturvedi, Rakesh Paweriya and Surjeet Verma among others  

"I was sitting with DDCA President Rohan Jaitley around that time. The BCCI had taken a decision to increase the remuneration of women cricketers, bring it at par with the men cricketers. Jaitley was praising the RP Cricket Academy for promoting good women cricketers. Following that discussion we started thinking about organising tournament and then implemented it. Must also thank Rohan Jaitley for the support."

There are 12 girls' teams -- Delhi-NCR clubs -- participating in the tournament, which comprises 21 matches.

"We plan to take it to national level."

RPCA coach Surjeet Verma, the backbone of the tournament, said, "We conduct a men's as well as a women's tournament. Why this tournament is special is because there are no other red ball tournaments for women cricketers. Women in Delhi played only 20-over games before this. We host it at Siri Fort Sports Complex because we want to give girls good facilities."

(From left) Coach Ajay Verma, a DDCA member, Ravi Chaturvedi, Rakesh Paweriya, GS Harry, Rubab Sood and Surjeet Verma 

Business Mukesh Sharma, who holds distribution rights for Bajaj is several parts of Delhi, has offered a Bajaj Scooty for the Emerging Player of the Tournament.

"We are privileged to be associated with such a noble initiative. It is a great opportunity for the women cricketers. Women's cricket has gained popularity after India's win in the recent Women's World Cup. We are planning to further our association and are hoping the tournament is held at an even bigger scale."

In the second match played on Wednesday, Ishana Chaudhary's bowling spell of 3/21 powered Rann Star Cricket Club to a six-wicket win.

The customary photo op before the start of the inaugural match 

Ritu also made a significant contribution, taking 3 wickets for 25 runs. Batting first, Bal Bhavan Dwarka Girls posted a total of 147/9 in 40 overs. In reply, Rann Star Cricket Club successfully chased down the target, scoring 148/4 in 32 overs to clinch the match.

Komal scored a crucial 32 runs, while Sonakshi and Nilanchal played valuable innings of 30 and 28 runs, respectively.

For the losing side, Avleen Kaur made 32 while Riya Shaukeen contributed 30 runs.

Tags : Women's cricket, Kalpana Chawla, Delhi Cricket, Shweta Sehrawat, Rohan Jaitley, DDCA, Siri Fort Sports Complex