Youth from the city have formed a group of students for spreading the awareness about AIDS &HIV through cricket! The cricket team is named as Take 10 and the awareness campaign is named as Condom Cricket Campaign.

This campaign is initiated by the city based NGO ‘Wake Up Pune’ in collaboration with the Staying Alive Foundation and MTV. Their first match of this kind was already held on 16th Nov. at the railway ground, near Tadiwala.

The concept is very interesting as they have classified categories to make clear the campaign concepts. For instance, ‘YOU’ and ‘ME’, i.e. citizens, represented by the batsman remain at the crease protecting ‘HEALTH’, represented by the wicket. ‘HIV’ is represented by the bowler, and the ‘CONDOM’ represents the bat. Every team has a maximum of five bowlers, and the rest of the fielding side wears vests with names of opportunistic infections printed in bold letters on them like pneumonia, diarrhea, herpes, skin infections, tuberculosis. The wicket keeper, signifying tuberculosis is the leading opportunistic infection in the context of HIV. The batsmen get out if they are caught behind by tuberculosis or by pneumonia in the slips, or run out by herpes fielding at extra cover. The winning team is awarded the Disha Condom Cricket Challenge Trophy

said Avinash C.

While speaking to the media he said that campaigns like this make people more aware and cautious of the AIDS and HIV. He also said that Cricket encourages people to join the cause and hence it will spread the awareness all over the city, says Avinash Chakranarayan, the umpire for the match.

Cricket is something people can enjoy and the whole concept of safe sex sinks in better this way. I’m also asked questions by the team members which I am happy to answer

Aditya Singh, member of the Ullasnagar Cricket Club, says

We like the concept too. We love to play cricket but it’s even better if there is a cause attached to it. Even actors and other artists perform and organize entertainment functions to create awareness for Aids. It is a great way to get the attention of people, which is the first step, to educate them on the subject in a light and fun way.

We get a reality check of the rapid spread of HIV in the city. Everyone must know how to protect themselves from it . This condom cricket is a fantastic way to create this awareness in the minds of the youth.

shares Raju Hammure, a member of the Maharashtra Cricket Club.