Howzzat!!

“HOWZZAT!”, “CATCH IT!”- this is what you would hear if you happened to be walking near 35th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues in Manhattan on a warm Saturday morning last week. If curiosity led you into the park’s gate, you’d see a team strategizing off to one side, spectators sitting off to another side sipping on Gatorade and enjoyed the picnic-ideal weather while listening to music. You’d see volunteers, identified by their purple ribbons, dispersed in the registration area, a gleaming golden trophy on the registration table, and you wouldn’t be able to miss the excited cricket being played in the center of the park. This was YOUR DIL New York’s first Tape Ball Cricket Tournament!



The tournament was a huge success, where spectators, players and cricket fans alike had an amazing time. Congratulations to the Catch 20.2, the winning team of the tournament! We’d like to make a special mention of Catch 20.2’s Captain, Raza Mujtaba (who was also extremely helpful in coordinating and planning the tournament) and Catch 20.2’s Omer Salamat, the man of the Tournament and Fareen Butt, a YOUR DIL volunteer who made a mini movie of the tournament and Samar Shaheryar, who underwrote the costs of tournament so that all the profits would go towards our project! Check out pictures at http://www.yourdil.org/gallery/.



The six teams participating in the tournament were FYI (Captain: Ali Khan), Manhattan Cheetahs- the runner up team of the tournament! (Captain: Rizwan Akhter), the color coordinated Jiggling Joes (Captain: Owais Ahmad), NY Lions (Captain: YOUR DIL NY’s very own Kashif Akhtar), and the winning team, Catch 20.2 (Captain: Raza Mujtaba). All the teams played fantastic cricket from 9am till 8pm!

Thanks to the support of the spectators and the amazing teams of the tournament, YOUR DIL raised over $3,500- all of which will go towards building a school for underprivileged children in Mansehra, Pakistan.

Thanks to all the positive feedback we are about to begin planning another YOUR DIL Cricket Tournament. Stay posted to hear more about it!