Inside the lives of the world's first Street Child Cricket World Cup champions

The Mumbai contingent of the champion cricket team has had to overcome various obstacles to clock in the win at Lord’s

Jun 10, 2019, 17:53 IST1 min

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Mani Ratinam, or Surya as he is known locally, runs in to catch a ball during practice. The 17-year-old wants to become a cricketer, like his idol Sachin Tendulkar, and is looking for a club to take him in. Ratinam lost his father when he was two, and has since been brought up by his mother, a cleaner in a local school, and his three sisters. He does have his share of banter and the fight over the remote control with his sisters, but says the sisters have given in to watching cricket with him. The area has an hourly water supply during the day, between 12 and 1 pm, and Ratinam has taken up the responsibility of filling buckets while his mother and sisters are away at work. Once done with household chores, he meets his friends at a local hangout where they play PUBG on their phones. Once out of data, they all head to the local ground for a game of cricket.

Image by Forbes

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Mayavan all set to play a match with her brothers and friends. They are often cramped for space at the dingy, labyrinthine lanes in her neighbourhood, with fears of electrocution from a mesh of exposed wires lurking overhead—but trooping out to the local ground in sportswear would invite snide comments from her neighbours. She hopes her trip to the UK and victory at the Street Child World Cup would help her change such conservative mindsets.

Image by Forbes

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(From left) Irfan (with his back towards the camera), Mayavan, Irfan’s mother, Mayavan’s mother, Mayavan and Ratinam hang out after a gym session.

Image by Forbes