CHENNAI: On a Sunday morning scene at a playground in the city, hundreds of restless boys are busy running around picking up tennis balls from amidst the crowd and throwing it back with precision to the one boy who, otherwise, is lost in the chaos. In fact, the ground is host to several cricket matches happening simultaneously with the wickets barely a metre apart. If that was not enough, there would be the much popular ‘gully’ cricket at every residential neighbourhood.This not only points at the popularity the game has in the city, it also points at the lack of space for the cityfolk to play.J Pramod, 33, a sales manager at DHL Logistics, grew up like one of these boys, playing cricket on the streets with his friends while in school. After taking up a job, Pramod’s passion for the game moved off the streets and was confined to only his living room – in front of the TV.But all that changed when he enrolled into an indoor sports facility at the Guindy Industrial Estate. That, says Pramod, was an end to the monotony of his professional existence.“Every day without fail, I go to the C Cube Indoor Sports Facility after work and practice at the nets. I now bat against a machine which chucks balls at me, just like the professionals,” says Pramod, grinning in excitement like a little boy.He says he has now been selected to play in a team in the local leagues.And it is understandable why the patrons of this facility are excited. For a fee of Rs 2,000 a month, they get to face 90 balls a day.This, they feel, is certainly a better deal than the other traditional facilities, where not only do they have to pay Rs 600 every hour, but also need to gather at least 12 people for a session.For cricket lovers like 32-year-old Ramasethu, manager of a private bank, the economy is certainly appealing, not to mention more convenient. “Here I can play any time between 6am and 11pm and improve my areas of weakness by practicing on various turfs with the bowling machines. The main advantage of practicing here is that there is 99 per cent accuracy in the delivery of balls on the areas we specify,” said Ramsethu. He has become a life member of the club paying `30,000, so he can practice one solid hour every day.Not just bank managers, the economy of playing at such facilities is a draw for college students as well.Vishnu, an engineering student, says a practice session in the city typically restricts a batsman to only 10 overs in the nets.But here, he gets to play a whole 20 overs, and that too with focused guidance from the instructors. “They also videograph our games and do an analysis on our performances and suggest the areas of improvement,” Vishnu said.With a slowly growing base, even cricket coaches are waking up to the possibilities that the facility offers. “There are no comparable facilities in Chennai.They even allow players to bring their coaches from outside to come and instruct them. If the cost can come down, even more cricketers will flock here,” says Adi Ravikumar, a cricket coach for many years.
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