Randos – Meghalaya – Bharatiya Khel

Material Required

Four big stones – approximately of football size
A wooden bat
A Rubber ball

Playing Method

This game is played between two groups comprising nine members in each. Four stones are required to be kept in four corners forming a boundary. Distance between two stones should be approximately of 10-12 feet. Players of one of the teams have to stand outside the stone boundary according to their convenience. One member of the opponent team needs to come with a bat near the starting point inside the boundary as decided by the teams before.

Now, any of the players who are standing outside the boundary, has to throw a ball to the batsman. The batsman has to try to strike the ball and throw it far away.

After the strike, the batsman runs fast to all the four stones by touching the stones with the bat and again has to return to the starting point where he/she was. If the batsman can complete till this then it is considered one complete run and counted as one score.

If the batsman cannot hit the ball, the opponent player has to throw the ball again. Without hitting the ball the batsman is not allowed for taking run.

The opponent players try to make the batsman out by collecting and throwing the ball as quickly as possible to the stone to which the batsman is approaching. If the ball hits the stone before the arrival of the batsman then the batsman will be out.

While throwing the ball the opponent player can pass the ball to the other who is closer to the boundary. While passing/throwing the ball if the players of the opponent team miss the target, seeing the risk the batsman can again go for second round and if he/she succeeds will get the score.

The batsman continues to play until he/she is out. In this way the game continues till all the players of the first team is out.

Now the second team has to come for batting. At the end of batting of both the teams, they count the total runs of each team and the team whose scores are more will be winner. This game is generally played by the children in the age group of 6-8 years and above.

Children, while playing casually, they play with few players and use bamboo or any stick as bat. If they do not find a rubber ball, they use paper ball or straw ball or alike.