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Vijay Hazare Trophy: No hired guns in the Sikkim team, only local players

Sikkim are the only purely home-grown outfit among the nine new participants in the Plate League of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

The Sikkim team includes, among others, government employees, policemen and former musicians.

“It was about backing the handful of local talent we have. So we formed a team with them and came here.” Sikkim captain Nilesh Lamichanay sums up the make-up of his squad rather explicitly. It’s after all the only purely home-grown outfit among the nine new participants in the Plate League of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. It was with the same conviction that Lamichanay & Co, a bunch of weekend cricketers who haven’t played in a competitive tournament in over six years, had informed the Sikkim Cricket Association (SCA) that they didn’t want any professional players in their mix.

It was a decision that they’d taken as part of the newly formed Sikkim Players Association, and one that, Lamichanay says, took even the SCA by surprise.

“It was purely our call. The president was happy to hear it. Cricket was coming back after so many years. Three professionals would have meant three of our local players missing out. We didn’t want a single one,” adds Lamichanay, who works as a field assistant promoting organic farming for the Sikkim government’s department of horticulture.

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Sikkim lost their opening game to Manipur rather meekly, being bowled out for 84 while batting first. They came back stronger in their next match against Arunachal Pradesh, posting a score of 257/7 while chasing 307. Along the way, Lamichanay became the first Sikkim batsman to score a century. The motley crew made up of a bunch of government employees, three police personnel including a sub-inspector, a former musician and a grizzled veteran though have brought a refreshing charm to the tournament, which has been highlighted mainly by facile performances by outstation players or controversies involving their inclusion.

Lee Yang Lepcha, a key batsman of the side, echoes his skipper’s “keeping it local” view. Lepcha, like Lamichanay, represented his state in all age-categories before taking up a government job, in the ministry of women and child development. He too only gets to play cricket only Sundays or on public holidays and reveals how that’d been the case since 2012.

Festive offer

“Cricket had come to a pause, and stagnated over the last six years. Tennis-ball tournaments had taken over, but even those were too spread out for us to leave work and travel. Some of us kept our own interest alive, so we didn’t want anyone from outside. We might not perform now, but this team will gradually improve. We know we are the best we can produce,” says Lepcha. “But no team can match us in terms of unity. We don’t need any bonding sessions. We all come from a town where everyone knows everyone,” he adds.

It was this “unity” that helped the Sikkim players cope with the sudden expectation of transforming themselves from “amateurs who tried to play professionally” — in Lamichanay’s words — to actually encountering professionals at a level they’d never imagined playing at. Unlike some of their north-eastern neighbours, they didn’t even have the time or opportunity for a formal camp.

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While their respective employers, according to the two, were more than happy to accept their lengthy leave applications; the players themselves hadn’t been away from home or work for this long.

“The last time Nilesh and I went out of town for a cricket tournament was in 2012 to Chattisgarh, where we would get junk food from the canteen. This was totally different. Nice hotel, thanks to the BCCI, and such a professional setting,” says Lepcha.

In Lamichanay’s cute confession though, it was sighting Arjun Tendulkar, who was in Baroda with the Mumbai under-19 squad, at the same hotel that he was checking into, which got him most excited

“The son of the god of cricket is in the same hotel as us? I told the boys, now it’s time to get professional. Whatever we lacked back home, we leave it there,” the captain says.

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The Vijay Hazare Trophy though is, if anything, a teaser of what’s to come for the Sikkim players for the rest of the year. In a months’ time, they’ll all be donning whites and taking their maiden bows in the Ranji Trophy. Or as Lepcha puts it, “The Ranji Trophy! Wow, that’s totally another level, boss.”

In comparison to the four weeks in Gujarat, Lamichanay and his eager crew will be criss-crossing the country, and also hosting teams at their adopted home in Bhubaneshwar. Lepcha admits to already being in a dilemma with regards to his future in his full-time job, where he works towards prevention of child labour, finding missing children and stopping child marriages among other vital responsibilities.

“Six months on the road, and then I’ll want to work on my skills in the off-season too. Cricket becomes a profession, once you’re at this level. I will have to take a call,” he says while joking about being unsure of what he’ll do with the money that professional cricket will bring in.

What Lepcha and Lamichanay are sure of though is the inspiration that they’ve already been to an entire generation of budding cricketers back home as pioneers of the sport in Sikkim, especially since they’ve done so with no external or “professional” help.

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First uploaded on: 23-09-2018 at 03:33 IST
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