Changing Face of Cricket In Sikkim

I have always been a football fan but when I remember. Back in my school days, I followed cricket as well and was quite passionate about the game. Along with my friends, we had even formed a team in that game called “Super Selector” which was launched by Espnstar where the aim was to make a team from the pool of cricketers available to us. Even with very slow Internet speed during those days in Gangtok, every week four-five of us used to enter a cyber cafe and make necessary changes in our respective teams. Unfortunately, the name of my team has faded away but some of my friends might be able to recall theirs.

I still keep a tab on what’s happening in the “Gentleman’s Game” but don’t watch it like before. I mostly watch highlights these days and when Harsha Bhogle recently said that “Matches are won by things which don’t happen in Highlights”. I felt a little bad but I am sure even the most dedicated cricket fans might struggle to watch all five days of test cricket without missing a ball. Having said that there might be many crickets fans who would not agree with this. For many its part of their lives.

So the most visible change I have seen over the years in Indian Cricket is that our teams have started to travel abroad without any fear. There was time we were not very confident of a good show on foreign pitches. Those green top ones where the balls used to wiz past the Batman. It might be because the pitches have changed over the years and as India has a batting heavy side we have taken full advantage of it, having said that our bowling has also improved with many of our bowlers averaging below 25 these days with Jaspreet Bumrah and Mohammed Shami leading the change.

Another welcome change we see in Indian Cricket is how Women’s cricket has gone through all-round development and even our women players like Smriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj along with Harmanpreet Kaur and others becoming household names. I think never in the past things have looked this positive for Indian Cricket.

Even in the domestic level lots of improvements are taking place and one such change was the inclusion of North Eastern teams in the prestigious Ranji Trophy. With this Sikkim has also got an opportunity which it never got in the past. The state was just confined to playing age-group cricket. Last season Sikkim dished out a decent performance appearing for the first time in the country’s elite tournament. Even in age groups and women’s cricket, there has been a positive change which augurs well for the future of cricket in the state. Another new shift is the increase in salaries at all levels, now I think players are paid well and even by playing domestic cricket regularly they can sustain themselves which was quite difficult in the past.

When I remember back in the days when we were in school things were not that well organized. There was a lack of coordination and communication between the players and the Sikkim Cricket Association. There used to be few tournaments and I remember Thirani Cup most vividly. A group of our seniors had formed a team called Titanic and had played in that tournament but if I am not mistaken they had sank before reaching the finals. There were many clubs and teams as well which had mushroomed all over Gangtok and I think Alpine Cricket Club was the most famous one even Arithang had a good team, but everyone used to say Jorethang produced the best players in Sikkim.

In the neighbouring town of Kalimpong, a very well organised tournament used to take place called the Piranhas Cup where teams from all across the region used to come and participate. I have to credit those organizers for introducing coloured clothing and Third Umpires with video replays assisting them, their thinking was way ahead of times for a small town like Kalimpong. Unfortunately, this tournament has struggled over the years and is not held regularly. Even some National level players had come and played most notable being Laxmi Ratan Shukla, the Bengal cricketer who went on to play for India.

Our school Tashi Namgyal Academy had a football ground but every Saturday and Sunday it used to turn into a cricket ground like 2 to 3 matches taking place at the same time. The seniors played at the Centre with mats and the rest were on the sides. We used to play intraclass matches between section A and B most of the times. We were in section B and lost most of the times but it was great fun. On Sundays as we grew older we used to play matches with some outside teams sometimes and once we had formed a side named Challengers and travelled to Rangpo Mining Ground for a tournament. We lost to a team from Sang and we were all left dejected. During the break, they gave us bread and boiled eggs and without water on a hot day, we had really struggled to swallow it.

Some of my friends like Mahesh Pandey, Ashish Sareen, Bimal Singh, Ashish Oberoi and Ankit Srivastava played for the Sikkim team in the age group tournaments after attending the trials. Mahesh was an all-rounder with sublime batting technique and a good leg spinner. Ashish was a batsman with a solid defence and he used to pack his shots with lots of power. Both of them choose other career options but I am sure in today’s time they would have given a shot to play professional cricket. There were other talented players too like Avinash Chettri, Pukar Rai and Sailesh Pradhan from our school along with some seniors.

I remember the 2 times I played inter class cricket in school, once at class X and another at XII. It was great fun and in class XII we had formed 2 teams one the serious ones and another just for fun. Just of the fun team had some really talented players and they used to be seen praying for their own players to get out so they could bat. Once one batsman got out and 2 of them rushed out with their makeshift tin drums and welcomed him back till the pavilion with the shouts of “Out Bhayo, out bhayo”. Another incident I recall is our teacher Mr Srivastava getting hit on the chest by a solidly struck ball by his own batting partner and going down on the ground. As organisers, we were worried and rushed to the ground to check on sir. He looked at us and said, “Don’t worry boys there won’t be a holiday tomorrow”. Sir might have lost his composer but had not lost his sense of humour.

Another funny but painful incident I remember was at Paljor Stadium where they had put up a concrete pitch at one end of the ground. We were practising there and one senior daju came and told us he wanted to do some batting. My friend Sangay ran into the bowl but the ball slipped out of his hand and went full toss into that dajus main part and he was not wearing any protection. He slumped to the ground in excruciating pain. We held our laughter back and later some of the boys took him to hospital. Later Sangay told me when he had gone to meet him at the hospital with the affected part all plastered up and he said: “forget everything but never forget to wear the guard”.

No matter what we just can’t ignore the game of cricket in India as they say it’s like a religion here and in many other countries of the sub-continent. North East Region along with Sikkim might have started late but they do have the potential to rub shoulders with the best in the country. Also, the facilities are improving with direct funding from the BCCI. In Sikkim, we might soon see a revamped Rangpo Mining Ground with the ability to host Ranji Trophy matches. Have to say this ground will look picturesque and if not in capacity and infrastructure in location and the beauty it will be right at the top. The current management of Sikkim Cricket Association has a very competent team it seems and they should take the game in the right direction in the state. Once a well-organised state-level tournament is launched in all formats with participants from all the district we can say cricket has taken off in Sikkim until then let’s keep watching the highlights if not the whole match.