Once the powerhouse of cricket in the region,the local DAV College,Sector 10 has fallen onto bad times during the last few years as it has failed to produce any name to reckon with in cricket. Once the undisputed champions for more than two decades in the region,DAV College has been struggling to make it to the semi-finals of the PU Inter-College Championship for the past five years,which truly is a sad reflection of a glorious past. The cricket infrastructure and the tradition,which has churned out famous players like Kapil Dev,Ashok Malhotra,Yograj Singh,Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh Mongia is in a shambles with nothing concrete being done to improve that. Most feel it has a lot to do with how the attitude of the college management has been changing towards the game. Former Indian cricketer and DAV College coach for more than twenty years,Yograj Singh is direct and frank in admitting where the fault lays: "The management has developed an ideology to extract money from the players and that is why other colleges have started capitalising on it. The reason why we ruled for so long was because the management took active part for the betterment of the players which isn't the case now. The college authorities have become far more complacent regarding the reputation of the college,which it has been carrying since more than 25 years. And no one is bothered." It may be recalled that the college authorities at that time gave the players the best of resources in the form of equipment,sports wing facilities and good practice conditions which eventually proved fruitful for the college itself. Former India player Dinesh Mongia has this to say when asked about the current situation: "When I got selected in the college,we were given good pitches for practice and equipment. Also we were given sports wing along with free diet that helped us practice even harder. I think the college authorities have stopped taking initiative and interest which needs to be revived. New players hesitate to take admission in the college because the management doesn't provide facilities like free admission,hostels and wing the way it used to. The players who come from far-flung areas are demanded high fees as a result of which these players have to move to other colleges. The DAV College authorities show their concern,yet you can feel a sense of helplessness too: "I think winning and losing are the two sides of a coin. There is never a monopoly in cricket as it is a very dicey sport but we are continuously providing better facilities to improve our standard and fighting hard to regain our lost glory," explains Satish Gandhi,Head of Physical Education Department of the college. Ram Asra,the DAVC groundsman for the past two decades,points out,"I have seen the time when players would practice for eight to ten hours everyday. The session would start at six in the morning and would stretch till evening. We all were always busy in preparing pitches for practice games. But these days the cricketers hardly practice in the afternoon. Those were glorious days for the college when there were those committed breed of cricketers." Former DAV College cricketer,Arun Tuli stands by what Asra feels: "I remember we had to perform in the practice matches played in the college before we were considered for the college side for inter-college and then in PU inter-university team. We were focused to bring the trophy back to the college every year. I think the boys don't give their 100 percent now as we used to deliver. They need someone to motivate them," says Tuli.
