Kabaddi vs Cricket
Today's India is divided in many ways. But if there is one thing that unites it, it's Cricket. Indians are crazy about Cricket. From watching TV to arguing on WhatsApp and the Mumbai local trains, Indians spend more time on Cricket than on any other pursuit of life. Cricketers on Team India are some of the biggest celebrities in the country. Demi gods, actually. Equal in stature to the other demi-gods of India - Bollywood stars. Sometimes they marry each other. No doubt to produce divine children who will look very good while hitting sixes in movies about cricketers.
Divided By is a love story set in an imaginary India where Cricket has become the dominant religion. The sport-faith, much like the sport today, has many complex rules and rituals. It demands unquestioning loyalty from its fans, or rather devotees, who are called Cricketiyas.
In this alternate version of India there are other sport-faiths too. Kabaddi is one of them. The love story in Divided By is between a Cricketiya girl and a Kabaddiya boy.
To follow what's happening on stage, it is not necessary to be familiar with either sport. Worst that will happen is that you might miss some nuances of this imaginary world. But still, to help you get up to speed, here is a quick reference guide to Kabaddi. (We are going to assume that you have at least a passing familiarity with Cricket.)
Here goes.
Pawan Sehrawat, of the Bengaluru Bulls about to complete a raid.
Kabaddi is a simple game with very few rules and no requirement for gear. Every boy growing up in South Asia in the 70s and 80s, has played it or watched it being played. (Yes, boys. Girls played Kho Kho. This has changed in recent years. See below.)
What is Kabaddi?
Kabaddi is a contact team sport, played between two teams of seven players each. The objective of the game is for a single player on one team, the "raider", to run into the defending team's half of the court, tag out as many of their defenders as possible, and return to their own half of the court, all without being tackled by the defenders, and in a single breath. Points are scored tagged by the raider, while the opposing team earns a point for stopping the raider.
The origins of the sport are lost in the ancient history of India. There are mentions of it in texts that are thousands of years old. Iran also claims it for its own. It so happens, both countries are the leading exponents of Kabaddi.
Kabaddi is an exciting sport to watch. It now has a professional league. PKL, or the Professional Kabaddi League just completed its seventh season. TV viewership has rapidly risen. Not even close to Cricket yet, but the growth has been meteoric. Here are a few exciting moments from PKL.
Some trivia about Kabaddi.
Kabaddi has been an Asian Games sport since 1990. It is not an Olympic Sport, which is a big travesty of justice, in our opinion. It is a very watchable sport and belongs in the Olympics. Also, it is one of the few opportunities for India to get a gold medal in a team sport.
India has won every Asian Games gold medal for Kabaddi since 1990 except in 2018 when Iran took the gold and South Korea took silver. India does well in Women's Kabaddi too which was introduced in Asian Games in 2010.
PKL teams are dominated by Indian players. But it also has many international players from Iran and South Korea. Salaries for a short season can be as high as Rs. 1.45 crores or $200,000. Which is not a lot by IPL standards (India's professional cricket league), but is good money for a Kabaddi player who's only reward for playing on the national team may have been a job in the Indian Railways on a government salary.
Haryana is the state that provides the most Kabaddi players. Many of today’s Kabaddi players started training as wrestlers and then switched. Haryana, of course, has a deep tradition of wrestling. The Amir Khan movie Dangal was set in Haryana.
The most common last name in PKL is Narwal - a Haryanavi last name. The protagonist in Divided By, Pradeep, is named after one of the top raiders in PKL, Pardeep Narwal of Patna Pirates.
Season 7 of PKL, which ended last month, was won by Bengal Warriors, who defeated the favorites, Dabang Delhi in the finals. Naveen Kumar, the star raider of Delhi is just 19 years old.
So there you have it. The Quick Reference Guide to the sport of Kabaddi. Now come watch the play to find out who wins the Kabaddi vs Cricket match.