This Indian team touring the West Indies is said to be the future of Indian cricket. From what I could gauge, the future of Indian cricket appears bright. Very bright! But the one thing that seemed to catch my attention was the fact that the team did not have much representation from Mumbai. In the patriotic frenzy of cheering for India, one would be pardoned for not having noticed something as trivial as this, but being a Mumbaikar; I couldn’t stop myself from asking why.
As a natural reaction, I felt the blame should lie squarely on the national selectors. How else could you explain no representation from a team that has won 39 Ranji Trophies? But this seemed too shallow an explanation. There had to be more to it than just poor selection.
When in Delhi, I saw kids playing cricket with the “Leather ball” in the ground adjoining their homes. The same was the case in many parts of Punjab and UP. This is when it dawned upon me, that these parts of India offered something to it’s talented children something that Mumbai never can. Vast expanses of land. Land where they could play cricket the way it was meant to be played… With a leather ball on a pitch made of soil in a circular ground with no inhibitions!
One is not likely to see any kids playing Leather ball (Season Ball as we call it) cricket in Mumbai. The concrete and tar periphery of our Mumbai houses don’t suit leather ball cricket, so Mumbai kids play cricket with a tennis ball. The lack of space has necessitated that some people improvise further and play Under-arm cricket with a tennis ball. The tall buildings in the vicinity with glass windows and “cricket hating society secretaries” required that all batsmen curb their natural desire of hitting the ball out of the (proverbial) park, and thus, was born Under-arm-Box Cricket with a tennis ball.
While these forms of the sport are great for entertainment, it would be naïve to expect a Tendulkar to emerge from these gully variations of the gentlemen’s game. To complicate matters further, the saturated public transport system has also discouraged parents from letting their children travel to far flung maidans in the heart of the city, where the game can be played the way it is meant to be played… With a leather ball on a pitch made of soil in a circular ground with no inhibitions!
It is obvious that with challenges like these; posed by the city infrastructure, the pipelines of cricketing talent from Mumbai are running dry. I can only hope the sport loving people of the city find a game they can lend their talents to and get some acclaim for India… Just like Bhiwani did for boxing and Haryana did for wrestling. But alas “Playstation” is not an Olympic sport!
I had once heard someone say; that the best gifts one can give to his child are ‘Wings’ to help him fly and ‘Roots’ to keep him grounded. Assuming I managed to give my child both, will Mumbai’s skyscrapers let him fly and would the concrete let him grow roots?? I guess, I’ll give my child “Fins” at least he’ll have ample opportunity to swim in the monsoons! Howzzat?
