The MA Chidambaram Stadium was literally overflowing with South Superstars today, 17th April 2016, for the much hyped Nadigar Sangam Natchathira Cricket that was conducted to raise funds for the office complex for the actors' association.
The event saw, to name a very few, Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Mammootty, Nagarjuna, Venkatesh, Vikram, Balayya and Sudeep clustered along with other top heroes and heroines from the south.
Vikram, Mammootty, Venkatesh and Sudeep even joined the myriad folk artistes gathered to entertain the crowd to churn out some pulsating rhythms from the Thappu instruments. Kamal Haasan joined Sivamani for a quick gig on his drums set.
Suriya, Vishal, Karthi, Jiiva, Jayam Ravi, Sivakarthikeyan, Vijay Sethupathi and Arya captained a team of six each, namely Chennai Singams, Maduri Kalais, Kovai Kings, Thanjai Warriors, Nellai Dragons, Trichy Tigers, Ramnad Rhinos and Salem cheetahs respectively. Each match was of 6 overs each.
Here's a quick look at the summary of the 7 matches that happened today.
Quaterfinals
Semifinals
Finals
Team Chennai led by Suriya and Team Thanjai led by Jiiva took on each other in the nailbiting finals. The Thanjai team that batted first put up a high score of 83/2 in 6 overs. Actors Lakshmanan and Sharan of Thanjai made 27 each in a quick time. But the score wasn't challenging enough for Suriya's Chennai Singams. The team's star batsmen Vikranth (22) and Udhay (23) made it look extremely easy and took their team to a victory against Thanjai by 3 wickets. Suriya and team charged with joy into the ground like children, as Mirchi Shiva hit the winning runs.
Vikranth also bagged the man of the series award for his consistent performance in all the three matches and presented the car that he won, to the Nadigar Sangam.
Vishal who took over the mic during the post event presentation thanked all the actors and union members who worked sleeplessly for the last month to put up this show and all the south Indian actors who came all the way from their respective states to support the initiative. "This is what our Nadigar Sangam stands for - Unity among industries," he summed up.
"I'm elated that the young union has proved that the entire South Indian film fraternity is one single family", Kamal Haasan said.
Winning captain Suriya dedicated the victory to the unity among the industries that he witnessed today at the grounnd.
The event came to an end thus on a positive note and with a smile on each and every participating actor.