On 2nd September, the California Cricket Academy sponsored an event where they displayed the trophy that will be the cynosure of all eyes during the International Cricket Council (ICC) sponsored Cricket World Cup matches to be held in England in 2019.
ICC sends the trophy around the world for display in 27 countries to generate interest in the game and to increase popularity towards the sport. In America, the game of cricket is not very popular, but thanks to a large South Asian population the game is growing in popularity. In fact, Cupertino runs a well-established cricket academy – California Cricket Academy – which is recognized by ICC. This distinction was made possible through the efforts of Hemant and Kinjal Buch, founders of California Cricket Academy.
This academy has grown in strength over the past 15 years, and it has attracted coaching talent drawn from present and past players from India and Pakistan. Ajit Tendulkar (brother of Sachin Tendulkar) is a regular visitor and coach at CCA.
When the Cricket World Cup tour started, Hemant Buch approached ICC through USA Cricket Association board member Suraj Vishwanathan of San Jose and requested ICC to send the trophy here for public display.
The ICC obliged and the trophy was brought here by ICC representatives for the purposes of public display on 2nd September. It was a public function attended by a large gathering of cricket lovers, along with past and present Mayors of Cupertino, Mahesh Nihalani,CCA advisory Board member, other members of the academy and officials of ICC. Event attendees were thrilled to see the actual trophy and enjoyed getting photographs taken. Cricket enthsuiasts used this opportunity to reminiscence about past World Cup Cricket matches that they had witnessed. India’s name is inscribed twice as winners on the trophy – 1983 and 2011 when Kapil Dev and M.S.Dhoni led India to victory.
A memorable event indeed!