Kashmir and Calcutta are bonding, ball by ball.
A cricket team from the Valley is on a tour to Calcutta. They went to Eden Gardens on Thursday and played a friendly match at the Calcutta Cricket and Football Club on Saturday.
The trip to Eden was the first for everyone in the team. They did not get to play a match on the hallowed green, but the visit itself was overwhelming, the players said.
“Now I understand why everyone calls it the Mecca of Indian cricket. It looks spectacular on TV. But with naked eyes, it looks even better. I entered the stadium, touched the grass and promised myself that I will do whatever it takes to play here someday,” said Aftab Ali, 17, a fast bowler and the youngest member of the squad.
Back home, the Class XI student from Budgam district travels nearly 35km from his village to the Sher-e-Kashmir Stadium at Sonwar Bagh on the outskirts of Srinagar for practice every day. With no playground in his village, Ali walks 8–10km every day and then boards a bus.
“We do not have a ground in our village to practice. I try to walk as much as I can to save money,” he said.
Ali has been playing cricket since he was in Class V. His father, a tailor, is the sole breadwinner and dreams of his son making it big in cricket.
At the CC&FC on Saturday, Ali’s pace bowling impressed many. The Kashmir team lost the match but won hearts.
The trip was facilitated by Qafille-e-Mohabbat, a Valley-based non-profit that works for the underprivileged and the youth in Kashmir and the “integration of Kashmir into the rest of India”.
Nazir Ahmad Khan, a board member who led the delegation, said that a significant section of the Valley youth were victims of drug abuse.
“We want to steer them away from drugs to sports. Cricket and IPL are quite popular in Kashmir, but there is a lack of sound cricket infrastructure. The players learnt so much from this trip. They need more exposure like this,” said Khan.
The campaign is working to establish a sports academy in Kashmir, named after Major Somnath Sharma, the first recipient of the Param Vir Chakra (PVC), India’s highest military decoration.
Mohammad Yaseen, 21, another member of the team from Kashmir, draws inspiration from Virat Kohli. A right-handed batsman himself, Yaseen spends a lot of time watching Kohli’s old clips.
An electrician by profession, Yaseen had to leave his studies due to financial constraints at home.
“I work all week and play cricket on Sundays,” he said.
The city NGO IHA Foundation is hosting the visitors. “This initiative is far bigger than a cricket match — it is an affirmation of faith in our youth,” said the chairman of the foundation, Satnam Singh Ahluwalia.
CC&FC vice-president Irfan Ahmed said: “Our club has always believed in nurturing the spirit of the game. Watching these boys play with passion and gratitude reminds us why cricket is more than a sport — it is a shared legacy.”
Gurbux Singh, the hockey legend; Capt Anil Bhalla (Retd); and Bengal’s minister of state for sport, Manoj Tiwari, a former Indian batter, were among the spectators at the club on Saturday.