One more ‘premier league’ has risen on the horizon. The Dakshin Bharat Bhatia Mitra Mandal (DBBMM) is organising Bhatia Premier League, an eight-overs-a-side cricket tournament for members of its community.
DBBMM is a social organisation, started around 26 years ago in the city for Kutchi Bhatias, a community originally from the Kutch region of Gujarat.
With almost 50 families as members, the organisation periodically hosts social events to facilitate communal bonding.
Bhatia Premier League, first-ever cricketing event to be held by DBBMM, will take place on January 22 at the DG Vaishnav College grounds in Arumbakkam, where six teams will face off against each other in eight-overs-a-side matches.
According to Upen Asher, president of the executive committee of DBBMM, this event is being organised with the objective of encouraging family bonding.
He says the organisation had been planning to organise a sports event for its members and, given its popularity, cricket was an easy choice to make.
The idea is to have friendly games that would promote bonding among members of the community, he adds.
“If we had settled on some other sport, we could expect only participation from youngsters. Their parents and grandparents would sit and watch. We did not want that. So, we chose cricket. Besides that, we have come up with certain rules that throw open the doors for everyone in the community.
“For instance, each team should have at least one woman and one player who would be over the age of 60. We have also suggested that members of the same family not be in the same team, so that people connect with those outside their families,” says Vinay Bhimani, another committee member.
Participants are expected to be between the ages of seven and 72. Given this, certain rules of cricket have been altered.
Instead of running to get runs, certain boundary limits will be created for players to score runs.
Besides fun, safety is a top priority. Tennis balls will be used, and the bowlers need not practise overarm bowling either.
“Other small rules have been created to ensure no one sustains any injury,” says Asher.
