(L to R) Suriya, Ashish Shelar, Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Amol Kale and Suraj Samat.
Image: Avinash Gowarikar
A talent hunt in Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum, in 2021 sowed the seeds of a private tennis ball cricket league among some eminent stakeholders of the game. Enthused by the talent on display—some of whom were eventually given an opportunity to play club cricket in Mumbai—Amol Kale, president of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), conceptualised a plan to take these cricketers from the street to the stadium. The result is the Indian Street Premier League (ISPL), a 10-over tennis ball tournament, that starts on Wednesday.