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:
| Tournament | Awards | Team/Player names | Team |
| Spring Super eights | Runner’s Trophy | Gujarat Lions | Gujarat Lions |
| Winner’s Trophy | Jet Albany | Jet Albany | |
| Most Valuable Player(MVP) | Pardha Phani | Jet Albany | |
| Man of the Match-Finals | Kalyan Kompally | Jet Albany | |
| Best Batsman | Manav Patel | Gujarat Lions | |
| Best bowler | Bhavik Dalsania | Gujarat Lions | |
| Empire League | Man of the Match-Finals | Srinivas Reddy Gunna | Knights of Albany |
| Best Batsman | Faizal Hussain | Tri-city Cricket Club | |
| Most Valuable Player(MVP) | Hariprasad Amanapu | Albany Highlanders | |
| Best bowler | Ashok Adikoppula | Albany Highlanders | |
| Winner’s Trophy | Knights of Albany | Knights of Albany | |
| Runner’s Trophy | Tri-City | Tri-city Cricket Club | |
| Half Century | Faizal Hussain(G)-98 | Tri-city Cricket Club | |
| Harsh Jogi -95* | Panthers | ||
| Shoaib Hassan- 57 | Albany Highlanders | ||
| Bhavik Dalsania-53 | Albany Highlanders | ||
| Hariprasad Amanapu-52 | Albany Highlanders | ||
| Raj Ardham- 50 | Knights of Albany | ||
| Century | Renny Jainabi – 103 runs | Tri-city Cricket Club | |
| 5 Wicket Haul | Ashok Adikoppula -6 | Albany Highlanders | |
| Sridhar Sagi- 6 | Jet Albany | ||
| Arun Ghanta- 5 | Knights of Albany | ||
| Srinivas Reddy Gunna- 5 | Knights of Albany | ||
| Albany cricket league | Best bowler | Saravanan | Knights of Albany |
| Most Valuable Player(MVP) | Ranadheer Sammetta | Knights of Albany | |
| Runner’s Trophy | Knights of Albany | Knights of Albany | |
| Winner’s Trophy | Punjab Tigers | Punjab Tigers | |
| Best batsman | Amanpreet Singh | Punjab Tigers | |
| Man of the Match-Finals | Ijaz Safi | Punjab Tigers | |
| 5 wicket Haul | Zia | Punjab Tigers | |
| Saravanan | Knights of Albany | ||
| Half Century | Abishek Penti | Knights of Albany | |
| Shoaib Hassan | Gujarat Lions | ||
| Viraj Patel | Khakadi | ||
| Electric League | Man of the Match-finals | Raj Ardham | Knights of Albany |
| Best Batsman | Raj Ardham | Knights of Albany | |
| Most Valuable Player(MVP) | Raj Ardham | Knights of Albany | |
| Best bowler | Mrinal Kanukolanu | Jet Albany | |
| Winner’s Trophy | Knights of Albany | Knights of Albany | |
| Runner’s Trophy | Albany Highlanders | Albany Highlanders | |
| Half Century | Raj Ardham-73 | Knights of Albany | |
| Javed Safi -61 | Upstate Renegades | ||
| Raj Ardham- 61 | Knights of Albany | ||
| Anil Sahaman-59 | Tri-city Cricket Club | ||
| Mahesh Dassram Raghunandhan- 59 | Tri-city Cricket Club | ||
| Vishal Sridhar- 57 | Albany Highlanders | ||
| Shahzad Butt-55 | Tri-city Cricket Club | ||
| Varun Penmatsa- 55 | Albany Highlanders | ||
| 5 Wicket Haul | Mathew Persaud-5 Mrinal Kanukolanu-5 |
Tri-city
Jet Albany |
|
| Hattrick | Ashok Adikoppula | Albany Highlanders | |
| Fall Super eights | Runner’s Trophy | Gujarat Lions | |
| Winner’s Trophy | Punjab Tigers | ||
| Most Valuable Player(MVP) | Sriman | Red Hawks | |
| Man of the Match-Finals | Bhavik Dalsania | Gujarat Lions | |
| Best Batsman | Sriman | Red Hawks | |
| Best bowler | Afzal | Punjab Tigers | |
| GPL SEASON 3 DEC 2017 | Runner’s Trophy | Jet Albany | Jet Albany |
| Winner’s Trophy | Albany highlanders | Albany Highlanders | |
| Most Valuable Player(MVP) | Javed Safi | Albany Highlanders | |
| Man of the Match-Finals | Javed Safi | Albany Highlanders | |
| Best Batsman | Ravi Ekambaram | Jet Albany | |
| Best bowler | Hiren Kakadiya | Albany Highlanders |