Prayagraj,

14 April (HS): The 34th All India Inter Railway Women Cricket

Championship being organized under the aegis of North Central Railway Sports

Association at Railgaon Stadium Prayagraj from 14.04.2025 to 20.05.2025 was

inaugurated on Monday by General Manager North Central Railway Upendra Chandra

Joshi in the august presence of President North Central Railway Women Welfare

Organisation Chetna Joshi, Principal heads of departments of North Central

Railway & members of NCRWWO.

On

arrival at the venue, President North Central Railway Sports Association SP Dwivedi

welcomed the chief guest of the program, Upendra Chandra Joshi GM/NCR by

presenting a sapling. In this sequence, the General Manager took introduction

from all the teams and players.

In

his welcome address on this occasion, S.P. Dwivedi said that it is a matter of

pride for us that this cricket competition is being organized by the North

Central Railway Sports Association in Prayagraj. He informed that teams from 09

zones of Indian Railways are participating in this event, which is divided into

two groups of 5 and 4 teams.

During

this, the General Manager expressed hope that this championship will be

instrumental in promoting sports in the railways. He further said that the

increasing number of teams in women’s cricket is a symbol of women empowerment

in the country. He said that such competitions will become a means of

encouraging new players. He also expressed hope that this event will be helpful

in increasing team spirit. On this occasion, he conveyed his best wishes to the

players, coaches, referees/umpires and other officials from various places

including the Railway Board for the success and fair conduct of this event.

On

this occasion, senior player of North Central Railway Poonam Yadav took oath on

behalf of all the players to play with fairness and sportsmanship and coach of

North Central Railway Hemalata Kala administered oath to referees, umpires,

scorers etc for conducting the event with fairness.

The

teams from Northern Railway, Western Railway, Central Railway, Eastern Railway,

Northeast Frontier Railway, Southern Railway, South Central Railway and South

Western Railway along with the host North Central Railway are participating.

About 150 players from 9 zones of Indian Railways are participating in this

7-day event.

The

Opening ceremony concluded with the national anthem. The first match of the

competition was played between North Central Railway and South Central Railway.

In this, North Central Railway won by 9 runs. North Central Railway won the

toss and batted first and scored 113 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in 20

overs. In reply, South Central Railway could score only 104 runs for the loss

of 9 wickets. The second match of the day was played between Northern Railway

and Eastern Railway. In this, Northern Railway batted first and scored 103 runs

and in reply, Eastern Railway scored 101 runs. Northern Railway won by just two

runs.

On

this occasion, President of North Central Railway Sports Association, SP Dwivedi,

Vice President, BP Singh, Treasurer, Ravi Patel, General Secretary, Sarvesh

Chand Dwivedi, Secretary/General Manager, Ajay Singh etc. were present. The

program was conducted by Joint Secretary North Central Railway Sports

Association Dr. Amit Malaviya.

It

is known that this competition is being organized in the cricket ground of

Khelgaon Public School along with the Railgaon Stadium of North Central

Railway. Here the only match of the day was played between Western Railway and

Northeast Frontier Railway. Before the match, Vice Chairman of Khelgaon Public

School Anil Mishra got the introduction of the players and on this occasion, on

behalf of the Chairman of the school Dr. UK Mishra, he wished everyone for the

event and inspired them to play with sportsmanship. Batting first in this

match, Western Railway made 151 runs for the loss of 3 wickets in 20 overs, in

reply, North East Frontier Railway could make only 105 runs for the loss of 8

wickets.

For

the first time in the history of Women’s Inter Railway Cricket, matches are

being live streamed from Railgaon Stadium Prayagraj through Youtube. Live

streaming of all the matches is being handled using Ninja Caster in association

with Cricclubs.

This

activity is being exclusively handled by Madas Chandra Shekhar, a BCCI

accredited scorer. In addition, the match scoring on Cricclubs is also being

carefully managed by Madas Chandra Shekhar. Madas Chandra Shekhar is working as

Senior Technician in Carriage Workshop, Lalaguda, Secunderabad of South Central

Railway. He is preparing all Inter Railway Cricket database for all Men and

Women Tournaments of Inter Railway Cricket.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi