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Tales of grit and glory: the lives of Mumbai’s slumdog cricket World Cup heroes
- Defying the odds, a team of teenagers from India’s marginalised urban communities won the Street Child Cricket World Cup in England
- Though the event gave the poverty-stricken children an opportunity to shine, the cricket-crazy nation has largely forgotten about them
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Mohamed Irfan was not even in the final eight that played in that game. Yet, the announcement on the flight back home still rings in his ears.
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“Suddenly, the pilot announced that there were world cup-winning champions travelling on the flight and told everyone about our win,” the 15-year-old said with a wide grin.
Other passengers clapped and smiled at them after the announcement.
Two months ago, Irfan, the son of a tailor, who stitches bags in a shanty town on the fringes of Mumbai, along with his motley team – all of them children from similar slum communities in India’s financial capital and the southern city of Chennai – lived a dream.
The youngsters were crowned champions of the Street Child Cricket World Cup at the Lord’s stadium in London on May 7.
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