Press Release

IOC-GMC cricket trophy

Print English team lifted the 13th INDIAN OIL-GMC cricket trophy defeating the defending champions Media Associates by 14 runs in a nail-biting finish at the sprawling Sardar Patel Stadium on Sunday, February 24, 2019.

The annual daylong cricket carnival, one of the most sought-after and much-awaited events of the Gujarat Media Club was organized as usual in association with the Indian Oil Corporation. This year, for the first time, there were special attractions, Archery and mini-Golf, for women and children, which were received enthusiastically.

Inaugurated by Ahmedabad’s dynamic woman Mayor Bijal Patel, the three-match tournament saw four teams (Print English, Print Languages, Electronic Media and Media Associates) slug it out for the trophy.

Ms Bijal Patel tossed the coin to kick off the games. The spirited Mayor walked in dot at 8.30 a.m. and was seen mingling with the players even as she willingly waited for the captains of Electronic Media Nirnay Kapoor and Media Associates Malhar Dave to accompany her to the ground to toss the coin for the inaugural match.

Malhar Dave, whose team won the trophy last year, won the toss and elected to bat. Media Associates walked away winners in the match. The next match was won by the Print English team led by Pradeep Mallik against Print Languages led by skipper Ripple Christie.

And finally Print English lifted the glittering IOC-GMC Trophy.

The award for Best Batsman of the tournament went to Tapas Talukdar, Best Bowler to Kanji Desai of the IOC and Best Fielder to Bhadresh Gajjar. Former Ranji Trophy player, whose all-round performance is always a treat to watch, Bhavin Radia of Indian Oil was awarded for Most Fours and the handsome Ravi Parekh was adjudged the Player of the Tournament.

Mr Suresh Iyer, Deputy General Manager, Corporate Communications, IOC, who specially flew in from Mumbai to Ahmedabad for the tournament, gave away the awards, along with GMC President Darshan Desai, past president Virendra Pandit, founder director and GMC Vice-President Sunil Raghu and the dynamic PR consultant Pankaj Mudholkar. Ramgopal Prajapati and Navin Parmar were the Umpires while Vijay Gajjar was the scorer of the tournament, which was organized by the joint efforts of GMC Secretary General Bhupendra Singh Thakur, Senior Vice President Nayan Dave and Treasurer Viren Vyas. One of the founder directors and former Secretary General Sunil Raghu was always around to help out GMC President Darshan Desai and others in the event. As usual backroom boy and GMC Office Executive Ronak Shah worked round-the-clock to ensure every small thing was in order.

Everyone took note and praised Ripple Christie for his initiative in organising Archery and mini-Golf events, for which he brought equipment specially from his home.