Kerala Overseas Cricketers to take part in Friendship Cup in Bangalore

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Kerala Overseas Cricketers (KOC) team left the UAE on Thursday to take part in the ninth edition of the Friendship Cup.

The KOC team, made up of former Kerala cricketers who have represented the state at various levels, will be in action during the tournament to be held at the Just Cricket Academy Ground at Yelahanka, Bangalore on Saturday.

The concept of KOC became a reality in 2013 with the objective of bringing all former state cricketers under one umbrella. The mission of the Friendship Cup is to "create an opportunity for all former cricketers to come under one platform and offer them an occasion to compete again. There will be two matches played during this Friendship Cup.

KOC will take on Kerala Veterans Cricketers (KVC), also made up of former state-level cricketers. The Friendship Cup, supported by Kerala Cricket Association (KCA), commenced from 2013.

This year, the tour is sponsored by Consolidated Shipping Services, Blue Ocean Corporation, Energizer, Cooling Tower Technology and Grand Freight.

The players representing KOC for this friendship cup are: Manoj Arthanat (Capt), Rejee Mohan (WK), Hareesh M Haridas, Biju Thomas, Riyas Ali,

Sony Cheruvathur, Vinan Nair, Shajil Balan, Anand Ramaswamy, Shibith Padikkal, Sasikant Sathyasheelan, Balaji Narayanan, Vinod Nayar, Prajeet Pareparambil, Santosh Subramoniam and Fida Asgar.