State cricketers honoured

 Egging them to their Ranji Trophy title defence, which is set to begin in just over a month, the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) felicitated State team for its stupendous success last season here on Sunday.

On a memorable evening for all the current crop of Karnataka players, who received words of praise and wisdom from the yesteryear stars, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur, the chief guest for the annual awards ceremony, gave away the prizes.

“The achievements of the State team are worth celebrating,” said KSCA Secretary Brijesh Patel. “Having triumphed in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, Ranji Trophy and Irani Cup for two straight years, the team has shown its supremacy in the domestic circuit.”

The team was presented with silver replicas of the Ranji Trophy. Former stars such as Erappali Prasanna, Syed Kirmani, Sunil Joshi and Venkatesh Prasad felicitated the team members and wished them success in the coming seasons.

“During the glorious days of Karnataka cricket, six players from the State represented the country. I want this current team to break that number and I would like to see many more Karnataka players donning the India colours for a long time,” said Kirmani.

Speaking about the consistent success shown by the team in the recent past, Thakur attributed the positive results to the strong effort from the State association. “Karnataka gives value to grassroot level training which is very important. The players are very disciplined and other State associations must learn a lot from KSCA.”

Skipper Vinay Kumar showered praise on his team. “With the kind of talent we possess, Karnataka can rule the domestic season for ten years. We aim to strive hard and bring back more laurels to the State,” he exuded confidence.