West Indian cricketer Clayton Lambert inaugurates popular charity tournament
Every year during the month of May, Atlantans who love cricket gather at Georgia Tech for the FutureTech Vibha Cricket Cup. This year the contest was between 46 teams involving over 400 players and participants.
The tournament started on May 9th, and was inaugurated by Clayton Lambert, a former West Indian cricketer and current coach of the USA cricket team. A total of 32 games were held during the first weekend with the first match starting at 8 AM and the last match ending around 9 PM each day. During the first weekend, usually not many upsets are expected, and the best teams breeze through the early rounds without much hassle.
However, this year was different and defending champions Alpharetta Monsters Kings lost to Rapid IT. Monsters needed to chase 75 runs in 10 overs which is a par score but a really good bowling and fielding effort from Rapid IT caused the biggest upset in the history of the tournament and the former champions remain that only. Unfortunately, RapidIT’s victory took all the gas out of them and were defeated by Chattanooga Titans, a team that is playing this tournament for the ninth year.
Javed Miandad’s legacy of a memorable upset evoked
The most exciting finish to the match was between Rebels United and Marietta Invincibles. The Rebels needed nine runs in three balls and with 2 overthrows and a wicket in the next two balls, the equation was six runs in from the last delivery! Opening batsman, Viraj Karnik stepped up to the challenge with a miraculous six over the square leg fence—evoking memories of Javed Miandad’s famous six that snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the 1986 Australia Cup final between India and Pakistan in Sharjah.
Enjoyed reading Khabar magazine? Subscribe to Khabar and get a full digital copy of this Indian-American community magazine.
