DISHA Cricket Bonanza

Last Thursday I went along to see how the Inaugural DISHA Cricket Challenge series was progressing. Organised as a way of publicising DISHA activities and increasing awareness about HIV / AIDS in the community, the tournament is a series of competitive head to head matches, culminating in the grand final in late November. The teams – formed by local community youth groups – have six players, and during every match the sides face six overs each.

DGS Associate Director Kiran Patole ceremonially opened proceedings by facing a couple of deliveries. Clearly a class act, Kiran had no problems dealing with the pacy bowlers. Then – somehow, unexpectedly – it was my turn. Oh dear. The least said about that the better.

Scheduled to run over the next few weeks, all the matches are taking place in a playing field behind the Railway Housing on Tadiwala Road, just a few minutes walk from the Family Welfare Centre. On site the DISHA banner is prominently displayed, along with several educational posters.

The multi-talented Avinash was acting as umpire for the day. Kiran and I watched the entire first match, a well-contested match played in the right spirit. Avinash did a grand job as umpire, and between the innings he gave a short talk to the two teams about HIV / AIDS.

On Saturday I returned to see if I could help out in any way. With Santosh fully in command of scoring duties, I offered to give Avinash a break from umpiring. He handed me his sun hat (about two sizes too small) and six pebbles to keep track of the number of balls bowled in each over. I slapped on some sunblock, and was ready for action.

Walking out to the middle, I was terrified. I was certainly more nervous than the confident-looking batsmen strolling to the crease, and clearly the fielding side also meant business. Never having umpired a cricket match before, I still wanted to appear authoritative. After all, everyone present was truly passionate about their cricket. An imposter like me might be spotted a mile off.

Actually, things went fairly smoothly. I had a couple of tricky judgments to make but nobody protested the outcomes. Controversially I no-balled a bowler for ‘chucking’ on a wicket-taking delivery but he’d been warned already about his action and accepted the decision with good grace.

One match was enough for me, however. I have enormous respect for Avinash and his efforts – standing out in the hot sun keeping total concentration is not easy, besides giving talks, answering questions and coordinating everything. With the matches progressing nicely, I’m looking forward to the knockout stages.

The final is set for 26 November, close to World AIDS Day on 1 December.