E-Paper
Batting for Delhi
That Delhi has emerged as the cricket powerhouse of the nation is obvious.
That Delhi has emerged as the cricket powerhouse of the nation is obvious. Just look at the players who’ve earned their spurs in the city and won an India cap recently: Virender Sehwag, Akash Chopra, Ashish Nehra, Gautam Gambhir, Sarandeep Singh, Amit Bhandari…The future of cricket in the city has never looked brighter.
And now, fans in the Capital have another reason to cheer. The state-of-the-art Feroze Shah Kotla stadium has undergone a makeover and will be ready to host international matches in style, come 2005. “The capacity has gone up to 60,000. Plus, we have two restaurants, a bar and a health club. The pitch is being re-laid too,” announced Delhi & District Cricket Association President Arun Jaitley. The occasion: A party organised on Saturday evening by Chand Khanna Cricket Club secretary and DDCA vice president C K Khanna to felicitate the newly-elected sports committee headed by Vinod Tihara.
Three promising Delhi cricketers were also honoured. These included teenage batting sensation Shikhar Dhawan, Ranji Trophy wicketkeeper-batsman Varun Kumar and opening batsman Rachit Kapoor. Seen applauding the tyros were former Delhi cricketers Yashpal Sharma, Hari Gidwani, Suresh Luthra, Rakesh Shukla, Vinay Lamba and Bantoo Singh.
Also spotted: Rahul Sanghvi, Sarandeep Singh, BCCI communications director Amrit Mathur; DDCA Vice President Suresh Chopra, joint secretaries Narender Batra and S S Sareen and vice patron Ravi Khanna. Naturally, the banter revolved around India’s dismal performance in England; telecast rights and the forthcoming elections for the presidency of the BCCI.
