THE tall lanky left-armer is ready to bowl the last ball of the On-Street Night Cricket Tournament. Facing him is the gutsy righthander who doesn’t miss many. Five runs are required by the Blues to win the final against the Reds. In comes the bowler as the batsman taps the bat. The bowler bowls, a wild swing follows, the ball has gone up, high up, and ... into Uncle Aslam’s apartment breaking his window, yet again.
With the advent of the holy month of Ramazan, a lot of activities embrace Karachi with full heart and zeal. And among those activities is the sport of night cricket. Boys in their thousands, if not more, take to the streets, lanes, by-lanes and every available tract of the city in a bid to emulate their heros with the help of night dew and a tennis ball that is tightly wrapped with electric tape.
For many the concept of night cricket maybe an alien one. But try practising your shots or bowling in the congested streets of Karachi during the day and you’ll get the picture. The day’s are too hot and humid for most of the lads, who are also fasting, to step into their playing gear. The traffic too isn’t kind. Grounds are too sparse and too few for the hordes of cricket lovers here. And anyway, there isn’t much to do during the night as well! So, it’s onto the streets with the help of temporary arrangements like rented lights and plenty of bats and balls. And though, night cricket is mostly a weekend feature, played throughout the year, during Ramazan, for many it becomes part and parcel of the post-iftar till sehar routine.
Plans for the game are made well before the advent of the holy month. At times, teams and players are registered a month before and schedules are made so that time is not be wasted. Beginning from the 1st of Ramazan, numerous tournaments, some big, others not so big, are organized. At times, sponsors are gotten hold of as well. Prizes, ranging from cups the size of mini-buses to simple cash awards are at hand. On the whole, night cricket is one very engaging activity.
As I mentioned before, night cricket also gives the youngsters a chance to emulate the feats of their heroes. In fact, some say that the concept of night cricket came following the popularity of the Day-Night matches on television. It was simple curiosity. Watching Wasim Akram and other greats swing the ball around in lights, the young blood didn’t want to be left out of the trick. Cricket is after all the most celebrated sport in the country.
Similarly, there was a time when there weren’t that many left-handed batsman or a left-arm fast bowlers in our mohallas. But the wizardry of Wasim and now India’s Irfan Pathan, and the masterful strokes of Saeed Anwar took care of that.
In Ramazan, most of these desirable tournaments begin soon after tarawih prayers and continue till sehri. Even elders enjoy night cricket in Ramazan as at times they themselves organize such events for their own entertainment.
But where night cricket has proved to be a source of major entertainment for many, it is also a major headache for others. In fact, cricket isn’t a nuisance; it are the chants, the shouting and the all out zeal of those involved that disturb the silence of the night, and thus the neighbourhood. People who have to go to work the next day and the noise created by boys playing cricket disturbs them and they get annoyed. During Ramazan elders try to sleep well so that they are fresh for sehri and don’t go to sleep when they work. No one would like a peaceful dream interrupted. Their protest, most of the times lodged in angry words, in effect ruins the enjoyment.
Night cricket is pleasure for one generation and a nuisance for the other. So who’s to blame? No the boys and neither the people of the neighbourhood. In fact the culprits are the authorities concerned who haven’t provided the facilities, for instance a ground in every area for such activities. And grounds that do exist have mostly been turned into large trash bins. Parks on the other hand restrict any sporting activity, especially cricket, to be played there as they are meant for those who go for walks.
All in all night cricket has become an integral part of our culture. It always begins with excitement and ends with a hope of performing before the whole mohalla, again next year. Following Ramazan, elders (those not enjoying the game and trying to steal some rest in-between the shouting) thank God that another season of cricket fever has ended and hope for the remaining year to last for as long as possible so that they can have enough rest in store for the next season that they don’t run out of it when needed.
In the end I would like someone out there, from the city, provincial and the federal government, to help solve this problem of shortage of grounds. It is a shame that despite the talent that is at show on the streets of Karachi, and I am quite sure elsewhere in the country as well, we are unable to groom orthodox players to play for our national side.
As for the match between the Reds and the Blues, it’s sad that the winning team couldn’t take a victory lap of the neighbourhood. Instead, the boys make a hasty retreat to their homes, avoiding the incoming insults of the tall pot-bellied, bald Uncle Aslam. The Blues may have won the tournament, but the organizers will have to find another lane to play the next tournament in.
