Guwahati: The Assam Cricket Association (ACA) on Saturday handed over a cheque of Rs 25 lakh to the players for superlative performance at the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Assam defeated teams like Delhi, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Vidarbha and others on their way to reach the semifinal before losing to Maharashtra by a narrow margin of 12 runs.
The decision to give cash rewards to the players and the support staff was taken during the first Apex Council meeting of the ACA. Cash award of Rs 10 lakh was also given to the support staff for their excellent work with the team.
ACA President Taranga Gogoi said, “Our boys really played well and set a benchmark. And whenever our players do well, we need to motivate them.”
Gogoi said the ACA decided to give the team cash award because Assam is keen to take cricket to new heights in the days to come.
Secretary of ACA, Tridib Konwar, although couldn’t be present physically in the felicitation ceremony, conveyed his heartiest congratulations to the team for its performance.
Konwar said the players would be given all possible support from ACA in the time to come.
BCCI Joint Secretary Devajit Saikia said, “For the first time, we have won because of our batsmen. Traditionally, bowling has been our strength. It’s great to see our batsmen doing well too.”
Team Assam’s Assistant Coach Subhrajit Saikia said, “We are actually not happy that our journey stopped in the semi-final. Apologies that we couldn’t bring the trophy. The way our boys were performing, we were sure of doing even better. They worked hard and fought well.”
“It’s a moment of great pride that our boys did well without having any outstation players,” he added.
