A friendly pitch: How cricket found a home in Mizoram

Aizawl: An unusual sight could be witnessed at the Tlangnuam football field on a sunny afternoon in Aizawl while the midday heat was soaring high. A game of cricket was being played by a group of girls competing in a junior T20 tournament.

Cricket and Mizoram are rarely, if ever, mentioned in the same sentence. Football clearly remains the most favourite spectator sport here and in Lalremsiami, the state has also found a potential hockey icon.

But even locals may struggle to name Mizoram cricketers. 

That said, it isn’t as if it is an alien sport for the locals. While cricket has been played by the people of Mizoram since the 1970s, the sport’s popularity has grown in small waves compared to the more popular games......