CDCA Celebrates Successful 2017 Season

By Sudharsan Ramarao | Photo gallery of the event
Remember, Rejoice and Recognize were the themes of the night as the Capital District Cricket Association (CDCA) got down to celebrate what was an immensely successful 2017 season. The third annual CDCA Awards ceremony was hosted at the Jewish community center hall in downtown Schenectady, New York and anchored by Suchita Jaju and Sudharsan Ramarao.

Sudharsan first started off expounding the three main themes of the night: Remember the three beautiful years of CDCA, Rejoice with fellow Capital Region enthusiasts, and recognize the great performances on and off the field. President Kiran Vishnu then addressed the gathering with an impassioned speech stressing cricket is a global sport and has its own place in the diverse Capital district of New York. He went on to thank all the volunteers for whatever contributions they may have made to CDCA, and asked everyone in the audience to “Remember” that the CDCA is an organization that belongs to every single cricket enthusiast of the Capital District of New York.

The main two guests at the event, Phil Steck, NY State Assembly member and Phil Barrett, Clifton Park Town Supervisor, were introduced by the Founder and Treasurer of CDCA, Mr. Ashok Adikoppula. Phil Steck spoke eloquently about the history of the game of cricket in the USA and surprised many people in the audience with his knowledge of the history of the game. He even jokingly took a jibe at England, who despite being the inventors of the game is yet to win a Cricket World Cup. Phil Barett recounted the back-story of how cricket became a prominent fixture in Clifton Park, and hopes it will remain so for the foreseeable future. Schenectady City Council Members Karen Zalewski-Wildzunas, John Mootooveren, Marian Porterfield, John Polimeni and Schenectady school board member Junior Hitla, were the other guests present at the event.

Knights of Albany collects an award from Councilman John Mootooveren. Pictured above, Punjab Tigers receives their trophy from chief guest Phil Barett.

The 2017 season had six tournaments: The Spring Super 8s, The T20 Electric League, the 35 Overs Empire League, the Albany Cricket League, the fall Super 8s and the most innovative of all, The Gully Premier League, with awards given out to the Best Batsman, Best Bowler, Man-of-the-Finals, Most Valuable Player, championship winners and runners-up. Awards were also given to special performances that included half-centuries, centuries, hat tricks and five-wicket hauls.

Knights of Albany was the biggest winner of the night, having claimed the championship in the T20 Electric League and the 35-Overs Empire League, while finishing as Runner-up in the Albany Cricket League and the 15-Overs Tennis Ball tournament. The captain Raj Ardham was the biggest winner in the individual category after being adjudged the Man-of-the-Finals, Best Batsman and Most Valuable player for the T20 Electric League. Elsewhere, Punjab Tigers received championship trophies for their victories in the Albany Cricket League and the fall Super 8s, while JET Albany and Albany Highlanders claimed championship trophies for their victories in Spring Super 8 and the Gully Premier League, respectively. Renny Jainabi of Tricity stood out among the awards for special performances after scoring the only century across all leagues in 2017, while Ashok Adikoppula, apart from his Best Bowler award in the Empire League, bagged a special performance award for the only hat-trick across all the tournaments in 2017. CDCA also recognized the various sponsors for their great support to the organization at various stages of the season and volunteers, who performed outstanding services for the organization, were recognized with plaques.

The showstopper of the night was undoubtedly the highlight video that played right at the beginning of the awards ceremony. The video, a montage of special moments during the season had the audience applauding and enjoying what were emotional flashbacks of the high points of the season. With some of the best performers in the Capital District performing on stage interlaced with the awards presentation, the event was not short on entertainment, as the audience regaled and rejoiced with each other, along with the sumptuous dinner organized by CDCA.

Kalyan Kompally, vice president of CDCA gave the Vote of Thanks and officially brought down the curtain on the 2017 CDCA season. Sridhar Sagi, Secretary of CDCA stated that the awards night turned out to be a huge success and set the tempo for the upcoming season in 2018.

Complete List of winners below: