How often have we come across this phrase uttered in context of India having a population of over a billion people and yet unable to produce a talent pool of cricketers that would dominate world cricket to the extent of what a team like Australia are currently doing. It is kind of baffling isn’t it, considering the huge amount of interest and passion for cricket in India. When you dig deep in thought on this, the answers lie pretty much in our socio-economic condition, and a rich docile cricket board which is only interested in increasing their bank balance every year.

Cricket for kids on the streets of India are pretty simple and quite amusing at times. The kid who owns the bat has to be there in the team else, there would not be any cricket played… Even if you owned the stumps, you may not be of much influence to be picked in the playing team, as they could always improvise by placing three stones as a stump and have a code of understanding that if the ball goes on top of the three stones and is below waist height, you are considered bowled. The other innovation is to steal some chalk pieces from school and use the compound wall of a house to draw a stump and hey, no wicketkeeper needed and the batsman is out if the ball he hits ricochets off the wall and is caught!

On the streets, cricket is played with a small regular bat made out of cheap wood, sometimes a wooden furniture leg, or the thick branch of a coconut leaf (ah! One of my favourites). The integral part is the ball, which is always a ‘Tennis Ball’. The average price of a good quality cricket bat and an actual cricket ball can cost from around Rs.1500 to 5000, which for most average kid’s papas and mammas, is or almost their whole salary. In addition to that, you need to think of the rest of the protective kits, which cost quite a bit. Cricket as played by its defined description at the international, national or club level is a very expensive sport for an average Indian family.

From the city of Chennai and in most cities in India, the scenario is like this. The ground is usually your street in front of your home and in some increasingly rare localities, a playground where it is meant to be played. Over these years finding a ground to play in the city has become a rare commodity. While I was a kid, I used to see each block of houses or colonies have its own playground, which the government built in line with town planning that actually serves for air circulation vents for people around the area. I am aghast that over these years, to see many of these playgrounds have been sold to private owners who built their own community, marriage halls etc. And whatever remaining small grounds are left, are now in control of the local residents association who typically like the BCCI, wants to make as much money as possible, by renting it out to Tennis clubs, a far non-affordable sport again in India for the average kid. With the money they earn, they build a small community hall, where they would meet weekly to plan a strategy to get back at the kid, who hit the tennis ball into their house, while playing cricket on the streets!! And believe me, this is a common complaint which comes from most resident association meetings. And the irony is that these residents are probably the ones who would watch every cricket match, chant ‘chak de India’ when a boundary is scored, lament against the Indian team when they lose and yet, they do everything to ruin the sport at the grass root level in not setting up facilities that would encourage kids to play cricket.

While the BCCI and the state associations have a few grounds, they are certainly not for the common that can just walk in and play.

While you do have a few encouraging parents that would put you through coaching schools by making a few sacrifices and everything good to help nurture talent… when some eventually grow to meet the club level and higher standards, then starts the whole chaos and corruption of the cricketing system.

At the club level, the BCCI cricketing system actually pays a small match fee for the players… And believe me, most coaches take the entire money meant for the players and just buy lunch for these kids, to quench their guilt and pocket the rest. The kids are happy that they play and don’t make any noise about it. But couldn’t that money have been useful for buying equipment, mats, bowling machines?

At the levels above clubs right to the pool talent groups for the state teams, selection processes are quite incredible with stories of corrupt officials that select players, more for their deep pockets rather than their talents, are quite famous. The several occasions when at times I happen to meet a few guys who played at this level over these years and the stories they tell on the oddity of these processes, is extremely shameful to tell the least.

Nevertheless, on a brighter note, there have been cricketers who indeed from without their deep pockets, out of sheer talent have made it to the top and I salute them for their sheer perseverance and hard work. Yet, with a system like this, it doesn’t come as a surprise that we don’t have a talent pool that could dominate world cricket… The talent is there but we are simply not looking, engulfed in our personal greed. While, the BCCI is perhaps only interested in publishing every year their bank balances, they ought to be spending their money in facilities and subsidies for cricket equipment in order that more common kids would have the opportunity to take up the sport and yes, afford it to nurture playing for higher levels. Why for once can’t BCCI or the ICC take a leaf out of what FIFA is doing to promote football at the grassroots? In the meantime, while we all point our fingers to the BCCI, the national selection committee or other cricketing bodies, perhaps we could do our bit first by looking at our own streets, by returning that ball that was hit into your house, by preventing your associations from selling playgrounds for commercial ventures and encouraging your kids to keep playing… rather than being just an another lame ‘television cricket’ self-proclaimed cricket fan!!

For all you kids who play cricket on the streets, this is my ode to thee… keep playing.