The Star Cricket Tournament, which was organised by Nadigar Sangam to raise funds for the construction of the new building of the SIAA, kickstarted in the city to much fanfare on Sunday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Despite the scorching sun, top stars from all over the south film industry including Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Balakrishna, Nagarjuna, Venkatesh, Rajendra Prasad, Srikanth, Shiva Rajkumar, Nivin Pauly, Prabhu and Tamannah arrived early at the stadium. Dhanush, Rana Daggubati and Samantha arrived during the post-lunch session. Balaiyya, who clearly felt the heat, surprised everyone by taking his shirt off and enjoyed the match in just his vest!
Eight teams — Chennai Singams (captain: Suriya), Madurai Kaalais (captain: Vishal), Kovai Kings (captain: Karthi), Nellai Dragons (captain: Jayam Ravi), Ramnad Rhinos (captain: Vijay Sethupathi), Tanjai Warriors (captain: Jiiva), Tiruchi Tigers (captain: Sivakarthikeyan) and Salem Cheetas (captain: Arya) competed for the coveted trophy. Chennai Singams and Tiruchi Tigers played the first match after Rajini and Kamal inaugurated the match by tossing the coin. Suriya’s team won the first match with Vikranth selected as the Man of the Match.
In the second match, Salem Cheetas beat Madurai Kaalais, while Ramnad Rhinos won, beating Kovai Kings. It was Karthi’s wayward bowling that had the stadium in splits. In the fourth match, the Tanjai Warriors beat Nellai Dragons. Some of the celebrities like Namitha and Nadhiya gave expert commentary in the box.
During the semi finals, Chennai Singams faced off against Salem Cheetas, and Tanjai Warriors against Ramnad Rhinos. Earlier, the SIAA had donated Rs 10 lakhs to the NGO SIP, that works for people living with HIV/AIDS.
