Kolkata, March 29 (IANS) All-rounder Richa Ghosh, who represented India in the Women's T20 World Cup earlier this month, on Sunday donated Rs 1 lakh to the Bengal Chief Minister's relief fund in fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 16-year old's father handed over a cheque of Rs 1 Lakh to Siliguri District Magistrate Sumanta Sahay.

"When everybody is fighting COVID-19 and the chief minister has appealed for a united battle against it, I thought of contributing a bit as a responsible citizen of the country," Richa, who played two matches in the T20 World Cup including the final, said.

Having made her debut in the tri-series in Australia before the T20 World Cup, Richa and Shafali Verma were the two 16-year-olds who played the final which India lost to Australia by 85 runs on March 8.

As many as 66 match observers contributed Rs 2,000 each with one of them contributing Rs 18,000 on behalf of ex observers totalling to an amount of Rs 1,50,000 towards West Bengal State Emergency Fund. The amount would be transferred initially by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and deducted from the dues of these observers.

Similarly, 82 numbers of scorers contributed their day's pay aggregating to an amount of Rs 77,420. The scorers have also made similar requests to CAB to pay initially and later deducting the amount when they get their payments.Representative of Mohammedan Sporting Club at the CAB, Dipak Singh donated personally Rs 2 lakh to the Relief Fund.Former Women's Test Player Mithu Mukherjee has expressed her desire to contribute Rs 25,000.
Coach of Bengal Women's U23 team Jayanta Ghosh Dastidar would contribute Rs 10,000. While units like White Border Club and Vijay Sports Club would be donating Rs 50,000 each through CAB, Uttar Pally Milan Sangha, Suburban Club and Rangers Club would make contributions of Rs 25,000 each via CAB. Among the District Sports Associations (DSA), Coochbehar DSA agreed to donate Rs 10,000 to the State Relief Fund.

--IANS dm/sdr/