Although the start of play was at 11.15, candidates and spectators arrived early. As the 2 ‘Anitas’ hollered despairingly over the microphone to the unresponsive and self-absorbed players, Chetan landed up, and quickly brought order to the field. The 2 teams were separated and the children were presented with expensive Zara T-shirts, sponsored by Ritu Dhillon, president, of a renowned club. Toss up, and RWA XI was put into bat.
Areeb Ahmad, who had enlisted to play, overslept after his morning game and reached too late to be part of the team. He volunteered to be the scorekeeper, God bless him. He was a real godsend, as he knew the game and the players. With Chetan providing a lively commentary, the game soon had a large audience. All the chairs were occupied by cheering family members. Around the boundary, cricket enthusiasts peeked over the wall to watch. Every “chauka” was greeted with a loud rendering of “CHAK DE”, over the music system. For the nay-sayers, let it be put on record that, no less than 6 wickets were “Caught’. No bruises and no broken bones. Team RWA XI piled up a reasonable total of 93. Amusingly, the pressure from latecomers forced the umpire to increase the number of players to 13. Despite this, there were many straining at the reins, to have a go.
The sun had come up high, and our idea to provide a hot cuppa Chai at half-time seemed not at all desirable. Bubloo’s son was sent scampering to his father’s shop to pick up some cool fruity, and, with snacks for the kids, and cookies, gajjak and revari for everyone; it provided an opportunity for some serious discussion about the playground.
The restart of play was an unmitigated disaster, as the Rest XI team slumped to 6 down for 7 runs. Not a single run was scored by the players, and there were some snarky comments about my team management by the president. Then Arvind Sharma stepped up and scored an impressive 35. When he left the crease, the score looked respectable at 57. Some good batting by Bobby, Raj and Arya and Wunder by Thunder! The 2 teams were level at 93 at the end of play! The atmosphere in the field was electric. The peacemakers were in favour of declaring a draw, but the teams would have none of it, and a Super 0ver was announced. Team RWA made 5, but a bad shot by Amit, who was later declared “man of the match” and that was that! The rest of RWA in the usual fashion started badly and were just 4 at the end of 5 balls. Then a massive 6 by Sunil Kohli put paid to any question about who the winner was. Amit, declared Man of the Match, generously donated his winnings to the Sports Club. So did the winning XI. Vicky Vashistha, enthusiastically espoused the idea of developing the grounds, by contributions and membership fees.
All in all, a great time was had by all. Plans to set up a proper Sports Club are afoot, and hopefully, the winter will see at least a dozen or so, organized and impromptu matches. We sincerely hope that Noida will take the opportunity to develop the area and create other Sports Playgrounds, as we see in other World class cities.
