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A cricket carnival for teens

Well played St Patrick’s High School, winner of the Paradise Persis Gold Cup cricket tournament for boys under-11 years with chief guest Kazim Hemathi (centre, middle row).

There is more to Paradise than biryani. For the past five years, the restaurant has been conducting a cricket tournament for boys under 11 and 13 years of age.

The tournament is open to schools and academies. Some of the best institutions in the city including Bhavans and All Saints, take part in the tourney. In the recently-concluded edition, held at the Marredpally Cricket Ground, a dozen teams were in the fray in each age group.

They had to slug it out in the knockout format. St. John's School were the under-13 champions whereas St. Patrick's took the crown in the under-11 category.

A love for the game prompted proprietors and siblings, Kazim and Ali Hemathi, to set in place this cricket tournament.

Besides, there were hardly any competitions for children in these age groups. Last year, a basketball tournament was also sponsored by the restaurateurs.

What the organisers find immensely satisfying is that the sponsors do not interfere with how the tournament is conducted. They have been more than forthcoming about the support extended to the players. As a small example, only mineral water was served right through the tournament.

For the semi-finalists, making their passage into the last-four stage was worth all the efforts that they had put in. They were in for a pleasant surprise.

Almost 100 packets of biryani arrived from the restaurant as part of the luncheon fiesta everyday.

This pepped up the spirits of the sprightly youngsters considerably, providing enough fuel for their efforts, if not encouragement to put in their best. The hospitality was in full flow till the nearly fortnight-long tournament ended.

Since the tournament's inception on the grounds of St Patrick's School, the calibre of the participating players has also been on the upswing.

Some promising cricketers who played in the tournament have gone on to play for the state. They are Ravi Teja and Chaitanya of St John's,Tanmay of Daniel Cricket Academy, Abhirath of St Joseph's and S.K.M. Raza of St Patrick's.

Monitoring the conduct of this event, much sought after by the kids, was Hashim Hussain. Right through the tourney, he was always at hand, sorting things out, disseminating information and checking scoresheets.

That he would make no compromises was evident from the fact that only umpires and scorers of some stature were invited to officiate and compile scores.

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