December 28 saw a seesaw battle between Australia and India during the third day of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. On the same morning in Kolkata, Team India in the UK put in a commanding performance at the Eden Gardens against Team UK in India. The three-time champions of the Indo-British Heritage Cup had narrowly missed out on glory last year, but avenged that result in style, winning by 9 wickets to reclaim the trophy
Photos: Amit Pramanik
Led by Amit Sengupta, UK in India batted first and were skittled out for 88 in 18.5 overs. Extras top scored with 32, with only one of the batters, Dipankar Sharma, reaching double figures. For India in the UK, all six of their bowlers were among the wickets, with Surajit Lahiri and Ayon Hazra picking two each
In response, India in the UK, with Koushik Chatterjee as skipper, made light work of the chase, polishing off the required runs inside 12 overs with nine wickets to spare. Aranya Deb top scored with 21, with Kritin Chatterjee and Arjun Prakash notching 20 each. Judhajit Mukherjee, unbeaten on nine, preserved his streak of never being dismissed in the history of the tournament. For UK in India, the solitary wicket went to Sourav Pal Chowdhury
Andrew Fleming, the British deputy high commissioner to the UK, was in attendance and enjoyed the proceedings. What made him even happier was being able to fulfil his promise of getting women involved in the game. “It’s very satisfying that CAB has helped us out by giving us two fantastic female umpires to officiate the game. We also had the pleasure of having Annesha Ghosh on commentary for our live stream on YouTube,” said Fleming
For the first time in the Indo-British Heritage Cup, the action was livestreamed on YouTube with Abhenav Khettry’s Vyana Sports using four cameras to create a high-quality live feed as well as highlights. A broadcasting room was set up at Eden, with a match director in charge. Commentary on the match came from Annesha Ghosh, a freelance multimedia journalist with experience at the Olympic and the Paralympic Games
The presentation ceremony was graced by Snehasish Ganguly, president, CAB, who also felicitated key members of the Bengal Heritage Foundation (BHF), the chief organiser of the event with support from the British Council, the Indo-British Scholars Association (IBSA) and Coal India. One of those felicitated was BHF trustee Sourav Niyogi. “We are grateful for the support of our partners as well as the tireless contributions of individuals such as Rajive Kaul and Subrata Paul. Last year, we distributed three kits to promising cricketers from Bengal. This year, we have taken the number up to five, and we are aiming for 10 next year onwards,” said Niyogi
