new delhi hidden amidst the glass skyscrapers and chaos of delhi ncr are tiny pockets of peace and sheer ingenuity while most tech startups are burning investor money in glitzy offices trying to break even a handful of farmers in this dry region are scripting a brilliant home run by turning their agricultural land into highquality cricket groundsat first glance anybody might mistake these grounds for their distant cousins in the quaint counties of uk several are professionally managed and come equipped with showers canteens and floodlights the basic requirements of any weekend warrior in his 40s who burns data on his phone watching joe root play cover drivestake for instance ayush sohni he leafs through cases at a reputed law firm in the capital during the week and spends his weekend playing twenty20 matches on the outskirts of gurgaonand like sohni thousands of wellheeled professionals from all walks of life converge on these grounds on weekends to get a break from their sedentary lives and pursue their love of the gameearlier we played mostly in delhi but over the last two years many people have started coming to gurgaon to play as there are plenty of grounds here said sohni getting preferred slots is easier tooa single such ground can host three matches per day and five if it boasts floodlights a match can cost between rs 3500 and rs 7000 for a team daynight games are costlier and the asking price for a match could be double that amount this amount covers the cost of balls and fees of umpires however one has to pay for everything else be it a bowl of maggi a bottle of gatorade or cigarettesonce wheat farmers now cricket lordsone such area which is crowded with cricket grounds is baliyawas on the gurgaonfaridabad road these were earlier mustard and wheat farms but profit was hard to come by as labour and other costs heavily outweighed the returnssarjoj is a landlord in baliyawas and owns several grounds talking about his decision to move away from farming and lease out his land for cricket he said the land here isnt very fertile and the output wasnt much then a few years ago some excricketers approached us with the idea of turning land into grounds and that is how the trend startedcurrently most grounds have turned into welloiled ecosystems that support the village folk groundsmen umpires cooks and professional playersonrent have found access to steady income as matches and tournaments are played around the yearwe have to train for seven to eight months before we can get a job as an umpire said 20yearold college student rakesh harshana who umpires in corporate matches over the weekend we go online and watch youtube google and highlights of old matches to enhance our understanding of umpiringncr has some good cricket grounds that have come up in the last few years i hope similar ones come up in other cities says binwant sehgal an email who works in sportswear