The stars of Kollywood descended on the cricket pitch at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk as part of the ‘Natchathira Cricket League’ organised by the South India Artists Association, Nadigar Sangam, on Sunday.
The day-long cricket tournament, which had six-over matches, was organised to raise funds for constructing a new building for Nadigar Sangam. It has been planned to built it at a cost of Rs. 26 crore and will have a marriage hall, an auditorium and a preview theatre. The construction of a new building featured prominently in the campaign of the ‘Pandavar Ani’ led by the current Sangam president Actor Nasser which won the elections.
The presence of Actors Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan, who were at the inaugural of the tournament in the morning, drew huge cheers from the crowds.
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While Rajinikanth inaugurated the tournament, Kamal Haasan was the special guest at the closing ceremony.
The cricket tournament, which had eight teams representing Chennai, Tiruchi, Salem, Coimbatore, Madurai Thanjavur, Tirunelveli and Ramanathapuram was helmed by actors Surya, Sivakarthikeyan, Arya, Karthi, Vishal, Jiiva, Jayam Ravi and Vijay Sethupathi.
The teams played four qualifying matches and two semi-finals. In the finals, the Chennai Singams team emerged victorious in their face off with the Thanjai Warriors.
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Among people from other film industries who came to attend the matches and show support were Actors Mammooty, Venkatesh, Nagarjuna, Balakrishna and Sudeep.
As many also tuned in to watch the live telecast, the hashtag #NatchathiraCricket was trending on Twitter on Sunday morning.