Tihar Jail to have its own cricket team

Dressed in white, soaking in tips from a former Indian cricket Test player and qualified coach, he practices for hours honing his batting and bowling skills. In his leisure hours, he intently watches the ICC Cricket World Cup that is underway.

Santosh Kumar Singh might seem like a usual cricket trainee but for the setting. Convicted for life for the rape and murder of Delhi University (DU) law student Priyadarshini Mattoo last October by the Supreme Court, Singh, along with 103 other fellow inmates of the Tihar Jail, trains at a ground located at sub-jail number one. The 104 inmates are vying for a place in the jail’s first-ever, proposed official cricket team, the Tihar Eleven.

The Tihar Eleven cricket team, a recent initiative of the jail authorities, is being given shape by short-listing “cricketing talents” under the supervision of former Test player Rajinder Pal, according to the jail’s spokesperson Sunil Gupta.

“Our proposed team, the Tihar Eleven, will be ready in a few weeks from now and we have taken the help of renowned coach and former Test player Rajinder Pal, through the NGO Divya Jyoti Jagrati Sansthan, to turn them into worthy players,” said Gupta.

The jail’s authorities are hoping to tap into the pulsating enthusiasm among the inmates for the World Cup. At the barracks and the common rooms across the sub-jails, inmates huddle around television sets when the matches are underway.  

Pal, a former fast bowler “who had given bowling tips to former India captain Kapil Dev”, has selected the group of 104 players/inmates who will eventually form the nucleus for the Tihar Eleven, said Gupta.

From Monday, three other accredited cricket coaches will assist in fine-tuning the players’ skills along with Pal.

The group of 104 players includes convicts as well as under-trials. “We have already provided five sets of cricket gears and uniforms to the sub-jails. The funds for this purpose are being sourced from the Prisoners’ Welfare Fund,” said Gupta.

“We want to utilise the tremendous interest that cricket evokes among the inmates here to build our own cricket team, which will give them an opportunity to focus their mind and efforts in a positive manner,” said another jail official who is involved in the preparations.

Once selected to the proposed team, the players would get a chance to play in inter-jail tournaments and even corporate tournaments, said another jail official who is involved in the preparations. “A place in the Tihar Eleven team might ensure a job or a seat in a college/university as well,” said Gupta.