DDCA Director lauds BCCI secretary Jay Shah for rewarding groundsmen, curators following IPL 2024

New Delhi [India], May 28 (ANI): Shyam Sharma, the Director of Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) lauded the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah for announcing rewards for groundsmen and curators for their hard work during the recently-concluded Indian Premier League (IPL), saying that this has been the first time that importance has been given to groundsmen & curators.

Following the conclusion of the Indian Premier League 2024, Shah took to social media and thanked the ground staff on Monday as they worked tirelessly to provide brilliant pitches throughout the 17th edition of the cash-rich league.

“The unsung heroes of our successful T20 season are the incredible ground staff who worked tirelessly to provide brilliant pitches, even in difficult weather conditions. As a token of our appreciation, the groundsmen and curators at the 10 regular IPL venues will receive INR 25 lakhs each, and the same at the 3 additional venues will get INR 10 lakhs each. Thank you for your dedication and hard work!” Shah wrote on X.

On the reward announced for groundsmen and curators, Shyam told ANI, “This is for the first time that importance has been given to groundsmen & curators. Jay Shah’s vision is very different…He sees that every person is motivated. The real hard work is that of the groundsmen and curator.”

In the final on Sunday, all-round performance from Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), including fiery spells by Mitchell Starc and Andre Russell and a half-century by Venkatesh Iyer, helped the Purple and Gold side secure their third Indian Premier League (IPL) title and their first in 10 years as they defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by eight wickets on Sunday at Chennai’s Chepauk Stadium.

Sunrisers, which set the T20 cricketing world on fire with their fierce hitting, sky-high run-rates, largely due to the opening pair of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, got the taste of its own medicine. In a battle of two big buys, the Australian stars Cummins (20.5 crores for SRH) and Starc (24.75 crores for KKR), it was the latter who prevailed.

Earlier, SRH won the toss and elected to bat first. KKR rocked SRH with continuous wickets, with the big buy Mitchell Starc justifying his Rs 24.75 crore price tag. Only skipper Pat Cummins (24 in 19 balls, with two fours and a six) and Aiden Markram (20 in 23 balls, with three fours) touched the 20-run mark and SRH was bundled out for 113 in 18.3 overs.

Andre Russell (3/19) was the top bowler for KKR. Starc (2/14) and Harshit Rana (2/24) also contributed well with the ball. Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Vaibhav Arora took a wicket each.

KKR pulled off the run-chase of 114 runs in just 10.3 overs with eight wickets in hand, with Venkatesh Iyer (52* in 26 balls, with four boundaries and three sixes) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (39 in 32 balls, with five fours and two sixes) shining for KKR.