Silver Jubilee for Vibha Cricket
Vibha, a nonprofit working to provide education for underprivileged children, celebrated 25 years of Vibha Cricket in Atlanta on May 5 with a lot of history, camaraderie, and passion.
[Left] Vibha volunteers with sponsors Anj Balusu and Asha and Sravan Vellanki.
Reminiscing the long history of the event, Srinivas Vemulapalli, the Volunteer Coordinator at Vibha, said, “I never thought that the event we started in 1999 would go on successfully for 25 years and raise more than $850,000 for the cause of the children. I would like to thank Sravan Vellanki, the CEO of Futuretech; and Anj Balusu, the General Manager at FutureTech and recently elected Director of USA Cricket; for supporting and guiding us in this journey. Above all else, it is the volunteer spirit and the cause of the children that have brought us to this milestone event.”
Dr. Michelle Au, a Representative in the Georgia General Assembly, who presided over the function, congratulated the Vibha team on the special occasion and gave away mementos to players and sponsors. Dilip Tunki, a Johns Creek City Council member, also spoke on the occasion and appreciated the efforts of Vibha for making a difference in the lives of children in India and the U.S. Rajesh Vuchatu, Executive Director of Vibha - Atlanta, talked about how Vibha has sharpened its focus on public education in India by signing memorandums of understanding with several state governments (most recently with the Delhi
Education department) and working with several others. He noted that Vibha has also been invited to participate in the C20 Summit (as part of the G20 Summit) on education for policy proposals. He also highlighted how Vibha is making a difference in Atlanta by supporting Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA), InspireEdu, and the International Community School (ICS).
[Right] Dr. Asha Vellanki gave the Women Tournament trophy to the champions.
Sravan Vellanki, the title sponsor for the event, gave an impassioned speech and said, “It requires dedication, hard work, team effort, and the support of volunteers to make an impact on the community. Congratulations Team Vibha on this significant milestone and here’s to many more years of making a difference through Vibha!”
This year’s event saw participation from 39 teams of men, women, and youth. Keeping up with the tradition of continuous innovation and recognizing the growth of youth teams in several high schools, Vibha started a separate tournament for youth. The inaugural youth tournament was won by Johns Creek High School’s Phantoms who beat the North View High School’s Titans. In the same spirit, a group of young girls formed a team and participated in the Women’s Tournament, challenging their mothers. It was a heartwarming sight to see the mothers and daughters bowling and batting against each other. The girls’ team, that will be the 
future of women’s cricket, the FutureTech Youth Atlanta Strikers, won the Women’s Tournament, beating Firebirds in the finals. Durga Datla of the Firebirds won the titles of Best Batswoman and Player of the Tournament for scoring 32 runs and taking two wickets; Hiral Patel of Firebirds won the Best Bowler title for taking three wickets; and Disha Kaveripakam, from FutureTech Youth Atlanta Strikers, was declared the Player of the Finals.
[Left] The inaugural youth tournament was won by Johns Creek High School’s Phantoms.
The Men’s tournament was won by the Rapid IT Monsters Challengers, the franchise that has won the most Vibha tournaments over the years and is led by Sanjay Narla, by beating The Krishna Vilas Legends. The Legends restricted the Challengers to 63 runs in the allocated five overs but failed to reach the target against some fierce bowling by the Challengers. The Best Batsman of the Tournament title was bagged by Uday Kumar Reddy Guda from Lindberg Aliens for scoring 132 runs in the tournament. Pradeep Sadhasivam from Sekhar Realty Blazers won the Best Bowler award with eight wickets in the tournament. Harish Kotamraju of Rapid IT Monsters Challengers was awarded the Man of the Tournament for scoring 112 runs and taking eight wickets. Jagdish Narisetty of Legends won the Player of the Finals.
“As co-leads, we had a blast organizing the cricket tournament this year! It was truly humbling to see the spirit of Vibha supporters who took part and help celebrate our milestone event. We had fun and, in the process, also raised awareness and funds,” said Vasantha Kandikuppa and Sathya Vridhachalam.
Prabir Das, a player in Vibha Cricket’s inaugural tournament in 1999, former volunteer, and the current Executive Director of Vibha - Atlanta, thanked all the participants and invited everyone to join the movement as volunteers and supporters.
FutureTech Vibha Cricket Men Tournament Champions.
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