Under 23 Men’s Tournament Hosted By SICA Concludes Successfully
The Under 23 Men’s One Day Trophy 2019-20 was hosted by Sikkim Cricket Association (SICA) at Odisha from 31st October to 22nd November 2019. This was the first time after getting the full membership that the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) trusted upon SICA with a tournament. It is all results of confidence that the BCCI has gained with the way SICA has been working from the past few years.
45 matches were played between 10 teams – Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Puducherry. All the matches were played in four different venues – KIITS Cricket Stadium, Bhubaneshwar; Vikash Cricket Ground, Bhubaneshwar; DRIEMS University Ground, Cuttack; and Ravenshaw University Ground. These venues were taken up by SICA for hosting the tournament.
SICA’s Cricket Operation Manager Afzal Hussain and Logistic Manager Mayelmit Lepcha were based in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha one month before the start of the tournament under the guidance of SICA executives for getting various things done for hosting the tournament such as setting up the venues for the matches, accommodations for the BCCI match officials and various teams, transportations and many more. SICA had also appointed Nayan Tshering Bhutia as the Co-ordinator heading the tournament.
SICA has successfully been able to host the tournament and the credit goes to the tireless effort put by all the Executives and Administrative Staffs of SICA. Many challenges were there for the successful closure but it was well supported by respective venues in-charges and supporting staffs’, KIIT management, and Odisha Cricket Association. It was a learning project for SICA which turned to be an asset. Looking at the success the BCCI has given another project of hosting the Under 23 Women’s One Day Tournament which itself is a big achievement for SICA.