With an objective to bring vibrancy and generate public interest in ROURKELA CRICKET, as well as to give the untapped talent within the district a window to showcase their talent, Rourkela Gymkhana came up with the concept of “Rourkela Premier League”, on the lines of the much popular Indian Premier League. With the support of Rourkela Steel Plant, Adhunik Steel and under the aegis of Odisha Cricket Association, Day-night cricket with coloured clothing and white cricket balls was organised for the first time in collaboration with M/s Lift & Shift. The Tournament gave young budding cricketers an opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the best in the state of Odisha as well as from the nearby states. The inaugural edition played in April-May’2010 had five teams, while the second editions in April-May’2011 had 7 teams. Top First class current cricketers from Odisha, Jharkhand and Madya Pradesh like Biplab Samantray, Natraj Behera, Govind Poddar, Niranjan Behera, Amit Mishra, Murtaza Ali, Kuldeep Sharma, Abhilash Mallick, S P Gautam, Anurag Sarangi, Deepak Behera, Anshuman Gope to name a few were the star attractions.

Late Shri Harmohan Praharaj, one of the legends of Odisha cricket, former captain of Odisha, eminent Coach, mentor for most of the recent top cricketers in Rourkela and Odisha, was a guiding light for the last 3-4 decades in the field of Cricket. One of our founder members, he was a top class All-rounder (first to complete 1000 runs and 100 wickets in first class cricket) and an excellent coach who had an uncanny knack of recognising talent from a very young age. In the memory of the great man, Rourkela Gymkhana organised the 1st H M Praharaj All Odisha Inter School Cricket tournament”, as he was a firm believer of catching talent young and grooming them.

To follow his ideals, this event was organised with 14 schools from all over Odisha. School teams from Rourkela, Bhubaneswar, Bhadrak, Jharsuguda, Bargarh and Bandbahal participated from 28th Oct’2014 till 4th Nov’2014. In the Final match, Vikas Residential School, Bargarh defeated KISS, Bhubaneswar by 10 runs to clinch the title.

DATE: 04.11.2014
TOSS WON BY: Vikas Residential School, Bargarh [DECIDED TO : Bat]

1ST INNS: Vikas Residential School, Bargarh [SCORE: 117 All Out in 29.2 Overs]
BATTING - Md Yashin: 32 (48), Sanjeeb Seth: 18 (24)

BOWLING: KISS, Bhubaneswar	O	M	R	W
S Mallick	6	0	22	3
N Sisa	6	1	18	2
D Kusumi	3	0	20	2

2ND INNS: KISS, Bhubaneswar [SCORE: 107 All Out in 25.4 Overs]
BATTING -D S Pradhan: 32 (50), Tukuna Himirika: 15 (24)

BOWLING: Vikas Residential School, Bargarh	O	M	R	W
Amit Rout	5	2	15	3
S S Dehuri	6	1	18	2
Md Yashin	5.4	0	27	2

MATCH RESULT: Vikas Residential School, Bargarh Won by 10 RUNS
MAN OF THE MATCH: Amit Rout (Vikas Residential School, Bargarh)
MAN OF THE SERIES: Md. Yashin (Vikas Residential School, Bargarh)
CHAMPIONS: Vikas Residential School, Bargarh (CASH RS 7500 PLUS TROPHY)
RUNNERS UP: KISS, Bhubaneswar (CASH RS 5000 PLUS TROPHY)