As the winter chill descended on Kashmir, it restricted activities and brought a certain boredom to the days. A group of youngsters in the southern part of the state then decided to add some entertainment to the lives of villagers. (More Cricket News)
At the Marhama hamlet around 55 km south of Srinagar, four local players turned a highland ground into a cricket playground and are currently hosting the Marhama Premier League (MPL). It has drawn participants from different regions of Kashmir.
The matches also pull some spectators. Some of them arrive with pots of tea and light a small fire as they watch the action.
The quartet mentioned above consists of Chirag Aamir, Aamir Magray, Suhail Ahmad Reshi and Khurshid Ahmad. They spent around Rs 8 lakh on turf and buying a pitch-roller from Punjab. After working on the pitch, they launched the MPL, which has attracted over 60 teams from all over the Valley.
The area is known for its bat manufacturing units but there is no big cricket ground in Marhama and surrounding villages. The four organizers sought the help of some officials and local bodies for the development of the ground.
As no help came from anywhere they decided to spend their own money to repair the cricket ground.
Says Chirag Aamir, “We asked the sports department for a manual roller that costs around Rs 50,000. They told us it would take five to six months. And that too was not certain. So we decided to get the roller ourselves.”
In fact, they went for an advanced roller, acquiring it from Ludhiana for ₹ 7 lakh. They also laid the turf and started maintaining it.
“When we bought the roller we also sought an assistant from pitch curator Mohammad Shafi Wagay to make the turf. He guided us all along,” says Chirag. “In the initial days of making the turf, we would all be here throughout the day. It was our resolve to give this area a cricket pitch capable of hosting tournaments.”
Once the turf was completed they organized the Marhama Premier League, which started in December. Kashmir’s cricket star Parvez Rasool inaugurated the tournament.
Next on the list for Chirag and Co is a water connection to the ground and changing rooms.
“We expect the government’s help in this regard. Once these two facilities come up the venue will be almost complete,” says Chirag, while operating the roller during a break in a match.
Enterprising villagers have also opened a Facebook page showing live matches with commentary. “Our problem is that the internet signal is very slow here, which makes it difficult to do live shows,” says the page editor Imtiyaz Ahmad Bhat.
As they say in cricket, one ball at a time.
