Though they looked a little under prepared with the boys not having proper school jerseys, that did not stop them from playing their hearts out. They sported their school PT uniform with numbers written on them with coloured chalk.

With their coach Hardeep and sports in-charge Suresh Jamdade hurling instructions from the side lines, the tallest among the group _Dhagal Darshit found it difficult to match their expectations and ran around the field in desperation till he was called back to the bench.

Later, their free hit expert Neel Gala’s name was on the coaches short-list to be recalled. “He just knows to hit the ball hard,” said Hardeep, who called up Neel from the deep defence line and positioned him in the opposition ‘D’ to go for the free hits. It must be said that 11-year-old Neel gave his all to each of the free hits. “Batting in cricket is easy as I just have to stand and hit, but here my legs are aching as I have to run all over the ground,” pointed out the lad afterwards.

Though on slightly plump side, Neel was doing most of the running around and at the end of the day, holding the hockey stick tightly did leave him with red hands but he says, “I’m glad that we played better in the second half.”

Hardeep Singh explained, “There was hardly any time for us to practice, as the kids were away on an educational tour to Kerala for ten days. And Neel in particular, did not have much practice. Had he been regular, we would have done better.”

After conceding four goals in the first half when the defence were left missing any significant contribution from their goalkeeper, Shreyas Chheda BAK Swadhyay Bhavan, struggled to get going. Also in the second half, they did not change their sides and were asked by their opponents_Children Academy players to change their side.

Once they took up positions on the other side, their goalkeeper Chheda was found missing in action as he needed the help of two people to make him stand up in his protective gear. During the match, while kicking the ball he slid onto the ground and again could not get up. In his desperation he called out ‘umpire, referee’ while again confusing between the two sports.