MUMBAI: Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar on Monday congratulated the Mumbai School Sports Association on the completion of 125 years of the Harris Shield (Under-16 inter-school tournament).
"My heartiest congratulations to the MSSA on 125 years of the Harris Shield. I remember playing in the Harris Shield when I was just 12 years old and beginning my cricketing career from there. I know how important it is at the schools level to play in the Harris Shield and impress the Mumbai schools selectors. May the Harris Shield go on and on and get to a double hundred and in the process produce many, many players who'll go on to represent Mumbai and perhaps India," Gavaskar told TOI.
Meanwhile, the MSSA organized a function at the Cricket Club of India on Monday to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Harris Shield inter-school tournament. On the occasion, cricket-lover Shyam Bhatia distributed cricket kits to representatives of 40 schools. "I want to congratulate Shyam Bhatia for this generosity," said Gavaskar.
The MSSA-organized Harris Shield, which could not be held last season due to the pandemic, will start from Tuesday. 16 teams, divided into four groups, will play in the tournament.
32 boys found to be ineligible for Harris Shield
Meanwhile, 32 boys have been found to be ineligible to play in the Harris Shield as they were found to be above 16 years of age as per the TW3 bone tests that were conducted on the players of all the 16 participating teams. Amongst them, the maximum players were from Anjuman-I-Islam (10), Antonio de Silva (6), Al-Barkaat Malik (4) and VK Krishna Menon Academy (3).
"Dear Apex Council members, as decided by the Apex Council, TW3 bone tests were conducted on players from all the 16 participating teams in the Harris Shield. Following is the brief of the results given by the BCCI," MCA secretary Sanjay Naik said in an email (TOI has a copy) to the Apex Council members.
