Gilli-Danda Game: History, Information, Rules
Gilli-Danda is an amateur sport played in the rural areas and small towns mainly in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan also played in some of the parts of Cambodia and Italy. The game is played with two sticks: a large one called a danda, which is used to hit a smaller one, the gilli.
Gilli Danda Information
Gilli Danda Sports is an ancient sport of India, possibly with origins over 2500 years ago. It is believed to be the origin of Western games such as cricket, baseball and softball.
As an amateur youth sport, gilli-danda has many regional variations. In some versions, the number of points a striker scores depends on howfar the gilli falls from the striking point. The distance is measured in terms of the length of the danda, or in some cases the length of the gilli. Scoring also depends on how many times the gilli was hit in the air in first strike. If it travels a certain distance with two mid-air strikes, the total points are doubled.
Gilli Danda Rules
It is usually played by using a small round stick, about as long as a baseball or cricket bat. This is the danda. There is another smaller stick, round in the middle and sharp at the ends. This is the gilli . The game gilli-danda is similar to cricket. In this game what you have to do is, using the danda, to hit hard on the gilli. This causes the gilli to flip and when in the air you have to smack it like you are playing cricket. The one who hits the gilli the farthest will win. Having struck the gilli, the player is required to run and touch a pre-agreed point outside the circle before the gilli is retrieved by an opponent. This aspect of the game is similar to runs in cricket or home-runs in baseball.
There is no such official number of players or teams. Gilli-danda can be played individually or between two teams.
