Cash from big catch going to wife

Sunjay Ganda celebrates catching a six at Hagley Oval in the opening game of the World Cup. Photo...
Sunjay Ganda celebrates catching a six at Hagley Oval in the opening game of the World Cup. Photo NZ Herald.
Sunjay Ganda sounds like one of those all round nice guys.

Not only is he relaxed about sharing $1 million with six others in Tui's Catch a Million promotion it's had running during the Cricket World Cup, but he plans to give it to his wife, Krystel, so she can extend her maternity time at home after giving birth to their second child, Mila, five months ago.

Mr Ganda, a development manager with Canterbury Hockey, believed every mother or parent should have the opportunity to spend longer with their child at home when it was first born.

"We've been surviving on one income and my wife was going to start back at work in April. So now with that extra money we can afford to have her at home for the full year which I think every parent should be given the opportunity to spend the full year at home with their child as they grow up, especially in those first five years, they're so important for children. No one should really be forcing them to go back to work so quickly."

As for having to share the prize pool with six others, Mr Ganda didn't seem fazed and believed it all happened for a reason.

"The thing that I have tried to take in ... to take a catch and have it all happen there's so many things that have to align that literally someone's looking down on you if you take a catch." He initially thought three or four would end up in the final pool, but didn't mind sharing and said each of the "catchers" had their own story about how they made the catch.

He managed to also make it to Tuesday night's nailbiting semifinal -- his first time at Eden Park -- after his father bought tickets earlier this year.

Mr Ganda was hoping India would beat Australia tonight, and if they made it to Sunday's final he would wear his Black Caps shirt with pride but wrap his India flag around him.

As for where he'd watch it, he was currently scouring for tickets to get to the match in Melbourne.

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The lucky seven:

Sunjay Ganda, Travis Committie, Jamie Gough, Sajjad Ahmad, Stu Chapman, Arjun Bhadwaj, John Raynor.

Currently each has pocketed $107,142 from the $750,000 semifinal pool.

Pool gets upped to $1 million if NZ win, lifting winnings to $142,857.

Means each catcher gets a $35,715 bonus.

By Belinda Feek of the New Zealand Herald

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