Jacob Martin to lead Tihar's pro cricket squad

Martin, a former India player, has secured a berth in Tihar's professional cricket squad, that has been pitted against a team from popular radio station Red FM here tomorrow. Also, Santosh Kumar Singh, the main convict in Priyadarshani Matoo rape and murder case, has procured a place in the playing eleven.

A joint initiative of the jail authorities and Divya Jyoti Jagrati Sansthan, an NGO working inside the jail, the team of inmates is named as "Divya Jyoti's Tihar 11".

"We are training the inmates in cricket as a tool to make them learn a lot of positive aspects associated with the game. Team-work, focused approach and crisis management skills are also being imparted to the inmates, employing cricket as a medium," says Swami Vishalanand, spokesperson, DJJS.

Radio Jockey Ronak would lead the opponent team Red FM at the home-ground of Tihar. The radio station has come up with a squad of 12 players, including five Red FM employees, six from its listeners and one woman player.

"We invited entries from our listeners to be a part of our cricket team as they should also get a chance to connect to those behind the bars. Surprisingly, we got over 5000 entries a day," informs Ronak.

Team Red FM would also have popular radio jockeys Kabir and Shanky-Panky.
"The team will take a short-training session from Sanjay Bhardwaj, who is the coach of India cricket star Gautam Gambhir," adds Ronak.

DJJS has approached several other corporate houses inviting them to send their teams to play Tihar squad in the premises of the largest jail in Asia