Ravi Shastri’s Thumbs Up To Indian Street Premier League

The street-smart cricketer, as Ravi Shastri put it, finally has received a big boost to showcase his talent in a national-level tennis ball competition. Shastri, a right-hand bat who bowled left-arm spin and a winner of the 1983 Prudential World Cup, was on most occasions stoical and unyielding. He attributed his learnings during his fledgling days of playing tennis ball cricket at Mahim’s Navjivan Society, especially essaying inside-out shots over cover and extra cover (off-side field positions) as one of the reasons for him to tame leg spin wizard Shane Warne in the latter’s debut Test in Sydney in 1992. Shastri made 206. After being in the game for over four decades — as a player, coach and media personality, Shastri believes that a cricketer learns to be street smart in building compounds, leafy streets, and maidans in the Indian subcontinent and also parts of the Middle East. This particular Mumbai and Indian characteristic is the reason for the founding of the Indian Street Premier League (ISPL).  The promoters are Ashish Shelar, a BJP bigwig in Mumbai and Maharashtra and BCCI Treasurer and Amol Kale, president, Mumbai Cricket Association. To start with six teams from Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Srinagar will play 19 matches from March 2 to 9 inside a stadium. A lot many things are not known, though; most importantly the player fee and prize money and plenty more!