The Trade Association for Information Technology (TAIT), one of India’s leading IT associations representing the vast IT ecosystem organizations, started 2019 on a grand note with a mega 4-day cricket tournament.
The meticulously planned event witnessed enthusiastic participation from Brands, Vendors, IT retailers and traders as well as their office staff, as they come together in the spirit of the game and played as One Team.
The 4 day event was held during the pleasant evening slots, from 5:00pm to 11:00pm, on the sprawling expanses of the Mumbai Police Gymkhana ground, Marine Drive, making the experience a memorable one for all players. In an exciting grand finale held on Sunday, 13th January 2019, LG-Orno Gladiators beat the AOC Creative United team by 29 runs and won the coveted CP Plus TAIT IT Cup 2019 while AOC Creative United won the Runners-Up Cup.
Since its Inception, TAIT has been instrumental in supporting, guiding and providing a strong platform for IT retail and trade community of Mumbai to voice their concerns and has been addressing their business challenges in a timely and efficient manner. With a firm pulse on the industry and support from reputed National Associations like FAIITA, TAIT has been instrumental in bridging the gap between Brands, Vendors, and IT Trade and Retail Community.
The TAIT IT Cricket cup has been an annual event since 2014 and is one of the several initiatives by TAIT to bring the IT community together and to promote bonding among the Members.
Sharing his views on the initiative and the success of the tournament, Mr. Sameer Parekh, President, TAIT said, “Maintaining the TAIT tradition of getting better year on year, this year too with efforts from entire Board and TAIT members, we could organise much bigger cricket tournament, where better cricketing skills were on display and unmatched networking of IT Ecosystem was seen. There was huge presence of members on all 4 days. Feedbacks from all the team and members were quite encouraging. Most satisfying aspect of this entire tournament is to see more and more Brands/Vendors coming forward on their own to be a part of this extravaganza. TAIT team would continue working tirelessly for IT Ecosystem and we welcome Feedback from all, as always.”
This year, the CP Plus IT TAIT Cup 2019 was a larger, reformed event, with 12 teams in 3 Groups, playing at night for 4 days to win the coveted title. As in 2018, this year too, the event saw active participation from OEM’s in addition to the TAIT Members and vendors. Sphere-headed by Mr. Sunil Thariani, Director of the Board, along with other Sports committee members, Mr. Sameer Mehta, Mr. Magan Gangani and Mr. Nitin Phagwani, the mega tournament managed to rope in some of the biggest IT brands as sponsors. Further, the CP Plus TAIT IT Cup 2019 was streamed live on the mumbailive.com platform and also promoted on leading radio channel, Fever 104, who were the broadcast partners for the event.
Speaking about the massive scale and the enthusiastic response to the bigger format of the tournament, Mr. Sunil Tharani said, “We have been striving to make this event as enjoyable and fair as possible for each and every participant. Based on our learnings from last year, this year’s format and planning was meticulous to create the perfect experience for all players. There were 25 matches played over 4 days, where teams from specifically segregated groups played on a given day, ensuring all teams don’t have to wait for their turns on a given day.
The enthusiastic participation from many new sponsors who came on-board, only added to the excitement and spirit. We are overwhelmed by such massive response, not only from TAIT members but also from major brands, vendors, and OEM’s from across the country, who has expressed their wish to participate in the next tournament. We plan on making this an even bigger and better event for 2020, from a 4 overs to a 8-10 over format, so that more players can get a chance to bowl and bat.”
The 12 participating teams were formed with key OEM’s as owners and the distributors as co-owners, making them close partners and team members. The teams were divided in 3 groups and played 12 league matches, 3 quarter final, and 1 semi- final. Acer Vs CP plus, D-Link Vs AOC and LG Vs Livetech were the 3 quarter finals. Acer Vs AOC played the Semi-final. AOC and LG won the respective matches and faced each other for the grand finale. The exciting finals saw the LG Orno Gladiators win the toss and opted to bat. They made 50 runs for 3 in 4 overs.
AOC Creative United made 21 runs for 7 in 4 overs, making LG Orno Gladiator, the winner of the CP Plus TAIT IT cup by by 29 runs! AOC Creative United won the runner’s up cup. Speaking about his experience at leading the LG Orno team to victory for the second time in a row, Mr. Mukesh Mehta, Captain, LG Orno Gladiator, Said, “We are thrilled to be winning this cup for the second time in a row! I would like to thank LG for trusting and supporting us for the second time, and sponsoring us. I would thank my entire team for the wonderful performance – from the bowling, batting to the entire co-ordination, each one of them was fantastic! Lastly, I would like to thank TAIT for the opportunity and for creating this wonderful platform and organising it so meticulously.”
Speaking about winning the Runner’s-up title, Mr. Mitesh Shah, Captain, AOC Creative United, said, “I am feeling great winning the runner’s up title. The team has really played well and reached the finals. We have been participating in this tournament for past six years and this is the first time we made it to the finals, despite losing out on the first two league matches!
The secret to this is the amazing team spirit and co-ordination, where some or the other team member performing excellently in every match, helping us reach here. So yes, although we did not win the match, reaching here is a great feeling for us. We are grateful to AOC for sponsoring us and to TAIT for creating such a wonderful team bonding initiative! We look forward to the tournament days in the next year already!”
Apart from the teams, individual players were also awarded for their outstanding performances on the field. The matches were played as per the rules and guidelines set aside and monitored actively by Mr. Rahul Jahveri and Mr. Dewang Thakore, dynamic TAIT members, Ex-TAIT Directors and entrepreneurs. The commentators, umpires and the scorers were highly experienced and proactive, giving the entire event a fair and professional flavour.
All the matches saw enthusiastic participation, combined with lively commentary, great food and refreshments and an excited audience. The grand finale was also graced by family members of the players and it all added up as a fun and exciting weekend, away from the routine stressors of the jobs where the different players of the IT ecosystem bonded together purely as passionate players, making the visible commandeer between them heart-warming!
The award ceremony concluded the proceedings of the four-day mega tournament and was marked by enthusiastic cheers from members and their families, who were present throughout the grand finale. The TAIT Board of directors and the Sponsors gave away certificates and medals to all participating teams, as a token of appreciation for making the event a mega success. The event also saw special mention and awards given to children and spouse of TAIT members, who had achieved national recognition in the field of sports. The excitement and the thrill of the tournament concluded with a massive celebration of cheers, group selfies and scrumptious dinner. The organisers and the sponsor OEM’s too were in high spirits, as the mega four day extravaganza ended on a high note.