Bhubaneswar: The first-ever Gadeswar Tri-Series (Juniors) Green Shield-2018 Cricket Tournament kicked off at Gadakana in Bhubaneswar recently. U-16 players of Bhubaneswar based Greens Cricket Academy, Sahid Sportings and Pragati Sportings are participating in the eight-day series, which began on Wednesday. The final match will be held on October 24. In the opening match, Sahid Sportings beat Pragati Sporting on Wednesday. Soren Patnaik of Sahid was conferred MoM for scoring 55. On Thursday, after winning the toss, Greens chose to bat first and scored 153/6 in 35 overs. In the second innings, Pragati lost the match after scoring 120/9. Sumit Mishra, Mrutyunjay Mansingh and Suryakant Bhutia of Greens took two wickets each. Tarini Prasad Nayak (C) of Greens was conferred Man of the Match award, scoring 44 with two wickets. Anshuman Bej and Pratyush Kumar Purohit (C) scored runs for Pragati.
“The objective is to give a platform to the budding players, which will prepare them for bigger opportunities. Each team will play two matches with each other before the final”, said Brahmananda Behera, coach of Greens Academy.
“We will organise the Tri-Series every year with two different teams of Bhubaneswar. Another bigger tournament has been scheduled for senior players in which 6-8 teams will participate,” said Ashok Jena, founder, Greens Academy.
