The Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) has shown the urge to bring out a souvenir to commemorate the historic Test match between India and Bangladesh in the country for the first time. The state association has planned to revive an old tradition for the one-off Test, which starts February 9.
The old tradition was to publish the souvenir, as in past, it was done whenever an international match was allotted to the HCA. In a press release, the state explained the tradition:
“The present Executive Committee of the Hyderabad Cricket Association decided to revive its old tradition and in association with the Veterans Cricket Association of Hyderabad, is bringing out a Souvenir/Brochure to commemorate this historical event when the first ever Test Match between India and Bangladesh in India would be organised by the Hyderabad Cricket Association.”
The practice of publishing a souvenir began when the first Commonwealth Cricket Team visited India and the HCA organised a match.
“Ever since the First Commonwealth Cricket Team visited India and for the first time that the Hyderabad Cricket Association organised the match against the visiting team, the match being played at the Secunderabad Gymkhana Grounds, it had been a practice to publish a Souvenir/Brochure to commemorate the event.”
The tradition, however, wasn’t there for the past couple of decades though Hyderabad hosted several international matches in the mean course.
The proposed brochure, compiled, designed and produced by the former HCA Secretary and Manager of the 1983 World Cup winning Indian Team, P.R. Man Singh, would contain articles written by legendary cricketers like Abbas Ali Baig, Mohinder Amarnath, VVS Laxman, S. Venkataraghavan, Syed Kirmani, Saad Bin Jung and other well known writers – R Mohan, Harsha Bhogle, Suresh Menon.
The brochure would also have cartoons and statistics of the matches played between the two neighboring countries.
(With PTI inputs)