The intensity of Gully cricket Competition
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Cricket

The intensity of Gully Cricket Competition

A sport set in the backstreets of the city.
Written by Aditya @forwardshortleg
3 min readPublished on
The Indian subcontinent is crazy for cricket. It is by far the most popular sport here and everyone wants to play it. But given the high population density and lack of cricket grounds, one has to make do with whatever space they get. An improvised variant of the sport developed into what we now know as Gully (Street) Cricket. The playing ground, the rules, the teams and the equipment differ from the regular game.
The only thing one needs is a bat, a ball and a relatively empty street and you can start playing Gully Cricket. Given the kind of locations it is played at, one might think that it is all fun and players don't take the game seriously.
As we have a makeshift ground in a gully, the rules of the game are twisted accordingly.

Some of the typical rules are mentioned below:

  • Whoever gets the bat, his team bats first.
  • Runs aren't allowed behind the wicket.
  • Batsman is out if he hits the ball out of the street.
  • A batsman is out if he touches the ball with his body three times in total or two times in a row.
  • Batsman can be out if the fielder takes the catch with one hand even after the ball has bounced once.
  • At times, bowlers can't bowl at full speed and only have to bowl up to a certain speed.
  • Baby overs (i.e. half an over = 3 balls) are bowled by not so good bowlers.
  • If odd number of players are playing then one player acts as a joker who bats for both teams.
  • If a player bats at the top of the order, he isn't allowed to open the bowling.
  • Winners of the previous match bat first.
  • Umpire is designated from the batting side (Conflict of interest).
  • If the batsman hits a ball so far that he loses it, he will have to buy a new one.
  • If the ball hits obstacles like parked vehicles, trees it is one declared or two declared. (Depends on how difficult it is to hit the target in question)
Given that we have so many rules which are made off the cuff depending on the layout of the street and the number of players playing with no physical recording of the game, heated arguments take place on marginal calls. The fact that heated arguments take place shows us that the players are very serious about the match and are giving it their all. This makes for an intriguing contest and it pulls together an audience of bystanders and motorcyclists.
During festivals and school holidays, a lot of Gully Cricket Championships (Tournaments) are held. A lot of our champions learnt their craft this way. Pull out your willow bat, the rubber-deuce ball, draw makeshift wickets with bricks, get your 'backstreet boys' ready and get set to play the game!