RINL Clinches Steel Plants Sports Board (SPSB) Inter-Steel Plants T20 Cricket Championship 2024-25

The RINL Cricket Team emerged victorious in the Steel Plants Sports Board (SPSB) Inter-Steel Plants T20 Cricket Championship 2024-25, defeating Salem Steel Plant by five wickets in the finals held at Bokaro Steel Plant (SAIL), today.

Birendra Kumar Tiwari, Director In-charge, Bokaro Steel Limited, SAIL presented the championship trophy to the RINL team, led by captain A.P. Kiro, Chargeman, Thermal Power Plant(TPP), Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.

A.K. Saxena, CMD (Additional Charge), RINL congratulated the RINL team and sports officials for bringing laurels to RINL at the national level and described this victory is a testament to RINL’s commitment to excellence in sports.

Batting first, Salem Steel Plant posted 128/9 in 20 overs, with RINL’s disciplined bowling attack keeping them in check. Cheepurupalli Srinivas, M Hemanth Reddy, and Sameer Abdul claimed two wickets each, while M Harsha Vardhan, B Munish Varma, and P Manikanta Gangadhar picked up one wicket each.

RINL chased down the target comfortably in 16 overs, losing just five wickets. For RINL, K Aaryan Sai (40 off 32 balls) anchored the innings, with M Hemanth Reddy (25 off 11), K Dheeraj Lakshman (20 off 12), P Panduranga Raju (20 off 19), and B Munish Varma (16 off 13) contributing valuable runs to seal the win.

The tournament, organized by the Bokaro Steel Plant from 11th to 15th February 2025, saw participation from eight steel plant teams: RINL-Visakhapatnam, DSP-Durgapur, ISP-Burnpur, SSP-Salem, RSP-Rourkela, BSP-Bhilai, VISL-Bhadravathi, and BSL-Bokaro.

The RINL Cricket Team, which previously won the SPSB Cricket Championship in 2021-22, continues to demonstrate its excellence in the sporting arena.

RINL Cricket Team Members:

Captain: A.P. Kiro , Vice-Captain: K. Dhanesh, Master technician, Coke oven and coal chemical plant, Visakhapatnam steel plant

RINL Team Members: B.P. Srinivasa Rao, Y. Jagadeesh, Ch. Srinivasa Rao, B. Shiva (Employees of Visakhapatnam steel plant), K. Dheeraj Lakshman( Visakhapatnam steel plant employee’s son), M. Hemanth Reddy, M. Harsha Vardhan, P. Manikanta Gangadhar, P. Panduranga Raju, Sameer Abdul, K. Sai Aryan, and B. Munish Varma(unemployed youth trained in Cricket in vizag and at Colonel CK Naidu Ukku stadium of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant)

Ch. Srinivasa Rao, Senior Technician, Sports Department, Visakhapatnam steel plant was declared the Man of the Match (Finals) for his stellar performance.