- At SGVP Gurukul, we believe in nurturing three pillars – sports, spirituality, and science: His Holiness Shri Balkrishnadasji Swami
- CPL 2025 remains open to all, inviting fans, families, and the wider community to be part of this celebration of local cricketing excellence
- The opening weekend of CPL 2025 continues with two exciting matches on Sunday — Gandhinagar Lions vs Sabarmati Strikers and Karnavati Kings vs Narmada Navigators.
NE SPORTS BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, MAY 31
The second season of the Cricket Premier League (CPL) began on a high note with a grand opening ceremony held at the SGVP Grounds in Ahmedabad on Saturday evening. A flagship initiative of the Chiripal Group, CPL aims to provide a professional and competitive platform to give an opportunity to Gujarat’s cricket enthusiasts and aspirants to exhibit their sporting excellence in a professional match format.
His Holiness Shri Balkrishnadasji Swami, Vice President of SGVP along with Narhari Amin, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha and Former President, GCA and Vikas Sahay, IPS, Director General of Police (DGP), Gujarat remained present as chief guests at the inaugural ceremony.
The traditional lamp-lighting was followed by a team photo session with all squads of all six teams in full attendance. As a gesture of solidarity with the Indian armed forces, the inaugural ceremony also saw a symbolic balloon release taking place in support of Operation Sindoor.
Speaking at the event, Narhari Amin commended the efforts of the Chiripal Group in launching a tournament of such scale and quality. “It is heartening to see a conglomerate like the Chiripal Group with Vansh Chiripal and Ronak Chiripal at the helm, is encouraging young cricketers and giving them a platform to play cricket professionally. If you watch all these matches, you’ll see they are at par with the IPL in terms of quality and the calibre of players is equally impressive,” he said.
CPL 2025 remains open to all, inviting fans, families, and the wider community to be part of this celebration of local cricketing excellence.
During his address, Vikas Sahay, recalled his long association with sports and said, “As someone who has been actively involved in the Sports Authority of Gujarat and the very first Khel Maha Kumbh, it’s a delight to witness such initiatives where young talent gets an opportunity to play professional cricket. In the police department too, we’ve hosted the DG Cup cricket tournament for two decades. Earlier, there was no participation from women, but we’ve now started a T20 tournament exclusively for women police officers.”
His Holiness Shri Balkrishnadasji Swami also extended his wishes to all the teams and the success of the tournament.
“At SGVP Gurukul, we believe in nurturing three pillars – sports, spirituality, and science. We have always supported sporting excellence and extend our best wishes to the CPL teams,” he said.
Ronak Chiripal, Promoter of Chiripal Group and Co-founder of CPL thanked the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA), sponsors, and supporters. “As we enter our second season, we are thankful for the overwhelming encouragement. The group’s endeavour has always been to promote cricket talent in a structured and original way, and CPL is a key step in that direction,” he said.
To mark the event open, Narhari Amin bowled two symbolic deliveries to batsman Vikas Sahay, signalling the close of the opening ceremony and the commencement of the season.
The evening culminated in the much-anticipated opening match between last year’s finalists, Heritage City Titans and Ahmedabad Arrows, which began at 7.30 pm, with Heritage City Titans winning the toss.
The opening weekend of CPL 2025 continues with two exciting matches on Sunday — Gandhinagar Lions vs Sabarmati Strikers and Karnavati Kings vs Narmada Navigators.
