Amidst turmoil, Manipur nurses cricket dreams

Usually, taking two wickets against a strong North Zone would leave any 17-year-old bowler with a wide smile. But Jotin Singh's smile had a tinge of nervousness.

It was understandable too. The ethnic clash that brought Manipur to its knees had affected his preparations for the big assignment -- the Duleep Trophy.

The crisis is far from over, the tension is still in the air.

For the next three days, the Manipur youngster, who is playing for North East Zone, will have to forget about the turmoil back home and concentrate on the match against North Zone.

The ethnic clash that erupted last month, pitted the Meitei people, a majority that lives in the Imphal Valley, and the tribal community Kuki against each other.

"The situation at home is very bad. There is curfew and other restrictions, and you might have seen all of it in the news," Jotin, who took two wickets on the first day, says with a nervy smile.

It might have been overbearing for a boy of his age to leave behind his family to pursue his dream of playing cricket. The Manipur cricketers who have been selected to play in the Duleep Trophy had to travel to Dimapur in Nagaland for training.

"Since Manipur is under curfew, it is impossible for us to have net practice in Imphal. So, we had to travel to Nagaland to have a knock. It is tough and not an ideal preparation for a big tournament like this. But then that's our situation and we've had only about two weeks of training. We have to make the best out of it now," he said.

However, Jotin had a small advantage as his father, Rohindru, had set up a net at home. Rohindru runs a cricket academy in Imphal.

"It is not a big facility but during the curfew time I could have at least some game time," said Jotin.

Kishan Singha was another North East player who impressed on Day 1 as the left-arm spinner took two wickets. North Zone captain Jayant Yadavand centurion Dhruv Shorey were his victims. But at 26, Kishan has a more pragmatic view of his circumstances.

"What is happening at home is not ideal and we cannot forget it. But then we are here for the Duleep Trophy, which is a big tournament. If we can do well in this tournament then people will notice us and it is a good advertisement for cricket in our part of the country.

"We need to keep focusing on cricket. Our families and (Manipur) association have backed us a lot and made a lot of effort and sacrifices for us to play cricket. We cannot let them down," says Singha.

Their performance in the Duleep Trophy has another contour to it.

Manipur has a rich tradition of sport, and has produced some wonderful athletes in football, boxing and weightlifting. But cricket is yet to find a firm foothold in the state.

Now, they have done away with the system of inviting professional players from other states in order to give more chances to homegrown talents. North East coach Sonam Bhutia concurred with this policy.

"The guest players were invited with the object of giving a chance to our cricketers to interact with and learn from experienced pros. But we felt that it did not really meet its purpose.

"Now, we want to give as many chance as possible for our own players. Hopefully, they will learn from the experience of playing against big teams in domestic cricket," Bhutia said.

Manipur Cricket Association president Imo Rajkumar Singh echoed the sentiment.

"In the long run, we need our own player bank if we need to progress in the domestic circuit and we cannot rely on players from outside. For that, I think we need to give more chances to our players. The result is visible too as we have earned a promotion to the elite group next season(2023-24)," says Imo.

"We have identified some young cricketers who can take us forward and Jotin is one of them. He is a wonderful talent and we believe right exposure can spur him to the next level," he said.

Jotin made a brilliant start to his First-Class career when he bagged nine wickets in an innings on his debut against Sikkim. His 9 for 69 is the fourth best figure by an Indian debutant in First-Class cricket.

Ahead of him in the list are: Vasant Ranjane (9-35,Maharashtra vs Saurashtra 1956-57), Amarjith Singh (9-45, Kerala vs Andhra,1971-72) and Sanjay Yadav (9-52, Meghalaya vs Nagaland, 2019-20).

Riding on Jotin's effort, Manipur entered the Plate Group final earlier in January, defeating Sikkim, but they had lost to Bihar in the title clash.

The winner and runners-up of Plate Group earn promotion to the Elite Group the next season.

"If we can have a good season, then there will be a lot of attention on Manipur cricket. We might be able to improve our infrastructure as weather here is a big hindrance. Hopefully, normalcy too will be back by then in our state," says Imo.

They have the desire to move forward. Now, it is time for them to translate it into performance on the field.