Eighteen nine-a-side teams playing seven overs each over two days. The first inter-block knock-out cricket tournament, organised by Newtown Residents’ Welfare Forum, had one constraint right from the first toss — time. As it is, the tournament started late as the professional umpires landed up in the better-known New Town cricket ground on the Major Arterial Road by mistake. The actual venue was a ground near Balaka Abasan.

This meant of the nine first-round matches scheduled for Day I, the ninth had to be pushed back to Day II. This despite some matches — like the one between Rajhid Co-operative Housing Society vs AE Block Association — wrapping up fast.

In what was the seventh match of the day, AE Block posted 42 runs in the stipulated seven overs but Rajhid Housing raced to 44 in two overs, winning by seven wickets.

The time gained was partially offset by the flurry of sixes, requiring the ball to be retrieved each time, in the last match of the day, between Action Area 2 and DA Block. DA Block won the toss and decided to bat. Hari Shankar Roy alone sent five deliveries over the ropes, and sometimes over the street bordering the ground. The champion long jumper had 54 runs to his name when his team ended at 106 for 3. Action Area 2 gave them a scare, reaching three figures, before falling short.

With nine teams qualifying, the way to the semi-final was decided partially by lottery. The winner of the ninth group sat out while the quarter final was played among the winners of the alphabetically first eight groups. Among the four, three reached the semi-final by lottery. The fourth played Shapoorji Pallonji, the winner in the ninth group, and lost, paving Shapoorji’s path to the semi-final.

Business end

Due to time constraints, the semi-finals and the final were reduced to five overs. The final was played between Jalvayu Towers and Shapoorji. Batting first, Jalvayu posted 51 runs, with Pranay Patel top scoring with 29 not out, featuring three sixes and two fours. He would eventually be named the man of the match. “We were worried whether this would be enough as Shapoorji had chased down a 90-plus total in their semi-final against Balaka Abasan, winning in the super over. But we managed to get their best batsman Aman Shaikh out for a duck,” said Debabrata Patnaik, captain of Jalvayu Towers.

Indeed, what followed was a batting collapse, with four players departing without bothering the scorer, three others scoring in single digits and the top scorer managing only 11. Shapoorji was all out for 31, handing a 20-run victory, and the trophy, to Jalvayu.

Shibshankar Paul with the man of the match Pranay Patel

Residents sign a banner demanding more playgrounds from NKDA

A slice of action on Day 1.

Hari Shankar Roy of DA Block backs up at the non-striker’s end. Pictures by Sudeshna Banerjee

Asif Iqbal, the Shapoorji captain, admitted his team being overconfident after restricting Jalvayu to 51. “We had played three matches that day as opposed to two played by our opponent, so we were more tired. The falling light when we came to bat also mattered,” said the all-rounder who scored a six and a four before getting bowled. “We did not expect to reach the final but once we did, we should have won the tournament,” said the PhD student of Aliah University.

Saptarshi Deb of BF Block was the tournament’s highest wicket-taker. “The best part was getting to know each other in my own block as also players in other blocks,” he smiled.

Archis Biswas of DA Block and Raghib Hossain of Balaka got prizes for the best catch and the highest score respectively. Former cricketer and Bengal women’s team coach Shibshankar Paul gave away the prizes.

The team with the most supporters, everyone agreed, was Balaka. “It was their homeground,” Iqbal said.

This brought up a grouse of the other teams. “New Town may have empty plots but few designated football or cricket grounds,” said forum joint convenor Samir Gupta, a resident of CE Block. The booking fee for the NKDA stadium is Rs 6,000 plus taxes for six hours, with additional charges for every hour and floodlights. “With corporate teams in the queue, availability is a problem in the winter weekends. There are two local grounds — the one where we are playing near Balaka, maintained by a club in Thakdari, and another in CE Block, which they don’t allow other blocks to play in since they maintain it,” complained several players from other blocks.

Spectators and players signed a banner during the tournament, raising the demand for more grounds with NKDA.