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Hindustan Times
13-07-2025
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Chandigarh: Amarjit Singh Mehta re-elected PCA president
Amarjit Singh Mehta was re-elected the president of the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) at its annual general body meeting held at the New Chandigarh stadium on Saturday. From left : PCA joint secretary Siddhant Sharma, vice-president Deepak Bali, president Amarjit Singh Mehta, secretary Kulwant Singh and treasurer Sunil Gupta. (HT PHOTO) The other office-bearers are: Deepak Bali (vice-president), Kulwant Singh (secretary), Siddhant Sharma (joint secretary) and Sunil Gupta (treasurer). Electoral officer Rajeev Sharma (IAS retd) said all office-bearers have been elected unopposed for the upcoming three-year term. Kulwant Singh is the AAP MLA from Mohali while Deepak Bali is adviser to the Punjab Heritage and Tourism Board. Sunil Gupta, a businessman from Bathinda, is the vice-chairman of the Punjab Economic Policy and Planning Board, with the rank and status of cabinet minister. Gupta said the PCA general body has unanimously approved all agenda items, including the T20 league Sher-e-Punjab Tournament for the 2025-2026 season. Eleven apex council members were also elected during the meeting. They are Arminder Singh, Rajat Bhardwaj, Chanchal Kumar Singla, Amit Bajaj, Birdevinder Singh Natt, Prabhir Singh Brar, Gauravdeep Singh Dhaliwal, Kamal Kumar Arora, Amrinder Vir Singh Barsat, Sahebjit Singh Sehmby and Vikram Kumar. Players felicitated On the occasion, PCA felicitated players and coaches who brought laurels to Punjab in different tournaments. Uday Pratap Saharan, skipper of the U-23 men's team, and head coach VRV Singh were honoured for winning the Col CK Nayudu Trophy, the U-23 State-A Trophy and the Col CK Nayudu Trophy vs Rest of India. Umesh Gill, skipper of the U-16 men's team, and head coach RP Singh were feted for leading the team to the runners-up position in the Vijay Merchant Trophy. Jyoti, captain of the Punjab U-15 women's team, and coach Yograj were honoured for guiding the team to runners-up spot in the one-day tournament this season.
The Hindu
08-07-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
Promising youngsters get a raw deal at Kerala Cricket League auction
The player auction for the second season of the Kerala Cricket League (KCL) left many junior cricketers in the State disappointed and it raised serious questions about the aim of the fledgling league in promoting talent. Twenty-three players, who represented the State in Cooch Behar Trophy, Col. C.K. Nayudu Trophy or Vijay Merchant Trophy, went unsold in the auction. The notable omission being Mohammed Enaan, the India under-19 player currently touring England. Manav Krishna, who was chosen as the Promising Player in the NSK Trophy T20 tournament, also went unsold. Abi Biju, S. Abhiram, Kamil Aboobacker, Kiran Sagar and Rohan Nair were among the players who found no buyers. Of the 49 players registered in Category B with base price of ₹1.5 lakh, only 16 were picked by the teams while 49 out of the 84 players in Category C with a base price of ₹75,000 were traded in the auction. The auction threw up surprises like 42-year-old K.J. Rakesh, who served as junior selector last season, getting picked while many promising youngsters were overlooked. 'The teams splurged money to buy Category A players and exhausted half of their purse. They then looked for cheaper players in Category C, sidestepping Category B players. The KCA made a mistake by not allowing unsold players in Category B to be traded along with Category C players at a reduced base price like it did with Category A players. Most of the coaches of the franchises teams were based abroad and weren't familiar with the local talent,'' said Biju George, former Indian women team's fielding coach and current talent scout of Kolkata Knight Riders. The KCA secretary Vinod S. Kumar admitted the mistake and said the association will make it mandatory for the team to pick a fixed number of Category B players from next season onwards. 'We didn't foresee such a scenario this season. The bidding for Category A players left the teams short of money and some barely managed to buy the minimum number of 16 players. For the next season we are thinking of making it mandatory for the teams to pick up a fixed number of players from Category B and even allowing Category B players to be sold along with Category C players at a reduced price. Those at the auction table should not be parochial. The teams also picked some players who either failed the yo-yo test or missed it. I must admit the bidding wasn't fair on some players. The KCL will have some initial flaws which we will rectify in due course of time,'' said Vinod.
