V S Jagannadham Baseball Trophy 2021

Mr. V S Jagannadham, a 90-year-old sports legend has spent a major part of his life as a sportsperson and has shown his skills as a cricketer, footballer, softball player and a hockey player. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame for the best batting at the National Softball Championship in 1959 and has also served as the Vice-President of the Andhra Pradesh Baseball Association. He continues to contribute his services with a purpose to promote and develop sports culture as a whole by engaging with all stakeholders within his reach. Dream Olympic Sports(DOS) and Premier League Baseball(PLB) as a part of their initiative to promote and develop baseball at the grass-root level, as well as to celebrate the illustrious sports journey of the legendry V S  Jagannadham the multi-sports maestro from Hyderabad, organized a three day Baseball Tournament, at HBBC Grounds, Shamirpet Road, Yadaram Village . The event scheduled from 10^th to 12^th of September witnessed the clash of Hyderabad Blue Jays - the Champions team from home and PLB All-Stars - the Challengers team comprising of players from the different PLB Clubs in India. The Event witnessed an action packed performance from the players of both the teams with PLB All Stars getting the edge at the end.

 Day 1 - Comeback with a success of 99%

The first of three game series in V S Jagannadham Baseball Trophy 2021 between Hyderabad Blue Jays and PLB All Stars kicked off with Hyderabad Blue Jays’ skipper Sanjay winning the toss and opting to pitch first.  The game went down the wire and ended with both the teams scoring 5 runs each. Hyderabad Blue Jays although dejected after the tied match, were lauded for their amazing comeback after being almost written off in the match. Although, the action packed match ended in a draw, it gave a sense of what was to be witnessed in the coming 2 days with the immense pool of talent ready to showcase its talent on the diamond field in Hyderabad.

Day 2 - Challengers Taking Over!

The Hyderabad Blue Jays were the favorites entering into day 2 as they had the home-ground advantage as well as they had shown their grit in the  first match where they made an almost successful comeback, only to be handed a tied result. However things turned in PLB All Stars favor when they successfully managed to break their series of bad luck and displayed strict discipline and character on the ground. PLB All Stars had a one- sided victory with the scorecard displaying 10-3 in favor of the PLB All Stars team.

Day 3 – PLB ALL STARS - The New Champions!

PLB All Stars had come out of nowhere on the second day and claimed a convincing and much deserving victory over the Hyderabad Blue Jays, who were now fighting to tie the series and defend their title of being the Champions. Hyderabad Blue Jays won the toss and decided to pitch, which proved to be a wrong one for the already trailing home team. The Hyderabad Blue Jays continued their struggle and managed to score 8 runs during the course of the match, which unfortunately was no match to the final tally of PLB All Stars of 15 runs.

 The three game tournament ended with 0 - 2 in favor of PLB All Stars, who deserved to win with the amount of talent and character that they displayed on the field. Hyderabad Blue Jays held their heads high for the fighting spirit they displayed throughout all the games and vowed to come back stronger next time. The tournament concluded with PLB All Stars collecting their Championship V S Jagannadham Baseball Trophy 2021. 

Felicitation

Maxwell Trevor, the renowned international cyclist and winner of more than 250 medals in the field of cycling, was the Chief Guest for the event. He lauded the players for their play and appreciated the organizers for such a well organized event. He felicitated the following individuals for their exemplary performance:

*  Man of the Match - Match 1 : Sandeep from Telangana (Hyderabad Blue Jays).

*  Man of the Match - Match 2: Vinayak Yadav from Madhya Pradesh (PLB All Stars).

*  Man of the Match - Match 3:  Chaitanya Pawar from Maharashtra (PLB All Stars).

*  Best Pitcher of the Tournament:  Sukhwinder Singh from Uttarakhand (PLB All Stars).

*  MVP of the Tournament: Saurabh Mahadev from Maharashtra ( PLB All Stars )