13 Rules of Indoor Cricket

While in our first year we had several distractions that kept us from achieving the success that our family had envisioned for us. One of the chief distraction was cricket. Ever since the cricket scandals of '96-'97 I have had an advent dislike for the game and was never an avid cricket fan. But something in my short post secondary exile and the lack of other more appealing stimuli, gyrated me towards a variant of the sport.

In the first few months we were subjected to several occasions of hazing and this had limited our movements to the confines to our hostel rooms after classes. I must admit my fellow roommate in crime and myself used to get ourselves intentionally picked up for these sessions several times just for the sole purpose of scamming a free coffee and snacks after their silly antics. Most of the tasks they assigned us to do were trivial and in some cases fun. But it was the consolation coffee and snacks we looked forward to every other evening. Subsequent they did catch on to our scam and we paid the price for it. But I digress.

My friends in the designated 'mallu' room on the ground floor devised a very clever variation of indoor-cricket to wile away the spare time We had between dinner and lights off. I was quite happy to be left alone with my school work or good book, I was drawn to the intricacies of this improv game that appeared to occupy more and more of my friends time. Eventually I joined in one evening and the next thing I knew was that it was the eve of the exams, we were wrapping up the tournament at 4 in the morning and was scaling up the school wall to sneak out to the telephone booth for a drink and ice-cream.

Th games were all held in room #9 (the mallu room) and the rules were crafted by the way items were positioned in the room, the beds, suitcases and other objects were part of the obstacle course that determined the way the game played out.

So here is a cheer to Shynu, Vinu, Gireesh (lungi), Gireesh (ich), Dhiraj, Ballsgopal and others who partook in this insane game that was probably responsible for a grade or two drop in our final marks.

Rules of Indoor Cricket

Venue: Junior Boy's Hostel rm#12

GVIT,

1. Two teams max 5 a side.
2. Bowling - under-arm only. Ball must bounce once before reaching batsman
3. Ball should not bounce over waist height. Should a ball be thrown and it bounces over set limit, 1 run is awarded to batting team.
4. Wicket-keeper must be behind batsman at all times. Knees on bed. It is illegal to stand on bed.
5. It is illegal for wicket-keeper to step in front of batsman or block his shot.
6. Boundaries are the established 3 walls the batsman is facing.
7. Ball must bounce before touching the wall to be awarded 4 runs.
8. Should the ball not touch or bounce off ground, bed or suitcase, the batsman is out. No direct shots to the wall are allowed. All direct shots result in the Batsman being out.
9. Bowler must be seated in a chair opposite to batsman at a distance of at least 17 feet.
10. Standard ball is a regular tennis ball bound with electrical tape evenly wound around the ball.
11. Vinu's bucket is the Wicket.
12. If a match runs for more than 2 hours, players are mandated to break for drinks and refreshments for an hour.
13. Match can be interrupted only under the below circumstances:

• Warden's surprise visit to hostel
• Seniors roll call for ragging sessions
• Trip to Stadium, interrupted by senior or staff intervention.

Please note that some of the finer details escapes me. Please feel free to drop me a line to update the details.