Gully Se Pitch Tak | Make cricket dreams turn into reality for 6000 children studying in slum communities in Maharashtra

The Indian Women's Cricket team won Gold at the Asian Games on September 25.

Imagine this: Zara (name changed) is a 19-year-old cricketer born and raised in Malwani, the second-largest slum in Mumbai. And Zara helped her country win GOLD at the Asian Games. Her journey from the gullies to the pitch will warm your hearts.

In Grade 5, attending a low-fee private school in her community, Zara discovered her love for cricket. She excelled in both bowling and batting, making her mark in local tournaments. Her talent propelled her to district-level matches, state representation, and ultimately to the national level. She impressed one of the selectors at nationals and made it to the Indian Women’s Cricket team in 2020 when she was 16. Zara played a brilliant knock at the Asian Games, and was instrumental in getting her team across the line to win gold for the first time since cricket became a medal sport at the Asian Games.

Imagine this: Zara would be the first woman to have become a cricketer from her neighborhood in Malwani. How? You must wonder. She was greeted with an opportunity called ‘The Right Pitch (TRP)’, in Grade 5. The Right Pitch connected her with Subhankar Bhaiya, a dedicated Teach For India Fellow. Cricket became a catalyst for education, transforming a classroom with drug peddling issues and anger into a place where learning thrived.

The Right Pitch provided Zara with the tools, skills, and mentorship needed to progress from gully cricket to international tournaments. Zara’s story is our moonshot today, but our TRP team has been striving hard to get our players prepped to play at zonal, district, state, national, and international levels. 

Through TRP, we coach 6000 students aged 8 to 15 years like Zara from underprivileged communities in Mumbai and Pune, empowering them with cricket skills and essential 21st-century life skills like collaboration, critical thinking, and problem-solving.

Through The Right Pitch, students unlock access to:

• Engagement: 2 cricket sessions per week that enable them to learn sports & life skills
• Resources: such as cricket gear, jerseys, shoes, and fitness equipment to have fun and play safe. Each school is allotted a coach from their communities, who are role models - their Didis and Bhaiyas through life
• Opportunities: to participate in the annual TRP tournament (where all our kids are Champions), get advanced coaching, and represent their schools in external tournaments (like Zara)

The Right Pitch was born in a Teach For India classroom in 2015, continued as a student-driven model for 5 years, and was relaunched post the pandemic. So far, we’ve been able to:

• Train 5000+ children in life skills and sports
• 75% say cricket has helped them feel confident in their own skin
• 100% of our schools have reported an increase in attendance because of TRP
• 120 TRP students want to pursue cricket as a career
• Onboard 4 TRP students as coaches
• 1200 of them feel happy and proud to be TRP students

Here’s how you could help put a smile on their faces by helping TRP kids make it #GullysePitchTak:

1. Donate to our Campaign: Your contribution of just INR 500, equivalent to what you might spend to watch a cricket match screening, could help them participate in the annual TRP tournament.
2. Connect us to Cricketing Heroes: Help us connect with active or retired cricketers who can inspire and mentor our aspiring cricketers.
3. Support with Cricket Gear and Kits: Provide cricket equipment (bats, balls, stumps, nets, etc.) or kits (jerseys, bags, shoes) to equip our budding cricketers. We are open to receiving second-hand, good-quality equipment.
4. Connect us to Sports Brands and Corporates: Introduce us to sports brands like adidas, Nike, Decathlon, Puma that could sponsor our kits or make connections to corporates and foundations supporting life skills and sports-based initiatives.
5. Volunteer for TRP: Get involved by volunteering for The Right Pitch. Reach out to pallavi@therightpitch.org and alok@therightpitch.org for more information.

We will keep you updated with half-yearly reports and inspiring stories from the campaign in the updates section on Give. Your donation makes you eligible to receive 80G benefits. If you're a cricket enthusiast, we invite you to engage with our students at our TRP sessions in Mumbai (Malwani & Govandi). For any inquiries or a detailed proposal, contact us at ishani@theuniflycollective.com or sanskriti@theuniflycollective.com.

Help us spread the word about the campaign by sharing it with your circle! Stay connected with our students' TRP journey on Instagram and LinkedIn. Click here to see our kids happily dancing to DJ Bravo's Champion! Thank you for taking the time to support children #GullysePitchTak ✨🏏