By Revathi Hariharan
MUMBAI, Oct 25 (Reuters) – Mumbai’s cricket fans packed the stands at the Andheri Sports Complex on Saturday to watch Indian World Cup-winning captain Suryakumar Yadav swing a bat – just not the kind that they are used to.
Indian cricketers Suryakumar Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar and Radha Yadav lined up alongside ex-Major League Baseball players Nick Swisher, Adrian Gonzalez, Jake Arrieta and Jonny Gomes in a three-on-three tournament that organisers pitched as a bridge between the two bat-and-ball games.
Each of the four teams mixed a baseball veteran, an Indian cricketer and an American softball player and the scoring rewarded both muscle and precision.
A home run earned two points, hitting the target zone earned four and fielders picked up one point for a catch, while five consecutive out-of-the-park hits doubled a team’s total.
The semifinals offered up both a thriller and a stroll, as Gonzalez’s Los Angeles Dodgers overturned the Shardul-led Chicago Cubs’ 44 runs with just a minute to spare, while Suryakumar’s New York Yankees cruised past the Boston Red Sox.
That set up a rematch of the 2024 World Series, this time in India, with the Yankees posting 78 and holding off the Dodgers to be crowned champions.
Softball player Rachel Garcia was named the tournament’s most valuable player.
Suryakumar, a former India captain who guided the side to victory at this year’s Twenty20 Cricket World Cup on home soil, said he is confident baseball will grow in India and that cricketing skills can translate to success in the American sport.
“I think it’s all about good range hitting,” added Suryakumar, whose celebrations spilled into the stands as he placed the gold chain he won around his wife’s neck after the win.
“You must be strong from head to your lower body, have a good core and strong arms. If you want to hit 450 feet, 500 feet, you got to be strong. Work hard. No substitutes.”
(Reporting by Revathi Hariharan in Mumbai, writing by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
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