Sports: Brampton is in grip of cricket fever, GT20 gets overwhelming response

If overwhelming responses to events connected to the game of cricket or cricketers are any indication, Brampton is in a strong grip of cricket fever. With three more days to go before the completion of the third edition of the GT20 Canada mega event, there is cricket all over the city.

As the 25-match tournament moves into its final knockout stage, demand for tickets to the long weekend feast of cricket has spiralled up.

To show their love and affection for cricket, the elite of the city turned up at a gala event organized by Brampton Wolves, the home team. The star attractions of the event held at Embassy Grand Convention Centre were not only stars of yesteryears – former captain of West Indies and legendary batter Clive Lloyd and great allrounder of Pakistan Wasim Akhtar besides Australian Shane Bond – but also the entire Brampton Wolves team that will go all out in its endeavour to make the grand finale on Sunday.

Escorted by Mayor of Brampton Patrick Brown, Clive Lloyd and Wasim Akhtar, arrived at the Centre to a warm welcome with a display of fireworks and music. Cricket Legends talked about cricket of their time and also of today and wanted the mayor to sign a cheque for building Canada’s first international cricket stadium in Brampton.

Mayor Brown reiterated his commitment to making Bampton the cricket capital of Canada. His enthusiasm flows from the overwhelming response Bramptonians have given to the third season of GT 20 Canada.

Mr. Vidiyut Rana, promoter of Brampton Wolves, oozes with hopes saying Brampton is the future of Canadian cricket.

Despite weather playing spoilsport in some of the games, a rich feast of exciting cricket hits to the maximum, superb fielding and breathtaking bowling feats had enlivened the 21 group stage matches. Some of the great names in the World of cricket like Chris Gayle, Shoaib Malik, Andrea Russel, Shahid Afridi and Tim Southee and upcoming Canadian stars like Harsh Thakker and  Dilpreeth Singh have displayed their extraordinary skills in this game of titanic struggle between bat and ball.

The games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday are expected to provide the climax and decide the new champions of this mega event that may ultimately get  Canada a deserving place in the elite group of nations that play cricket.

Prabhjot Singh