They stay up nights controlling queues at puja pandals and compete for prizes. Last weekend, they displayed the same passion in a cricket tournament.

Dum Dum Park Tarun Sangha has launched Kolkata Puja Premi League, an invitational 10-a-side contest, hosted in association with The Telegraph Salt Lake, at the spot where their pandal comes up, by Tank 3.

Tarun Sangha president Rabin Ganguly, 62, the oldest player of the tournament

“We play intra-club matches. We thought of broadbasing the format to include other clubs. Such events used to be held earlier in south Calcutta. Dum Dum Park, being a Puja hub, is providing a platform to activate clubs which become dormant once Durga puja gets over,” said Tarun Sangha joint secretary Soura Ghosh.

The tennis-ball tournament had 12 teams, of which five were from the immediate neighbourhood. “We had just one day to get the seven other teams on board and finalised names depending on which, among the clubs we approached, agreed the earliest,” he added.

Runners-up Dum Dum Park Tarun Sangha

Each inning was limited to eight overs. On a ground that was barely a third of an average field and the pitch reduced to 15 yards, there were restrictions in place. “If a shot crosses the advertisement boards without touching the ground, it would count as a dismissal. But if it smashes on the boards, then it is a six. The bowler has to bowl with the non-bowling arm tucked behind his back and release the ball from no higher than his chin,” explained Sayantan Kanjilal, the club’s other joint secretary.

After a day and a half of round-robin league matches, the semifinal line-up was apparent even before the start of the last league match, between Santoshpur Lake Palli and Ajeya Sanghati, which the former eventually won.

Minister Sujit Bose wields the bat during his visit

Meanwhile, local MLA and minister Sujit Bose arrived and took strike to face local councillor Biswajit Prasad. After getting lofted across the road thrice, Prasad had his revenge by castling him. Congratulating the organisers for getting the clubs together to host “another puja before Puja”, Bose said: “This chapati shot was not there in our time. Ami je shot ta maarte pari, seta mather baire jaay.”

As the semi-finalists warmed up, an exhibition match took place which saw puja theme artistes like Prasanta Pal, Rintu Das, Parimal Pal, Raju Sarkar, Papai Santra, Abhijit Ghatak and Triguna Sankar Manna take the field though local artiste Anirban Das could not be persuaded to play.

Fielders stand side by side at point with their backs to the batter to block square cuts

Road to the finals

It was past 8pm when the semifinals started. “Had 66 Palli not given a walkover to Nalin Sarkar Street Sarbojanin today, we would have got further delayed,” Biswanath Bhattacharjee, a Tarun Sangha member, reflected, looking at his watch.

The first match featured local clubs Bharat Chakra and Tarul Dal. The latter was coming in with a reputation of gamesmanship, having played hard in their last league match. “They tried to put the umpires under pressure. They might do that again,” Sougata Chatterjee, the Bharat Chakra captain, warned his players. The sports secretary of Bharat Chakra, who had hit back-to-back centuries, brushed aside praise for his individual performance from The Telegraph Salt Lake. “The team won. That’s what matters,” he smiled.

Champions Dum Dum Tarun Dal with the trophy

Added his teammate Mahesh Sharma: “We are used to playing thapa shots. Our ground is even smaller.” “Our strength is in our supporters,” said Pratik Chowdhury, the club joint secretary, pointing to the packed chairs on the ropes.

The home team, Tarun Sangha, had beaten Dum Dum Sarbojanin and Ultadanga Bidhan Sangha along the way. “Our score in the first match, 238/1, is the highest in the tournament,” said Bipul Saha, a proud supporter.

Tarun Dal posted a formidable 204/1 on the back of Subhajit Saha’s ton. Such was their scoring pace that at the halfway mark, they were 117.

Cousins Sougata and Abhijeet Chatterjee opened for Bharat Chakra. A packed offside and brilliant fielding from Tarun Dal dried up the scoring. At the halfway mark, Bharat Chakra were limping at 45 for 2. Satadal Chatterjee, the wicket-keeper, joked with his teammates: “24 ball ey 24 ta boundary marleo aar hobe na.”

Bharat Chakra stopped at 123/2, yielding the match to a much stronger opponent, which, some of their players alleged, was propped up by “outsiders”, a claim the winners hotly contested.

Heated face-off

In the other semifinal, Tarun Sangha elected to bat. The match was a noisy affair with Nalin Sarkar Street supporters chanting: “Nalin Sarkar, ei tai dorkar,” every time their players thumped the ball to the ground and the ball bounced over the players into the stands, in a masterclass of thapa batting. In a supreme show of commitment, Subir Das put his bulk in the line of the batter’s onside arc, standing with his back to him at forward short leg. “Nalin Sarkar, aar nei dorkar,” chanted back the Tarun Sangha camp.

Sayantan finally put the brakes on the scoring, finishing an economic seventh over with Nantu Majumdar’s wicket. Nalin Sarkar Street finished at 155/1.

After a brief hold-up due to flared tempers, play resumed with Rabin Ganguly and Sunanda Mitra opening for Tarun Sangha. Ganguly, the oldest player in the tournament, aged 62, opened his account by dispatching the first ball he faced to the deep point fence. That prompted the Nalin Sarkar Street captain to place two fielders to stand shoulder to shoulder at point, much like a free-kick wall in football. Even that failed to curb Ganguly, who picked up four boundaries and a six in the second over. With 16 needed off the last over, a wicket finally fell. But Sumanta Chatterjee came in and made short work of the target with three balls to spare.

The best fielder award being handed by councillor Biswajit Prasad to Rajarshi Chatterjee of Tarun Dal as organiser Soura Ghosh looks on

Final countdown

The clock had inched past 11.30pm when the final started. Tarun Dal won the toss and chose to bat. Openers Subhajit Ghosh and Arnab Mallik were cruising with 102 coming in five overs. The pressure showed on Tarun Sangha as Sumanta bowled five wides in the sixth over. The target set was 178, with Subhajit scoring 78 off 24 balls and Arnab 86 off 25.

Ganguly again square cut the first ball he faced but with tight bowling, scoring was tough. The sixth over by Subhajit yielded only five runs against a wicket. The seventh over by Satadal provided some momentum with 21 coming off it but with Subhajit returning to bowl the last over, the hosts’ chase petered out at 99.

“We do Durga puja for six months and play cricket the other six,” grinned Tarun Dal captain Biplab Mondal, with the trophy in hand. “We were burnt out playing back-to-back matches, especially after the emotionally draining semi-final,” said Sumanta, the losing captain.

“We received so many requests for participation from other pujas that next year, we plan to increase the number of teams,” said Soura, as both teams dug into biryani at 1am.