MUMBAI: The last two months saw a new kind of fever grip the city of Chennai – a Gulley Cricket Tournament, infact the first of its kind was conducted by Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM and Airtel. The event called the Airtel Mirchi Premier League had 96 teams participating in the event. The grand finale of this tournament was held on Sept 19, 2009 at the Kumara Rani Meena Muthiah College Ground and incidentally this marked the 100th match of this tournament !
The Winning team of the Airtel Mirchi Premier League, Inglobe walked away with Rs 1 Lakh cash prize !
In a city known for its love of Kollywood, Filter Kaapi and of course cricket, the Airtel Mirchi Premier League drew a phenomenal response with over 400 teams calling for registering in a span of four hours. The teams comprised of amateurs, professionals, corporates and sometimes even a pot pourri of people adding to the excitement of the tournament. The game was played with tennis balls and matches were 10 over matches with the finals alone being a 15 over match
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The teams set to clash in the finals were Tigerguys and Inglobe. In a nail biting finish, Inglobe beat Tigerguys by three wickets.
The Finals of the Airtel Mirchi Premier League were presided by Mr. Sreenivasan N, Head – Marketing, TN, Airtel and Radio Mirchi RJ/Actor Shiva (Chennai 600028-the first Tamil film on Gulley cricket).
The titles that the players have fought hard to win include the Airtel Mirchi Premier League Championship Trophy (Inglobe), First Runner-Up (Tigerguys), Second Runner-Up (Boyzone), Man of the Series (Madhan Tigerguys), Best Bowler (Suresh, Inglobe), Best Batsman (Vinoth, Tigerguys), Best Fielder (M. Suresh, Boyzone), Best Cheering Team (VVS Guys) and Best Fairplay Trophy (Chennai 43)!
On the day of the finals Rajiv Rajgopal, CEO, Mobile Services, Tamil Nadu, Bharti Airtel Limited said, Cricket in any form is not just a game it is an inspiration, a religion. We at Airtel are very happy to be associated with Radio Mirchi and be part of the AMPL, an interesting and entertaining form of cricket. The youth today are very focused and AMPL is the right platform to provide us with the youth connect….
On the occasion of the finals, Sandeep Sud, VP & Cluster Head – TN, Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM said, The very purpose of having a Mirchi Activation team is to be able to create an interactive platform for the listeners to exhibit their talent. And therefore provide a winning opportunity for brands to be associated with properties that reinforce their brand proposition. The Airtel Mirchi Premier League is one such very powerful property that has for the first time taken Gulley Cricket to the level of such a large tournament. We are very happy that a youth oriented brand like Airtel has found the connect with such a property and the heartening response to Airtel Mirchi Premier League has convinced us to make this property an annual feature and take it to the next level. ….
The Airtel Mirchi Premier League is being powered by Mirchi Activation. Amrutanjan is the Official Pain Relief Partner, Chennai Times is the official print partner, Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM is the official radio partner and Vasanth TV is the official TV Partner.
