Time was when baseball would be played in the city, usually at the Marredpally Cricket Club ground . The zeal of a few of those players, who stuck to the game for over a quarter century, saw the emergence of the State Bank of Hyderabad Baseball Premier League (BPL) which was recently held at the Railway Recreation Club grounds, Secunderabad .
Conceived by L. Rajender, Secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Baseball Association and a committed loyalist to the game, much effort has gone into the staging of the league. He was fortunate to enjoy the backing of his good friends; C.V. Pratap, Organising Secretary and Ramakant S. Angle, President of the Amateur Baseball Federation of India (ABFI).
Not surprisingly, sponsorship for a non-cricket sport was hard to find but many former players chipped in. Six franchise teams were formed, viz; Mylan Yankees, Karvy Braves, NN Combined Engineering Agencies Giants, Pro –Fit Smashers, BVM Group Pirates (from Goa) and Abhijeet Dodgers from Orissa. At the maiden edition of the league, international and national players were in action with proficiency divided equally among the teams, making it a very balanced competition.
The BPL is meant to be a precursor to the Asia Cup slated for Orissa in November, where baseball powerhouses such as Japan and Chinese Taipei would be in the fray. Interestingly, in India, Goa is the only state with a dedicated facility for baseball. It was a good move to ensure half the players in the BPL were from the host state, giving the local lads a lot of exposure to top level competition.
The ceremonial pitch to formally inaugurate the tournament was taken by Katherine S. Dhanani, Consul General, Consulate General of the United States of America, Hyderabad, while Sudhir Garg, Chief General Manager, State Bank of Hyderabad was the guest of honour.
The event also enjoyed the support of non-baseball sportsmen like V.V.S. Laxman and S.L. Venkatapathy Raju.
In addition to the primary sponsors and franchisees, additional support came from Bahu Estates & Builders, Jammu and Printech Digital Imaging, Hyderabad while hospitality was extended by Biligiri Hotels. Nikhil Nayak, owner of NN Combined Engineering Agencies Giants, compared launching of the league to dragging a boat from shore into the water and then facing the waves, to illustrate the effort involved.
