The Little BIG Sport

Photo: Darshan Chakma

Around the globe, almost every sport has developed a street culture. Street football is a reliable producer of professional footballers in South America. In the US, dingy neighbourhood courts have been the proving grounds for many NBA superstars. Street cricket isn't nearly as big a “thing” as street football or basketball, but over the years, it has become a big part of city culture, especially in this part of the world.

It would be utter dishonesty from the part of a resident Dhakaite if he claims to have never walked into a tense match of street cricket on one of the many alleys and narrow roadways of the city. It'll be a tough job to find one person raised in the city who has never triumphed or embarrassed himself in a game of street cricket. Everyone's always talking about how the lack of open spaces in the city is an obstacle to an ideal childhood for the city kids. Be that as it may, most of these kids haven't become absolutely caged-in. Yet. In fact they have made the best of what they have, proof of which you'll see every afternoon when the grumpy old man in the neighbourhood is complaining about how kids these days are taking over the streets with their cricket balls and bats.

Dhaka is a really friendly place, if you know where to look. But how does the awkward teenage boy fit in after moving to a new place? All he has to do is go to the alley near his house and say that he wants to play. You give some kids a bat, a taped tennis ball and put them on a street that'll stay empty for a couple of minutes at a time (and sometimes the whole day if it's hartal) and they'll know what to do. The fights over who gets to bat when, if the ball really hit the wickets or not, the blame game when the ball goes missing -- these are what street cricket is all about. It's surprising how bickering over silly things can create such special bonds between people.
 Street cricket does little to nurture talent, but it definitely helps realise it. The traits learned from playing on the street reflect on the gameplay of those who made it to the top. Sunil Gavaskar, widely regarded as one of the masters of the straight drive, once said that he was good at this shot because he'd get more runs by hitting straight on the street he grew up playing.  Tamim Iqbal grew up playing on a street in Chittagong where there wasn't enough space to hit the ball hard towards the legside. Today, he is one of the most feared players in the world with his shots toward the offside.
Streets are built for anything but playing cricket. When open spaces in this city are few and far between, you cannot but appreciate the good street cricket has done for us. Ayan Antik Khan, a superstar in the street cricket scene in his neighbourhood, believes playing on the street is largely responsible for his image of being socially active and friendly. “It gets you out of the house, from a world of boredom to a world of thrills, AND you play with your best mates, could it get any better?” he says.
Parents usually have a hard time keeping their kids indoor if they are truly hooked to the sport. With all the negative elements that float around our society, should one really complain about street cricket? It will probably be difficult for the elderly to stop squabbling about how their afternoon naps are disturbed by the sound of shattered glass, but maybe they should stop short of burning the cricket bats and having security guards chase the young kids away. With the sacrifice of some afternoon naps, these kids could actually grow up in a compassionate community instead of a dark shady computer room writing about questionable things on the internet.

Photo: Star