Chennai APR 29,
Seventeen-year-old Paulraj B is wiping sweat off his face. He has to focus on the next moment… for, he has just been beaten by some incisive swing bowling. The bowler — a burly Englishman — runs in fast and delivers the ball. All eyes are on Paulraj as he steps out of the crease to meet the ball. The connection is sweet, and the ball gallops towards the midwicket region. The umpire signals four.
The Englishman, a staff member of the British Deputy High Commission, takes a few steps towards Paulraj, and you expect a face-off of sorts. But they just exchange smiles. Paulraj isn’t used to conversing fluently in English; he prefers his bat to do the talking. He does that here in the lush lawns of British Deputy High Commission’s Cottingley, where his ‘Reds’ team takes on the ‘Blues’ in a friendly match, and he hopes to do that again in the UK, where he’s headed in a week’s time.
He’s a key player in the team India (South), which will be represented by two organisations: Karunalayala Social Service Society and Magic Bus. He’s part of an eight-member team, comprising four boys and four girls, who will all head abroad for the first time in their lives to play in The Street Child Cricket World Cup, which will take place ahead of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup in England and Wales.
