After close to a year of being largely confined at home, AA Block Welfare Association in New Town organised a seven-a-side tennis ball cricket tournament on a winter Saturday to enjoy a day in the sun.
“The year 2020 had been very difficult for everyone, so we wanted to welcome the new year by bringing some normality to our lives. Every year, we used to gather and play badminton and cricket, but this year nothing could be done. So we decided to organise a tournament,” said Biswajit Das, an organising committee member.
New Town Premier League had five teams taking part — Seven Warriors, Seven Musketeers, Swat Fighters, Ramdhonu and Downtown, comprising players from different blocks of New Town.
There were two senior citizen teams too. Diamond and Silver played a match at the beginning of the day. “It has been more than 16 years since I last played cricket, but it was fun coming together after all these years, specially after the lockdown. More than playing the game, today is about celebrating survival and reinforcing the faith that we can overcome the Covid crisis,” said Manoj Kumar Kundu of Diamond. At 78, he was the senior-most player in the tournament.
The auction
The players were selected through an auction but this involved no money. Each of the five captains was given 1,000 points which they had to use instead of cash to select a player for his team.
Debodyuti Sarkar fetched the highest bid at 420 points and was selected by Downtown. “I am really excited to play after all these months and I am very happy with my team. I have played with my team’s captain since our childhood so we know each other’s strengths,” said the middle-order batsman who was surprised to find himself at the top of the players’ bidding list.
The base price of each player was 70 and bidding happened on the basis of performances in the practice matches held earlier, an organiser said.
Santanu Biswas and his family had contracted Covid-19 in August. Now after full recovery, the AA Block resident had been picked up to play for Seven Musketeers. “We all are going through a very difficult time but we have to look at the positive side. We cannot stay inside and have to return to our regular lives but we also need to be cautious and take protections,” he said.
The game
The day-long tournament saw a series of league matches since the morning. A small crowd of onlookers gathered on the sidelines. “It has been ages since we got to see people playing cricket on the field on weekends. Just by watching them play makes us feel that things are now slowly going back to normal,” said Debottam Banik, a resident of CD Block in New Town, who had come to watch the match after visiting a friend in AA Block.
CB Block resident Mainak Chatterjee, taking the field for Seven Wonders, chose to play barefoot after he twisted his foot in the second match. “I got hurt while running and had a little swelling. So I chose to take off my shoes for the rest of the match. But such was the fun of playing with friends that it made me forget my pain.”
“It took us three weeks to organise this tournament. It is our first attempt at sports event organisation. Now we want to make this an annual affair,” said Subhabrata Kundu, another committee member.
The excitement among the players was high as they were all coming out to play after months. Some even forgot about their age. “I used to be a regular player but have not played in eight years. The match got so exciting that at one point I dived to stop the ball from crossing the boundary,” smiled 61-year-old Sujit Majumder.
Seven Warriors emerged champions after beating Ramdhonu by 47 runs. “I was confident of reaching the final as we had a strong team but did not expect to win the tournament. Times have changed and we had to be cautious while playing, sanitising things every now and then. But the day was all about the fun of meeting friends and winning made it even more special,” said Soumit Patra, captain of Seven Warriors.
Tourja Saha of BE Block was adjudged the man of the match and Kaustav Pradhan of CE Block was the highest scorer.
