Cricket is emotion here, we treated it as most advance and interested sports. Every game has its principles, rules and regulations, from young to old in Kashmir know how to play the game respectively. Cricket has its own charm and beauty in sub-continent. When we talk about the street cricket and local cricket it always provides base to the game development. Various programs are launched time to by government and non-government organizations to identify the best plyers. When we talk about the Kashmir most of the cricket is playing on mat. Mat cricket is self-made cricket pitch used for practice, in home or at professional level. In Kashmir mat cricket is famous among local players, because of number of reasons like it is easy to affordable, easy to install and its maintenance is not costly. “Mat cricket played on a coir or synthetic mat laid on hard surface, is widely popular in Kashmir due to its affordability and ease to setup.’’ In Kashmir big tournaments are played in synthetic mat, even they get popularity but is above tournaments are beneficial for the local talent. By playing on mat cricketers get some advantage like batsman develop their back foot shots like cut shot and pull shot because in mat there is extra bounce which forces the batsman to learn back foot strokes. For explosive batting some time batsman can go for the mat cricket and play some practice matches, it may be providing benefit to a player. In Kashmir there is always problem of lack of infrastructure turf wickets are not available easily because of its cost and maintenance. We see in many northern states like UP, Bihar, HP, and Jharkhand mat is getting used for playing cricket but in Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujrat and Rajasthan usually turf wickets are available and international and national matches are played on turf wickets. Daljeet singh a former first class cricketer and now curator, feels that it is not bad if children’s start playing cricket on mat but the age of 15-16 they must shift to turf cricket. He says the biggest thing in mat cricket that every day it looks same as compere to turf cricket which changes after sessions.
Batting On Mat Wicket And Turf Wicket: In mat cricket batsman get extra pace and bounce for the shots, which forces the batsman to play on back foot strokes like square cut, pull shot etc. this shows by playing mat cricket the back foot strokes get stronger. In turf wicket the conditions are continuous changing with time so batsman has to adjust his shots, placement and timing, which is good sign for professional cricket.
“To boost the talent identification programs in Kashmir, first the turf wickets should be established on prior bases. It is true that mat cricket is easy to access and develop but turf wicket needs big sponsorship.”
Bowling On Mat Wicket And Turf Wicket: In mat wicket bowler in early stage of inning get extra pace when the ball is new. But many experts believe that when ball get old it is easy for the batsman to go for the strokes. While in turf things are changing accordingly, when ball gets old bowler can go for the variations to deceive the batsman.For bowlers playing on mat by spikes is injury prone as compare to the turf wicket where bowlers are using spikes for the better results. In mat spinners don’t get merely any help which forces the teams go for the fast bowling option only. When we see in turf wicket spinners are effective tool to get the wickets. In Kashmir we have different scenario, most of the cricket is playing on mat. Which is beneficial for professional cricket but in limited action. So the young players must choose the turf cricket for their professional goals. The role of government and non-government organizations are crucial, because they can provide turf wickets to young energetic cricketers for completion their future goals. Many turf wickets were developed in Kashmir but we need concrete policies and steps for improving the turf wicket culture in Kashmir. That will help us to produce good quality of cricketers which will represent national team.
Conclusion: In order to boost the talent identification programs in Kashmir, first the turf wickets should be established on prior bases. It is true that mat cricket is easy to access and develop but turf wicket needs big sponsorship. By above facts the turf wickets should be promoted because of its professional benefits. The cricketers should choose turf cricket after short time in mat cricket that will provide better chances for them to excel in their game.
(The author is a freelancer. The views, opinions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the author and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”)
