CHENNAI: Come summer, cricket aficionados in the city would eagerly wait for MS Gurumurthy’s All-India YSCA Trophy event — the only limited-over game played in coloured clothing under flood lights. Since its inception in 1970, it has had some of the top teams in the country, particularly from the south, taking part in this revelry every year. This year, the 52nd edition of the tournament will begin on May 1 in a grand manner.
With IPL happening around the same time, the last few editions of YSCA Trophy has been held at various grounds in the city, and the final match was at the MA Chidambaram stadium. “YSCA trophy, which is an all-India tournament approved by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, is a keenly contested one. We were among the first ones to conduct a tournament under lights in colour dress, white ball and black sight screen way back in June 1994. A third umpire facility was also available,” said MS Gurumurthy, secretary of YSCA.
Gurumurthy was a pioneer in coaching budding cricketers and his Young Stars Cricket Association (YSCA) has done yeoman service for the game. “YSCA was born in 1956. As years passed and members moved to different pastures, the team expanded and introduced Young Stars Cricket Academy with a mission to nurture young cricketers, free of cost. It also tried to provide scholarship to boys from the weaker sections of society,” shared Guru. All the top teams in the TNCA league from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala played in the tournament. In the 80s and 90s, all the top international players from the south too never missed playing in the YSCA trophy.
“Since the quality of tournament was good, all the top players took part in it. Some of the prominent cricketers who played in this limited overs tournament are GR Viswanath, SMH Kirmani, R Raghuram Bhat, Brijesh Patel, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Venkatapathy Raju, Sunil Joshi, Manish Pandey, K Srikkanth, M Vijay, R Ashwin, Dinesh Karthik, Shreyas Iyer and Prithvi Shah,” he said.
Discipline is the watch word for YSCA and it caters to the cricketing ambitions of boys even from the lowest strata of society. To give exposure to its players, they take them to matches in various districts of Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. YSCA also conducts the GR Kuppuswamy Memorial tournament, which gives an opportunity for several corporate and IT firms play the game in a professional manner.