Prisoners & lawyers play ball in Sabarmati jail!

They gave their best. Yet, the inmates of the Ahmedabad Central Jail, Sabarmati, were no match for the long arm of the law, even on a cricket pitch. In a special Twenty-20 (T20) match held on Saturday morning, lawyers of the district and sessions court trumped the prisoners by 25 runs.

The sporting event — which began at around 9.35 am — was jointly organised by the jail authorities and members of the Ahmedabad District Bar Association. District judge SV Thakkar played a few knocks to throw open the match, where he was joined by jail superintendent (SP) RS Bhagora, advocates BM Gupta, JJ Patel, Anil Kella and Rajendra Parikh. Jail SP (administration) RS Bhuriya and DySP Prashant Gohil were also present at the event.

The match was part of the inmate reforms programme and, according to Gohil, its aim was to bring a sense of focus for the participants through physical activity and team work. And, that was amply displayed at the Jail Staff Training School ground, where the match was held.

Incidentally, renowned former Test cricketer Surinder Amarnath and his son Digvijay had trained the inmates for a week prior to the match.

The inmates showed splendid form despite very little practice. There was a lot of friendly banter on the pitch as well. In one such instance, a member of the prisoners’ team was heard telling his teammate not to bowl fast. “If you hurt a lawyer, it’ll be difficult for you to get bail,” he chuckled.

Batting first, the lawyers scored 164 runs in 20 overs. In reply, the inmates were bundled out for 139 runs — 25 short of the target. However, an inmate, named Mahesh, was still named man of the match, while three others were also feted for their bowling performance.