Cricket World Cup in Hyderabad

It was a memorable day for the 50 underprivileged children of leading NGO, Sphoorti as they could see first-hand the World Cup trophy that India brought home in 2011. The World Cup 2011 arrived in the city from Mumbai and was displayed at Inorbit mall in Cyberabad for cricket lovers, who also had the privilege of taking a selfie with the coveted trophy for posterity.

Incidentally, the ICC Cup was brought at the behest of MoneyGram, which is a leading money transfer and payment services company, as part of a six-city tour. All the cities will get to see the trophy, thanks to the initiative by MoneyGram. In addition to Mumbai and Hyderabad, the tour, which concludes on December 7, will cover Bengaluru, New Delhi, Jalandhar and Ahmedabad.

The enthusiastic kids, who were overjoyed at the opportunity, expressed the hope that India would retain the Cup Down Under, where Australia and New Zealand will host the event from February 14 to March 29. "We trust that India's cricket fans will make the most of this opportunity to celebrate the best in cricket," said Kaushik Roy, MoneyGram's senior regional director, South Asia.

Not surprisingly each child wished that Virat Kohli would be the main architect of India’s success. Unfortunately, there was no cricketer worth the name to be around at the programme. In Mumbai, the honours were done by Virender Sehwag on Tuesday.

According to Roy, only the kids were invited for the ceremony in the city. However, Robin Uthappa will be in Bangalore; Robin Singh at Jalandar and Irfan Pathan will be the celebrity in Ahmedabad while the New Delhi programme will be brought alive with a fashion show. For the children from Sphoorti the fact that they would touch the country’s possession was cause enough for celebration.