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Articles -
From the coaching manual
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Friday, 17 August 2012 14:24 |
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Contributed by James Roy
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(1065 views) |
The monsoons - a time when the cricket bats are shelved and the football studs leave their footprints in the muck. But for the budding cricketers in Mumbai, the ‘maidans’ call out to them. Wading through water and knee length grass, batsmen make a name for themselves and bowlers relish bowling on uncovered wickets and in overcast conditions. This is the tournament in which Mumbai cricket finds its talent – The Kanga League.
Dr. H.D.Kanga was the first Indian to score a double century in first class cricket. In one match, Kanga walked out to bat with a badly sprained ankle and his team 9 wickets down. He batted for 3 hours and ensured that the Parsees walked away with a draw. The entire last over was played out by Dr. Kanga safely and with ease. An all-rounder, he was also part of the Indian team that toured England in 1911 under the captaincy of the Maharaja of Patiala – Bhupinder Singh. The Kanga League was created in memory of Dr. H.D.Kanga - a batsman with correct technique. It was conceived with the intention of recreating foreign conditions to equip young talent with the ability to perform abroad.
After being scrapped for the last two years due to excessive rain, the League has begun this year, albeit two Sundays late. The clubs in Mumbai are separated into 7 divisions – A,B,C…..G. The first round was on the 29th of July where only G division matches took place. Played only on Sundays and on public holidays like 15th August, this tournament extends up to the 28th of October. The matches begin at 10:15 a.m. and end at 5:35 p.m. with lunch and tea breaks. The team that wins the first innings, in case both teams do not play the second, is awarded 3 points. If both innings are complete or a team wins by an innings, the winning team is awarded 5 points. A drawn match ends with both the teams picking up a point each. The matches in the league are often low scoring games, but exciting ones. Runs are difficult to score while wickets tumble like rocks in a landslide. Only batsmen with tight techniques manage to survive. I say survive because scoring is a different task altogether in this league. Boundaries are never-lands that can be breached only once the ball wades through ponds after scuttling through grass tall enough to hide elephants.
Hyperbole aside, scoring runs in the Kanga League is never easy. The wicket is always on the wetter side, hence the balls that are pitched up skid through while the short balls get stuck in the wicket and take ages to arrive. Bowlers are always advised to bowl full. The conditions only provide a further incentive to pitch the ball up. With moisture in the air almost every ball swings prodigiously and cover drives in the gap are stopped by tall grass. An interesting rule in the league is that if the ball is lost in the grass and the fielder declares ‘ball lost’, six runs are awarded to the batting side. In case they have run more before such a declaration, eight runs are given.
Some may say the playing conditions of the league propel batsmen to take the aerial route, which is quite true. But even that requires ample amount of skill and technique. Blind slogs with the head and body weight tilted back often end up in top-edges or mistimed lobs. The ball needs to be met right under the nose with the body weight going through the shot and with perfect timing. Power is a weapon only the foolish would use in this tournament. The fuller deliveries do not bounce as much. Hence, the ball often ends up hitting the bottom of the bat. All the power in the world cannot make the ball travel once it hits the bottom. Uneven bounce is characteristic of the wickets in this league.
Batsmen who score more than 30 runs get a mention in the papers while bowlers who take more than 3 wickets receive their share of glory. Most bowlers end up picking many more. This one of a kind tournament is played only in Mumbai and is part of the city’s rich cricketing heritage. The Mumbai Cricket Association would do well to continue this tournament and not let it get ‘washed out.’
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Last Updated on Sunday, 19 August 2012 19:29 |
