Power hitz’14 – A cricket tournament
The Department of Physical Educational and Sports, Pondicherry University organised an inter-department cricket tournament, Power hitz’14, from 20 – 27 February, 2014. The tournament was unique in its own fashion as each team had to include at least two women team members. Each game had two innings of 10 overs each which was played out in a ‘T-10’ format. In each innings at least one over would have to be bowled by a woman team member.
A meeting with the captains of all the 27 teams registered for the tournament was held on 18 February. On the same day the logo of Power hitz’14 was released by Prof. P K Subramaniam and Dr. M Elayaraja, of the Department of Physical Education and Sports. Later in the presence of all the captains the fixture of the tournament was decided through lottery and the rules and regulation of the tournament were explained. The tournament was played as a league cum knock out format. 35 matches were played between the 27 teams throughout the tournament, which was much higher than the 19 teams that played last year.
On 20 February, Pondicherry University witnessed the return of Power hitz for a second time as it got green signaled by the chief guest, Prof. Dr. S Pannirselvame, the Dean of School of Humanities, in the presence of the faculty members of the Department of Physical Education and Sports. The chief guest inaugurated the tournament while facing the bowling of Prof. D Shakthignanavel, the Director of Sports and Head of the Department of Physical Education and Sports. “The bowling is good and the batting is better,” the Director of Sports said. The tournament went smoothly and 13 matches were completed in a day. All matches begun by 2.00 pm so that there would be minimum disturbance to the regular academic activities of the students.
The league stage finished on 22 February. At the end of it, Power hitz’14 was left with 9 teams which qualified from their respective groups. A quarter final qualifier was played between the Department of Statistics and the Department of Bio-informatics. The Department of Statistics were the victors thus entering the quarter finals. In the quarter finals of Power hitz’14 as they had entered the knockout stage, all the 8 teams gave their everything. The four quarter finals took place on 25 February and finally 4 teams qualified for the semi finals namely, BT Battlers from MBA (Banking Technology), the defending champions, Katrina from MCA, Mighty Managers from MBA (Department of Management Studies), and Wild Rangers from Ecology and Environmental Sciences. Both semi finals were gripping till the last ball. In the first semi final, Wild Rangers declared their victory in the last ball against Katrina and in second semi final BT Battlers defeated Mighty Managers in the last ball and qualified for the final. The final match of Power hitz’14 was played on 27 February. Finally BT Battlers got the championship of Power hitz’14 as they sent the last ball for an over-boundary, claiming the cup for their own.
L Irudayaraj, the vice captain of BT Battlers won the Man of the Match award and also the Best Batsman award in the entire tournament. N Anandbabu of BT Battlers got the Best Bowler and the Best Player awards. T I Rayeeza Ferzana of the same team got awarded as the Best Women Player. The Department of Statistics got the award for the best teamwork. The Department of Bio-Technology got awarded for best jersey. The defending champions Katrina of MCA defending champions got 3rd place defeating Mighty Managers. The chief guest awarded the trophy to BT Battlers of the Department of Banking Technology (MBA). The Department of Physical Education and Sports students organized some cultural events while the prize distribution ceremony. Power hitz’14 observed around 2000 spectators throughout the tournament. 405 players actively participated in this tournament out of which 108 were women. The players, the spectators, the volunteers and above all the game made this tournament a grand success.
Photos: Jaykishan R and Tintumon M
Sathayabala G and Tintumon M
2nd MCA.