Karnataka - Mangalore   

It’s a different ball game altogether

Involved: Youngsters in Dakshina Kannada seem to enjoy their underarm cricket.

MANGALORE: Irrespective of weather conditions, underarm cricket is played with all enthusiasm in Dakshina Kannada district. Visitors to Mangalore and its surrounding places may find it strange, but people here love the game.

Groups of youngsters playing underarm cricket can be seen on any open ground. The heavy rains never dampen their spirits. It appears as though the rain itself motivates them to play the game with soaked tennis balls.

Although most of the rules that are followed in regular cricket are also followed in this form of cricket, the boys in rural areas alter them to suit their own conditions. The 30-year-old sport is played with a boundary line which is just 30 yards away. Captain of a team at Karambaru village, Sudeep, said on Sunday that the bowler had to stay within a rectangular space while in action. If the bowler stepped out of the box during action, the ball was declared a “no-ball”.

District athletics coach Vasanthakumar said the flexibility of the “all-weather” game could have become popular if it was played with five-member or seven-member teams.

But, manager of the Dakshina Kannada Cricket Association Kasturi Balakrishna Pai said that most of the teams in Mangalore played underarm cricket with 11-member teams and followed all the rules of regular cricket.

He said that 35 to 40 regular underarm cricket tournaments were conducted in and around Mangalore every year. “Most tournaments start in September and go on till March. The most popular and well-conducted event of them all is the R.R. Pai Tournament, promoted by the Urwa Friends Cultural Association at the Urwa Market Grounds. Only 32 “seeded teams” participate every year in this tournament. They conduct knock-out matches to select teams for the event. There might be about 100 cricket clubs playing underarm cricket in the city,” he said.

Mr. Pai said this sport had been popular from time immemorial in this region and that he too had played it when he was young. Tennis-ball cricket became popular as it was affordable to all classes. Leather balls were costly, Mr. Pai said and added that the all-weather nature of the game, the short duration in which matches could get over, and minimum space requirements might have made it popular.

Mr. Vasanthakumar said since it was difficult to hit a ball hard in underarm cricket, it could be played in small grounds. Cricketers, who assign no reason why they love the game, however, take great pride in the trophies they have won. “Last year, we won two trophies, and were runners-up in two others,” Santoshkumar, captain of a team in Bajpe, said.

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