INSIDE STORY: Dharamsala’s battle after losing India vs Pakistan

Barnaby Read 07:00 15/03/2016
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  • When the India vs Pakistan Super 10 fixture was taken away from Dharamsala, the region immediately felt the loss.

    Hotel bookings were quickly cancelled, while taxi drivers and restaurants were forced to reduce their expectations without the draw of the world’s most eagerly anticipated cricket match.

    For the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA), the developments have been bitterly disappointing.

    What irks the organisation most is that it was marginalised during the discussions with the PCB, BCCI and local government as to their suitability to host India and Pakistan, despite its own president, Anurag Thakur, also serving as BCCI secretary.

    “We were all waiting for that game to come here. As history has shown, that is the biggest one…everyone waits for that,” HPCA honorary secretary Vishal Marwaha told Sport360 from his office at the stadium.

    “We are sad that this has happened and financially, we have been hit badly. It’s a big financial loss, not only for the association, but the business community as well. Dharamsala is a small place. We were anticipating a huge amount of business – the kind that normally would only come in over the span of a year in these three days.”

    Those within the HPCA will not criticise the local government and do believe that the BCCI is supporting cricket in the region tremendously through finance and developing its young cricketers.

    Yet it is clear that the local government have sold them short, politics influencing sport in a way it never should, but always does, in India.

    “We were not very involved (in conversations with BCCI, PCB and local government). Definitely, we should have been an integral part of those discussions but unfortunately, we were left out,” added Marwaha.

    “We could have deliberated in a better way and explained the ground realities. Pakistan has already played here twice in the past and if you see interviews with Inzaman (ul-Haq), you will see he said this was a lovely place and very safe.

    “It’s odd but I don’t want to comment on the things beyond cricket. I don’t want to go into politics as I’m a cricket administrator. You can see in India that there wouldn’t be a better place to host that game. No other ground has the surroundings that we have.”

    The majority of the HPCA team are from the summer capital of Shimla, a place that dates back to the old British Raj occupancy in the 1800s, with the winter months seeing the majority of businesses operating out of Dharamsala.

    And although they have been left exasperated by what happened with the Pakistan fixture, those administrators along the halls of the stadium’s back offices remain focused on the task at hand and are determined to help the community through a number of initiatives.

    The HPCA has a band of 14 volunteers, ranging from cricket fanatics to journalism students, aiding Mohit Sood and his media team and gaining valuable experience of this kind of operation, while it is also rolling out the Prime Minister’s Swachh Bharat (Clean India) campaign that aims to educate young people.

    The ambition is to promote cleanliness and better hygiene in Himachal, with schools in the region already creating ambassadors for the project.

    “We wanted to do something for the society in Himachal. We are going into schools and telling people about how important cleanliness is. We plan to enrol 500 ambassadors across Himachal who go back into their families and communities and educate people about cleanliness,” said Sood.

    The early attendances haven’t been anything of note for the World Twenty20 qualifiers, but the stadium is swelling with personnel ready to cater to the needs of any individual that strolls through the two levels of security and into the ground.

    It is the same story in the rest of the Himachal Pradesh state – each and every member of staff is itching to help in whatever way they can.

    All-in-all, it is a team of “around 150” according to Marwaha, and their efforts are exemplified by the 38-man squad of groundstaff who have worked tirelessly across the final two matchdays in an attempt to get play going as the rain took hold.

    “My groundstaff, the men behind the scene are the real heroes,” said chief curator Sunil Chauhan, who is also a patron member of the BCCI grounds committee. “They can clear the pitch in just 40 minutes. All are trained and they look after all the grounds in Himachal Pradesh. We have world-class equipment here. We have Six Super soakers on the main ground and two more for the practice pitches.”

    Marwaha and Chauhan are prime examples of how this community feeds back into itself, with both working in various roles over the years within the HPCA.

    Chauhan had worked as treasurer and then in the admin offices before his “real passion” for curating was realised nine years ago, while Marwaha was a player in the state before heading its umpire panel and working up to treasurer and then secretary in a lifelong association with cricket in the region.

    They take great pride in their roles and in the cricket in this rural part of the world.

    There are four stadiums in total in Himachal and district academies run throughout the state, with the HPCA and BCCI investing significant funds in a bid to provide opportunities and equipment free of charge to budding cricketers in the region.

    While there are many positive noises coming from the HPCA staff around the ground, the loss of India vs Pakistan lingers in the fresh, mountain air.

    There is no getting away from the fact that for all the great work being done from grassroot level upwards, the HPCA has been damaged by its own government’s insistence on being unable to secure Pakistan’s safety.

    It has now been two years since Himachal hosted an IPL match and the culmination of the World T20 will see that extended to a third year.

    And if Indo-Pak cricketing ties are to be revived then Dharamsala will now be written off almost instantly.

    “We have grown in a very fast way over the past 15 years,” said Marwaha. “Before that we had struggled but we now have a good infrastructure, our players are flourishing and they’re getting the results as well.

    “We are on a growth journey. Good, professional infrastructure has boosted our cricket. More coaches and money have come in, and we have been able to grow in a fast way across the state.”

    For all that growth it is a concern that without IPL cricket, and now having been tarnished as a ground “too unsafe for India vs Pakistan”, that it could all go to waste.

    That would be a real problem if there weren’t such passionate people in place. As long as their desire remains, this stunning corner of the world will surely develop new India national team players to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Rishi Dhawan and Sushma Verma.

    “As a cricket fan, I am amazed to host this tournament and get people from all over the world who wouldn’t be here during a bilateral series,” Marwaha enthused.

    Hopefully, they will remain part of the bigger picture for years to come; these people and this stadium deserve to be pushed to the fore and recognised as a key part of Indian cricket.

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