It was an occasion with a difference as Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) officers let their bats do the talking on Sunday evening.
Taking a much needed but short break from their onerous duties, the IPS XI outplayed the IAS XI, winning a T20 cricket match by 42 runs on the concluding day of the six-day ‘Police Week’ at the Ekana international stadium in Gosaiganj Lucknow.
Chasing the IPS XI’s 218 for four off 20 overs, the IAS XI folded up for 176.
Sanjiv Suman did the star turn for the IPS XI with his knock of 110 and was adjudged man of the match. He was declared bowler of the match too. For the IAS XI, Ravinder Mandher top-scored with 92.
The match had its moments of mirth as inspector general of police Binod Kumar Singh missed no opportunity to garnish his commentary with humour, especially when the IPS openers — Sanjiv Suman and Rohan Botre— were hitting sixes and fours.
{{/usCountry}}The match had its moments of mirth as inspector general of police Binod Kumar Singh missed no opportunity to garnish his commentary with humour, especially when the IPS openers — Sanjiv Suman and Rohan Botre— were hitting sixes and fours.
{{/usCountry}}The wives of other IPS officers kept on cheering their team all through the match.
In a lighter vein, Singh kept warning his team openers, who are junior to him, to play well or else they will be shifted to bad posts.
Singh’s commentary was also appreciated by IG Lucknow, Sujeet Pandey during his short visit to the ground.
Director general of police OP Singh captained the IPS XI and Navneet Sehgal led the IAS XI.
“We do not mind getting overruled by IPS officers as long as it is limited to the cricket field,” said a senior IAS officer in a tongue-in- cheek manner.
He added it was great outing with their families and colleagues on a non-working day.