How cricket consoles criminals
That sport provides communities with a way to come together has been well documented
Tariq Engineer
25-Feb-2013
That sport provides communities with a way to come together has been well documented. In Mint, Rudraneil Sengupta provides a new twist on an old tale as she goes behind the bars of India’s Tihar jail and discovers cricket removes the differences between murders, kidnappers, smugglers and yes, even those who protest their innocence.
The cricketers in Tihar cover every possible crime between them—murder, kidnapping, rape, honour killing, robbery, peddling or smuggling drugs, embezzlement, even terrorism. There’s Manu Sharma, Jessica Lal’s killer; and Santosh Singh, who raped and murdered his fellow law student Priyadarshini Mattoo. But many are also undertrials, and some, even though they have spent more than a decade behind bars, still vociferously proclaim their innocence.
On the field though, they are bowlers, batsmen or wicketkeepers, listening attentively to their 74-year-old coach Rajinder Pal’s instructions, padding up in anticipation, shadow-practising under the shade of a tree, running into the field with water bottles when needed, helping each other stretch or warm-up.
Tariq Engineer is a former senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo