BCCI vice president Rajiv Shukla distributes Shyam Bhatia Cricket for Care kits to budding cricketers at Ekana Stadium

By K.R. Nayar
Ekana Stadium

Lucknow. A function aimed at spreading and promoting cricket among children before the India-England match was heart-warming.  It was organised by a cricket enthusiast who has been travelling to many venues and carrying out a lot of charity work to promote the game. Shyam Bhatia, who was honoured in Ahmedabad in front of 100,000 spectators by DP World for his years of service to the game, and was invited by Sunil Gavaskar to the Sunil Gavaskar Box at Wankhede, presented cricket kits to many schools, colleges and academies at the Ekana Stadium.

 

Shyam Bhatia Cricket For Care Cricket kit distribution at the Ekana Stadium 

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) Vice President, Rajiv Shukla, distributed these kits to over 500 children as part of the Shyam Bhatia Cricket for Care initiative to encourage budding cricketers. All these children, before the start of the event were handed Shyam Bhatia Cricket for Care T shirts. 

 

The poster displaying states and countries where Cricket for Care kit distributions have taken place over the years 

Bhatia has traveled to remote places in South Africa and Zimbabwe to encourage underprivileged children and even distributed in places like Ukraine and Japan to popularize the game.

 

Kit bags ready for distribution at the Ekana Stadium 

Shukla is aware of Bhatia’s passion to help the game. Ever since Bhatia set up the Cricket for Care charity in 2003, he has distributed cricket kits in Mumbai slums, Rajkot, Odisha, Kerala and Vadodara to name a few. He has also distributed kits in Sri Lanka and Nepal. 

 

Budding cricketers at the kit distribution event  

The cricket kit distribution function was also attended by Yudhvir Singh, President of UPCA and Uday Sinha of Ekana Foundation.  

 

A view of the gathering at the kit distribution 

After hailing the majestic stadium, Shyam Bhatia spoke about why he enjoys distributing cricket kits among children. “Watching this wonderful stadium gives me a lot of excitement. The people of Lucknow are really blessed to have such a wonderful stadium and I congratulate the people here in creating such an international venue. I urge the boys and girls to play the game with hard work and passion. It is the hunger that will keep you going.  Right now you have this wonderful stadium and facilities. It all depends on how much of effort you can put in and do the best in your life.”

 

Ekana Foundation welcomes everyone for the event 

Bhatia then called for youngsters to emulate the greats of the game. “Cricket teaches you a lot of lessons and one of the important lessons is to work hard and play with passion. Players like Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tedullkar and Virat Kohli have followed these principles and become great players. You all can do the same too.”

Rajiv Shukla addresses the gathering 

Shukla thanked Bhatia for coming to Lucknow and extending such a noble gesture. “People are so busy in this world with their own work; and though Shyam, who is an industrialist, is also a busy man, he makes sure to go to places and distribute kits for children. It is this gesture that makes budding cricketers into stars and through his passion he shows how much he loves the game. Shyam has also made a museum for people who want to know everything about the game and inspire people. I feel that his museum is a University of Cricket. I hope the boys who have received his kit will perform better and produce good level of cricket.”

Rajiv Shukla presents a memento to Shyam Bhatia 

Shukla then presented a memento to Bhatia for his invaluable service to the game.

 

The schools that received the kits in Lucknow are St Anne’s Convent School, Colonel SN Misra School, Vidhya Bharati Public School, Navsrijan School, Laxmidevi Memorial Public School, and Uttar Pradesh Railway Cricket Academy School.

 

A group of young cricketers receive the kit

Colleges that received the kits are IPIC Inter College, La. Martinier College, Wisdom Progressing Inter College, Hewett Polytechnic College, PDN College.  Institutions like Care Educational, Government Girls polytechnic, Government Polytechnic, Lucknow, also received cricket kits. Cricket Acadamies like Aryavart Cricket Academy, Bharatiya Sports Cricket Academy, Jaipurya Cricket Academy and GP Cricket Academy were also happy to receive the kits.