Gully cricket hits the big time

Nike India captured the chaotic and raw energy of gully cricket when they produced this smashing tribute to the subcontinental street game. But now, with the second season of 'T-10 Gully Cricket: Ab Har Koi Khelega' in full swing, the wild improvisational brand of cricket has officially entered the canon of Indo sport. And we couldn't be more excited. 

Professional cricket may be the sport that Indians live, breathe, eat and sleep, but gully cricket is the version millions of kids actually play. That's why the talent hunt for amateur street cricketers between 15 and 24 years old is so captivating. The show's tag line ‘Ab Har Koi Khelega’ means ‘Now Everyone Will Play’ but it might as well mean ‘Now everyone will watch.’

The cricket matches being broadcast live on DD Sports on Saturdays and Sundays through October provide us with yet more blissful couch time with beers, bats, balls, boys and a fun, if not technically impressive, gully cricket computer game.

Gully basics

The wildly innovative adaptation to cramped urban confines of a sport that traditionally requires big, open fields, gully cricket is played in any lane (gully) wide enough to swing a bat without bashing into cars and cows.

Wickets can be beer cartons, bricks on the road, markings on walls, trash cans, trees or an unpopular tenant’s car. Thick sticks and broken poles substitute as bats if real ones are unavailable. Because they're cheaper than leather cricket balls and don't travel as far, tennis balls are often used.

Traditional rules are twisted to maximize fun and narrow spaces.

• Bowling ends do not change, but batsmen swap places at the end of the over.

• Overs are not necessarily six deliveries. Typically, only when a batsmen raises the question of remaining deliveries do overs come to an end.

• There are no umpires, and no-balls are as rare as wides.

• The last batsman is sometimes allowed to bat alone.

• If space is limited aerial shots are deemed out.

• Newcomers are given one ‘trial ball’ and catches are accepted if they are taken with one hand after the ball has bounced once.

Keep up with season two of 'T-10 Gully Cricket: Ab Har Koi Khelega' here.