Officers defeat legislators in friendly cricket tie Abdul Bari Siddiqui (centre) chalks out strategy with his teammates during the cricket match between legislators and government officials at the Moin-ul-Haq stadium in Patna on Sunday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, April 10: The ICC World Cup is over, the cricket craze isn’t. After Team India’s historic victory over Sri Lanka in Wankhede, all are game for cricket. Bureaucrats and politicians today padded up for a friendly match at Moin-ul-Haq stadium.

Leader of the Opposition Abdul Bari Siddiqui led the Legislators’ XI, while C.K. Mishra, the principal secretary of the industries department, led the Officers’ XI.

The common perception about politicians — never missing a chance to browbeat opponents — was reinforced on the 22 yards. They lost the match by five wickets but they tried every possible trick to beat the bureaucrats. But they looked helpless when the bureaucrats started hitting fours and sixes in the slog overs.

Some non-legislators took the field for the Legislators’ XI, but they could not win the match for the politicians. The politicians fielded with 12 players for the first three overs. Even the umpire did not spot it till the commentator raised the point.

The Legislators’ XI captain asked one of his players to leave the ground, but nobody agreed. Then, Siddiqui was about to leave himself when an MLA left the field with a smile on his face.

Batting first, Legislators’ XI scored 122 in the 20-over match. Officers’ XI surpassed the target in the 18th over with five wickets intact.

After his team lost, Siddiqui said: “It does not matter who wins or who loses. What matters is the friendly environment. We are doing this to promote the game in the state. People perceive that bureaucrats and politicians cannot stand on one platform because there is great disparity between them. But people should not forget that politicians make the rule that is finally implemented by the bureaucrats.”

Without referring to chief minister Nitish Kumar’s comment on politicians joining the sports associations, Siddiqui said: “Politicians should have a sporting spirit and team spirit. They should have a helping mentality, this is what we learn from this game.”

Taking a light view on the match, Pratyaya Amrit, a 1991-batch IAS officer and now the secretary of the state road construction department, said: “For the first time, it seemed that bureaucrats can dominate politicians. Cricket is a game where all classes of people come under one roof without any complaint. This is the true spirit of the game and we really enjoyed the match.”

The legislators appealed everyone to step forward for the betterment of the game in the state. Neeraj Kumar Babloo, a JD (U) MLA from Raghopur, said: “Sometimes it’s disappointing to watch a cricket match. We feel bad that no cricket player from Bihar plays at the international-level.”

Energy minister Bijendra Yadav, who was the chief guest at the event, said: “From time to time, this kind of match should be arranged to promote the game so that people from all sections of the society come forward for one cause.”

Yadav distributed the prizes to the winning team. Siddiqui’s son, Anis, who played for the Legislators’ XI, clinched the man of the match award and was adjudged the best batsman. Deputy inspector-general (Patna) Vineet Vinayak was adjudged the best batsman of the Officers’ XI. Siddiqui was adjudged the best bowler.