For several weeks, the Executive Committee of the Poona Hoteliers Association (PHA) deliberated about holding the 3rd edition of PHA Premier League. The prevalent pandemic necessitated this consideration, especially with the social distancing rules.
After much weighing in, the association’s President, Sharan Shetty, along with Amit Sharma, Chairman of the Organizing Committee and other Executive Committee members decided to go ahead with this cricket tournament. They believed there was a greater need to organise it in the contemporary times. It would help boost solidarity amongst PHA’s community, who had to face several challenges during the pandemic.
20 teams participated in the three-day event, from 1–3 March 2021. The organisers did their best to adhere to all the Covid-19 safety protocols during the games.
The first two days packed some nail-biting moments, when teams won by a narrow 2-run margin, a bowler picked up an over hattrick and an opening partnership of 158 runs. The Ritz Carlton won the quarterfinal match against Fort Jadhavgadh with a comfortable 23-run margin.
In the second quarterfinal, the AISSMS team fell short of the target by just 5 runs against defending champion Sayaji. IHCL’s Blue Diamond won the 3rd quarterfinal against Conrad by a margin on 11 runs. The pick of the quarterfinals was played between Corinthians & J W Marriot, which resulted in a tie. The match was won in Super over by JW Marriott.
The Ritz Carlton and Sayaji played the first semifinal wherein Imran from Sayaji put up a stellar performance to push the team through to the finals. In the second semifinal, Blue Diamond’s team scored 111 runs while its contestant, JW Marriott, fell short of the target by 25 runs.
The final match was between Blue Diamond and Sayaji, who were the defending champions. The latter reached the target within 4.4 overs with their captain, Madhav, scoring a quickfire 28 runs. Sandesh from the team bagged the ‘Man of the match’ award for picking four wickets.
