Inaya smiled widely, hugged her Daadi, whispered a thank you and raced out of the door.

Nabeel Said, an attractive woman in her forties, was dressed in an elegant shalwar kurta, with a jamavar stole wrapped around her head. She walked to the middle of the cricket pitch tossing the tape-ball high up into the air and catching it expertly, which seemed almost as incongruous a spectacle as having a llama wander into a local department store.

Nabeel stopped in the centre of the field where the three dozen or so girls had gathered for the trials of the tape-ball league. Standing at the back of the group, Inaya watched her keenly. Nabeel looked at their anxious but excited faces and smiled.

‘I cannot tell you how happy it makes me to see you all here today. And even before the trials begin, I want to tell you that each and everyone one of you is a hero. Just for coming this far. Because I know the courage it takes to break through the walls we’re up against.’

The girls gaped at her in unadulterated awe.

‘But,’ she continued, ‘together, we’ll tear those walls down. Bit by bit. Won’t we?’

The girls looked at each other and mumbled a feeble ‘yes’. ‘My grandmother’s old nanny goat has more enthusiasm than that, girls. Come on, let’s have some junoon here. Won’t we?’

The girls grinned and produced a resounding ‘yes!’

‘That’s the spirit,’ smiled Nabeel. ‘Let’s quickly go over the rules for the league tournament. The league format will be eleven-a-side, eight-overs per innings with no fielding restrictions. No bowler can bowl more than two overs. As you all know, there is no leg before wicket rule in tape-ball.’

Nabeel tossed the ball to one of the girls and cupped her hands, indicating that she should throw it back to her. As she tossed the ball to one girl after another, Nabeel kept speaking.

‘A few tips, for what they’re worth, from someone who has never had the chance to play but has loved the game. Can I bore you with them?’ The girls nodded eagerly, unused to anyone actually bothering to help them with their tape-ball cricket, in any way whatsoever.

‘Okay, so you can defend 12 an over, but 15 is better and you should aim for scoring 20,’ said Nabeel. ‘We all know that tape-ball cricket favours the batter given the shorter boundaries and the fact that one can’t really get the ball to spin, but a tape-ball can be made to swing both conventionally and in reverse, especially as it gets older. So, I’d like to see all you bowlers work on your pace to get your yorkers right—we want them to be blindingly fast and late-swinging. But, watch out for the pitfalls. Don’t let tape-ball tempt you into using a slinging action. Else, you’ll be disqualified from the league.’

The girls looked at each other, nervous about the high expectations of them and overawed by the attention they were getting from this very accomplished lady, who was a celebrity in her own right.