Panchkula (Haryana) [India], December 28 (ANI): India’s biggest cricket tournament for specially-abled players started at Tau Devilal Cricket Stadium in Panchkula on Tuesday.

The top 60 players from the country are participating in the four teams that are fighting for HAP CUP 2021.

The teams are named as Praveen XI Heroes, Harley XI Masters, Anand XI Stars and Ravi XI Royals on the name of individuals who have helped these cricket players during the last 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Organized with an aim to spread happiness and a message of inclusion for the disabled community, the tournament was inaugurated by Haryana Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta.

In the inaugural match of Praveen XI vs Harley XI, the former won the toss and made 133 in 20 overs. Victor-25, Manish-25 and Sreedeep Lala 28 made useful contributions for the team. International player Ravinder Sante took 3 wickets for 18 runs in his quota of 4 overs.

Harley XI Masters chased down the score in 19 overs. Lokesh Marghade scored 46 while Sante contributed 26 runs. Ravinder Sante was declared Man of the Match for his performance.

In the second match, Ravi XI scored 160 in the allotted 20 overs with important contributions from captain Anil Chokker who scored 56 runs in 55 balls and Sunny who smashed 39 runs in just 25 balls.

Anand XI failed to chase the score and could reach 128/5 n their 20 overs. Captain Vikrant Keni’s effort of 65 runs in 55 balls could not sail his team through. Anil Chokker also took one wicket and was declared man of the match.

Encouraging the players, Gupta said, “From Paralympics to cricket, Haryana has been at the forefront of supporting and promoting sports. To see players with amazing cricketing skills even with physical disabilities is unbelievable.” Apart from encouraging the players, the Speaker also announced a sum of Rs 5 lakhs for all the four teams participating in the tournament.

Specially modified vehicles for the transportation of players were provided by accessibility partner Svayam, a Sminu Jindal Charitable Trust.

“Our players are the biggest stars of the tournament and their movement has to be with dignity and this is what Svayam is trying to do by providing these vehicles”, said Sminu Jindal.

HAP Cup 2021 was the first tournament for the players after the formation of the Differently-abled Cricket Committee (DCCI).

Secretary DCCI, Ravi Chauhan said, “We are trying to match the standards set by BCCI and trying to give the best possible facilities and opportunities to differently-abled players. This is just the beginning and a lot of work needs to be still done but this is a good start.”Sumit Jain of the newly formed DCCI was also present during the event. The tournament is played on a round-robin basis with the finals to be played on Friday. (ANI)