Four children from Mumbai came to limelight after their team won the Street Child Cricket World Cup 2019 at Lord’s cricket ground. The first of its kind tournament was organised by United Kingdom, in which team India South emerged as winners after defeating the opposition England team in the final.
The India South team consisted of four children from Chennai and four of Mumbai. Shama Siddiqui, Mohammad Irfan, Bhavani Veerakannu and Ratnam were the ones who were from Mumbai. They belong to Cheeta Camp, a slum area in Mankhurd.
All the four children had never played in cold weather conditions or with plastic equipment before. They all were selected under a programme by Magic Bus, and travelled to UK to play the tournament. The other teams in the tournament were Team India North, Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, England, Mauritius, Nepal, West Indies and Tanzania.
“Seventeen-year-old Mani Ratnam from Mumbai hit the winning sixer in the final on May 8. Mani is a student of Class X and wants to become a cricketer. She is supported by his mother, a janitor at a local school,” a Magic Bus spokesperson said.
