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Journalism of Courage
Watching cricketers from Delhi Public School, RK Puram, and Delhi Tamil Education Association take the field for the final of the TCA Jayant Memorial Tournament on Friday, Namita Ranganathan and TCA Ranganathan got emotional. The couple had put together the inter-school under-14 tournament in the memory of their late son TCA Jayant, who passed away last year due to a cardiac arrest. He was 40-years-old. The venue was Gyan Bharti School, Saket where Jayant had studied.
“This is where Jayant picked up the bat for the first time. He joined this school as a 7-year-old and played cricket for the school team representing them at various tournaments. He was coached by Gursharan Singh and Bishan Singh Bedi. After our son’s death, we wanted to immortalize him and there was no better way to do it than conducting this tournament as he was very passionate about the sport,” Jayant’s mother Namita on the sidelines of the tournament.
After his school, Jayant got into St. Xavier’s in Mumbai and continued to pursue his serious cricket. After that went on to work for IPL franchise Delhi Daredevils IPL and also worked closely with Castrol during the 2011 World Cup. Jayant was also the managing director and India head of Meltwater, a software company.
“We just discussed the idea of a cricket tournament with the school and they happily agreed to do this. The whole organization of the tournament was felicitated by the school. Sports head Krishan Kumar and the school management supported us with all their heart and made the tournament successful,” Jayant’s father TCA Ranganathan, a former banker, said. Ranganathan was the chairman of Indian Overseas Bank and Export-Import Bank of India.
“I have lost my son but you know when the first four was hit in the tournament, it came rolling towards the photo of him kept on the sidelines. I am happy that we took this initiative,” Namita, a former dean of the department of education, Delhi Government, said.
The U14 tournament had teams from eight schools that were divided in two pools and played each other twice with pool toppers playing the final. In the final game, which was played under lights, DPS RK Puram defeated Delhi Tamil Education Association by six wickets.
In a low scoring affair, DPS captain Taksh Bharara led from the front and scored 50 runs off 39 balls in the successful chase. He was supported well by the opening batter Abirr Chawla who scored 50 runs off 41 balls.
Earlier, DTA won the toss and decided to bat first. DPS bowlers kept things tight bowling economical spells as Priyank Kannojia scored 52 runs off 55 balls to set a target of 119 runs for DPS.
1983 World Cup winner and former Indian cricketer Madan Lal was present on the occasion to felicitate the winning team along with school director Lata Vaidyanath and chairman Gopal Ansal.
Here are the highlights:
Best Batsman of the Series: Saksham Aswal (Gyan Bharti School, Saket) – 208 runs
Best Bowler of the Series: Amol Garg (DTA Pusha Road School) – 10 overs, 32 runs, 9 wickets
Best Fielder of the Series: Sumit Singh (DTA Pusha Road School) – 4 catches in 3 matches
Best Wicket-Keeper of the Series: Kunj Batra (DPS RK Puram) – 5 dismissals in 3 matches
Player of the Series: Abirr Chawla – 183 runs and 5 wickets ( 10 overs, 26 runs, 3 wickets )
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