New Delhi :

As the Beyond Reach Premier League (BRPL) continues to position tennis-ball cricket within a structured framework, former Indian cricketer Robin Uthappa shared his reflections on how the format shaped his own journey as a batter.

Recalling his childhood days, Uthappa highlighted how tennis-ball cricket was more than just a pastime; it was foundational to his development as a batter, according to a release.

“I’ve played different forms of tennis-ball cricket. We’ve played leg cricket, hand cricket, and cricket in small 30-40 yard spaces,” Uthappa said during a conversation with Sushil Sharma, Co-Founder & CEO of BRPL.

“We had a road on the off side, a road on the leg side, and houses in front and behind. You could score only on the roads, and if you wanted to hit a four or six, you had to clear the house in front, which even had a window pane,” he added.

According to Uthappa, those unconventional playing conditions directly shaped his batting strengths.

“By virtue of playing there, my game developed in that fashion. I like playing down the ‘V’, hitting straight over the top. My attacking shots are always straight, trying to put your foot in long-off and long-on. That instinct was built by playing tennis-ball cricket,” he explained.

He further emphasised that tennis-ball cricket is far more technical than many assume.

“It depends on the kind of tennis ball you’re playing with. Some are dense, some less dense, and the lighter ones are actually harder to hit. Today, you even get tennis-ball bats. There’s a whole science to this. It’s not just haphazard anymore,” said Uthappa.

BRPL is open to aspiring and semi-professional cricketers aged 18-40, welcoming participants from 28 states and 8 Union Territories across India. (ANI)

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source: http://www.tribuneindia.com / The Tribune / Home> Sports / by ANI / March 01st, 2026

As guests leave Poomaale, Sunith Reddy hopes they’ll take back a new appreciation for nature and a sense of comfort in the wild; he wants to ‘rewild the human.’

Poomaale Estate offers a chance to be part of a community that’s redefining the relationship between humans and the environment (Pic: Beforest.co/poomaale-2-0-collective)

In the heart of the Western Ghats, where the mist clings to ancient canopies and the soil breathes with life, Poomaale Estate, a collective managed by Beforest, is challenging the traditional boundaries between real estate, travel, agriculture, and conservation.

What began as a personal quest for ‘slow life‘ by Sunith Reddy, CEO and co-founder of Beforest, has evolved into a sophisticated ecological model. “I started thinking about growing my own food and watching the sunset,” Sunith tells HT Lifestyle, reflecting on his 2018 exit from the corporate world.

“But in reality, it was about fixing broken pipes and battling pests. I wondered: can life really flow? Can food grow on its own? That is how the idea of food forests captured my imagination,” he adds.

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A forest that works

Unlike traditional ‘protected areas’ that exclude human activity, Poomaale operates as a working forest. The estate balances a productive coffee plantation with strict conservation by mimicking natural cycles.

Sunith explains: “Imagine coffee as a living system. Instead of adding synthetic fertilisers, we use the nitrogen provided by leaves shed from the canopy trees. We connect the output of one element to the input of another. It moves from being a line to a circle.”

He shares that this ‘circular’ approach has yielded staggering ecological results:

⦿ 90 percent increase in the species richness indeX (SRI).

⦿ 50 percent of the estate dedicated exclusively to a ‘wilderness zone’.

⦿ Zero irrigation: The estate runs entirely on harvested surface water, offsetting approximately 12 million litres of water annually.

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The four returns of success

For Sunith, success isn’t measured just by coffee yields: Beforest utilises the ‘4 returns framework’ to monitor the landscape’s health over a 20-year generational timeline:

⦿ Return of inspiration: a sense of purpose in the land.

⦿ Return of social capital: rebuilding the fabric of local human connections.

⦿ Return of natural capital: enhancing biodiversity.

⦿ Return of financial capital: creating long-term, reliable income.

“Most of our rural landscapes are being depleted on all four fronts,” Sunith notes, pointing out that many villagers now aspire only to move to cities. “We want to reverse that. When a system spontaneously encourages these four capitals to grow, that is when Poomaale is successful,” he adds.

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Guardians of the land

The estate’s health is meticulously monitored by resident experts, including Aranya Bagchi, hospitality manager and naturalist. He says, “The presence of certain species indicates a healthy ecosystem.”

“Frogs have sensitive skin; their presence highlights a clean space. Similarly, having a diversity of dragonflies — the apex predators of the insect world — means our water is uncontaminated,” Aranya adds.

This commitment to the environment has turned Poomaale into a sanctuary for those fleeing urban exhaustion. In the Poomaale collective, living a forest-friendly life is not just about changing address, it is a shift from being a consumer to a steward of the land.

Dr Madhavi, a homeowner at Poomaale from Hyderabad, describes the move as a transition from a ‘suffocating concrete jungle to a serene jungle’.

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She says, “Buying property here was a profitable investment, gaining healthy life years as returns. It brings back childhood memories of grandparents’ homes. My future grandchildren will have similar memories in this pristine nature bed.”

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‘Rewilding’ the human

Ultimately, the goal of the Poomaale collective is more than just co-ownership; it is about intentional community. By integrating with local Kodava culture — including architecture modelled after traditional homes — the project seeks to foster a deep-seated gratitude for the land.

“We want to get guests used to the wild — the bees, the bugs, and the free-flowing water. A guest who was uncomfortable walking at night starts enjoying stargazing by day three. We don’t want to make this an escape from life, but life itself. Our entire agenda is to rewild the human,” Sunith concludes.

This article was produced following a three-day hosted stay at the Poomaale Estate in Coorg, upon editorial invitation

source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home / by Sanya Panwar / March 01st, 2026