Bengal Tigers and Kerala Strikers emerged winners of CCL-2

This season’s debut teams Bengal Tigers and Kerala Strikers emerged winners against Chennai Rhinos and Mumbai Heroes respectively.
It seemed like the whole of Kochi landed up at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, to watch celebrities play for the Celebrity Cricket League. More than watching the stars in action on field, people in the over packed stadium cheered louder, each time for the debutants.So much so that both the matches saw a surprise and much welcome win of this season’s debutant teams — the Bengal Tigers and the Kerala Strikers.
The crowd was a bit thin for the first match between Chennai Rhinos and Bengal Tigers but swelled as the match moved on to a rather close, nail-biting finish with the latter emerging winners. Their favourite was undoubtedly Arya of the Chennai team. At the stands were Burkha Dutt, wife of Bengal team member Indraneil and their baby daughter. Even the captain of Bengal Tigers, Jeetendra Madnani, could not believe the fact that the team had actually won the match against last season’s champions.
By the time the second match between Mumbai Heroes and Kerala Strikers began, the energy levels within the stadium were no less than sky high. Cricket, or shall we say, cinema lovers creating Mexican waves had the stars watch on and even take videos of the audience. “Reminds us of the time when India played against Pakistan at Eden Gardens,” it was heard.
Pretty team ambassadors and fellow heroines like Genelia D’Souza, Priyamani, Lakshmi Rai, Bhavana, Sanjjanaa and Sonia Aggarwal added to the glam factor when they cheered on the teams from the dugout while anchor Ranjini Haridas kept up spirits throughout. Kerala Strikers captain Mohanlal won the loudest of cheers for almost every move on the field. But the crowd went berserk when yet another stalwart of the industry, Mammootty, walked in to the arena to cheer his home team. Mammootty may have decided not to try his hand at a game he does not fancy too much, but said he was happy to see his home team playing so well under the able leadership of his colleague Mohanlal.
SIDELIGHTS
• Actor Mohanlal used this opportunity to launch the audio of his latest release and even presented fellow captain Suniel Shetty the first ticket to the film which will hit screens shortly.
• Post the energy on field, Btown’s latest official couple, Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia D’Souza, set the dance floor on fire, even as Sohail Khan took over as the official DJ at the ball room for the night.