India:India's dismal performance at the cricket World Cup has resulted in a village in northern Haryana state doing the unthinkable - banning the game that is akin to religion for tens of millions across the country.
The decision by the Uchana council in Jind district, 190km northwest of New Delhi, to boycott cricket is supported by 27 surrounding villages that have endorsed the embargo and are considering imposing one too.
Village elders infuriated with India's failure to make even the last eight in the tournament in the West Indies, and frustrated by the hype surrounding the non- performing cricketers, said yesterday that anyone opposing the ban faced social boycott. "We believe cricket is as bad for society as a disc jockey," council secretary Jogi Ram said. "A wise man once said that cricket is not our sport. We should race and play football and volleyball."
In conservative Haryana, DJs are associated with western licentiousness and frowned upon by rural elders who believe they are running their youth.
Locals privately concede that their principal reason for the ban was the poor overall performance of star India batsman Virender Sehwag who belongs to their state and had enjoyed iconic status before the World Cup debacle.
"We will play kabaddi [ tag], football, volleyball and wrestle instead, but we will not play cricket," a village boy emphatically declared.
