NASHIK

Bail-gada shariyat, or bullock cart races, were once a common tradition across rural Maharashtra, including Nashik district. The races were banned in 2011, but in 2017, the State government enacted legislation to restart the races. However, the Bombay High Court stayed the legislation, and the Supreme Court initially declined to lift the stay, referring the matter to a larger bench. In 2021, the Supreme Court upheld the State’s legislation, thereby legalizing the races once more.

Similar games are played in Tamil Nadu, where it is known as ‘Jallikattu', also known as 'eruthazhuvuthal', and is played as part of the Pongal harvest festival. The Bail Gada shariyats of Maharashtra resemble the 'Kambala' race, held in Karnataka between November and March, which involves a pair of buffaloes tied to a plow and anchored by one person. They are made to run in parallel muddy tracks in a competition in which the fastest team wins.

Aaba Dhobi is a recreational game played by school-going children on a regular basis. It requires one spongy and soft ball, usually made by the children themselves. It is made by covering a small stone with layers of paper and sticking them together with tape or by stuffing cloth pieces inside a sock and then stitching the sock shut. The ball is expected to be soft but also untearable.

This game is played by 4 to 5 players within a marked area. All players must remain within this designated space during the game. It begins either by randomly throwing the ball into the area or by a chosen player throwing it at another player. The objective is to hit other players with the ball. Once hit, the ball is picked up by others, who then continue the game by trying to hit someone else.

Vish-Amrut, also known as "Lock and Key" or "Ice and Water" in some urban areas, is a traditional Indian children’s game cherished by kids aged 3 to 12. In this energetic game, one player takes on the role of the ‘denner,’ whose task is to chase and tag others by touching them and saying "Vish," meaning poison. Tagged players must freeze in place, unable to move.

The twist lies in the teamwork: free players can rescue their frozen teammates by touching them and saying "Amrut," meaning nectar, unfreezing them and bringing them back into play. The game continues until the denner successfully freezes all players, while the remaining free players try to outwit the denner by unfreezing each other.

Cricket is quite a popular game in the district. Inspired by the IPL, cricket leagues are frequently organized in every corner of India. In Nashik district, villages organize their own cricket tournaments and invite nearby villages with their teams to compete and win attractive cash prizes and trophies. Jaikheda Premier League, Askheda Premier, and other local leagues are organized in various villages across the district,  depending upon the availability of enough appropriate space for the tournaments to be held.

Nashik also has a number of turfs and training facilities where children play and learn cricket. The Nashik District Cricket Association has been instrumental in the development of the sport. Notably, Rasika Shinde, a native of Nashik, currently plays in the Maharashtra U-23 Women's Cricket Team. The Anant Kanhere Maidan (formerly Golf Club Ground) in Nashik also hosts various tournaments and matches from time to time.

Football has seen a rise in popularity in recent years, though its fame remains limited to urban spaces. The Football Association of Nashik currently has 65 players registered under it. In addition to this, various other privately owned clubs and turfs in Nashik city provide the necessary space needed for professional and non-professional players to play. The Football Association of Nashik and the Nashik City FC are the only AIFF-certified clubs in the district that train players.

Skating is yet another sport that has risen in popularity in recent years. Multiple players from Nashik have won and secured positions in State level competitions that are organised by the Skating Association of Maharashtra.

Monika Athare, born on 26 March 1992 in Nashik, is a long-distance runner. She competed in the women's marathon at the 2017 World Championships in athletics. She had to take a break in 2019 due to a cartilage injury, but she returned to the sport in 2020 when she won a bronze in the Women’s half-marathon at the Tata Mumbai Marathon 2020.

Pratik Shrikant Athavale, born on 20 April 1997 in Nashik, is an Omani cricket player. He played as a wicket keeper as Oman reached the semi-finals of the ACC Men’s Premier T20I Cup in April 2024. He opened the innings in the final against Nepal as Oman won the competition.

In May 2024, he was subsequently selected to represent Oman at the 2024 World Cup in the United States and the West Indies. It marks his debut global tournament for his country. He made his World Cup debut in Oman's second match of the tournament against Australia.

Satyajeet Bachhav, born on 28 November 1992 in Nashik, is a cricket player. He made his T20 debut for Maharashtra in the 2015–16 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2016 and his List A debut in the 2016–17 Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2017. He was the joint-leading wicket-taker for Maharashtra in the 2018–19 Vijay Hazare Trophy, with fifteen dismissals in eight matches. He was also the leading wicket-taker for Maharashtra in the 2018–19 Ranji Trophy, with 28 dismissals in seven matches. He finished the 2018–19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as the leading wicket-taker in the tournament, with twenty dismissals in twelve matches.

Vidit Gujrathi, born on 24 October 1994 in Nashik, is the 30th Indian Chess Grandmaster. He did his early schooling at Fravashi Academy and was coached in chess from an early age. In 2006, he finished second in the Asian Youth Championships in the U12 category, thus receiving the title of FIDE Master. In 2008, he won the World Youth Chess Championship in the Open U14 section, the first Indian to do so. He scored 9 points out of a possible 11, clinching his final norm to become an International Master. In the World Junior Chess Championship in Chennai in 2011, held for U20 players, Vidit finished with 8 points out of 11, thus gaining his first GM norm.

In 2013, Vidit won a bronze medal in the World Junior Chess Championship in Turkey in the Junior (U20) category. Vidit finished third in the Hyderabad International Grandmasters chess tournament in 2013, winning Rs 150,000. He passed the 2600 rating threshold on the January 2014 rating list. Vidit's equal third at the 2015 Asian Chess Championship qualified him for the Chess World Cup 2015, where he was eliminated in the first round. He is the fourth Indian player to have crossed the Elo rating of 2700. He is a double gold medalist at the Chess Olympiad. He is also a silver medalist at the Asian Games. He became the third Indian to qualify for the candidates' tournament by winning Grand Swiss 2023.

Mohinder Lal was born on 1 June 1936 in the Saharanpur locality of Nashik. He played in the Indian Hockey team for two consecutive Summer Olympics of 1960, Roma, where he won a Gold medal with his team, and a Silver medal in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Mohinder Lal passed away at the age of 68 on 29 July 2004 in Spain, where he had settled after retiring from the Indian Railways. In Spain, he also worked as the coach of Real Club de Polo, Barcelona, for many years.

Prakashi Malve was born on 13 January 1948 in Nashik. He was a right-handed batsman and right-arm fast bowler who played for Maharashtra. Malve made a single first-class appearance for the side during the 1971–72 season, against Saurashtra. He did not bat in either innings in the match. He bowled 4 overs in the match, conceding 12 runs.

Madhavi Krishnaji Mantri, born on 1 September 1921 in Nashik, was a cricketer who played in four Test matches between 1951 and 1955. He was a right-handed opening batsman and specialist wicket-keeper who represented Mumbai. He captained Mumbai to victory in three Ranji Trophy finals: 1951–52, 1955–56, and 1956–57. He captained Associated Cement Company to victory in the Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup Tournament in 1962–63. Mantri played his first Test against England in India in 1951–52 and toured England with the Indian team in 1952 (playing two Tests), and Pakistan in 1954–55 (one Test). His highest score was 200 for Mumbai in their victory over Maharashtra in a semi-final of the Ranji Trophy in 1948–49. It was the highest of nine centuries in a match in which 2376 runs were scored, which is still a record in first-class cricket. Mantri was the uncle of former Indian cricket captain Sunil Gavaskar and former India batsman Gundappa Viswanath.

Until his death, he lived in the Hindu Colony in Dadar, Mumbai, and was the oldest living Indian Test cricketer. He suffered a heart attack on 1 May 2014 and was hospitalized at a private clinic. He died following another heart attack on 23 May 2014.

Rameshchandra Gangaram "Bapu" Nadkarni, born on 4 April 1933 in Nashik, was an international cricket player. Known for being an economical bowler, Nadkarni was famous for bowling an unerring line to batsmen, which made it nearly impossible to score. It is often said that he used to put a coin on the pitch when he practiced in the nets and would practice hitting the coin with every delivery. Nadkarni was perhaps best known for his bowling in the Madras Test against England in 1963–64. Nadkarni represented Maharashtra in the Ranji Trophy from 1951–52 to 1959-60 and Bombay thereafter until 1967–68. He went on to work as the national team's assistant manager and was a mentor to Sunil Gavaskar.

Kavita Tungar (Raut) was born on 9 December 1985 in an indigenous family in Sawarpada, a village near Harsul, Nashik. She is a long-distance runner and holds the current national record for 10 km road running with a timing of 34:32, as well as the current national record in the half-marathon (~21 km) with a timing of 1:12:50. Raut won a Bronze medal at the 2009 Asian Athletics Championships held at Guangzhou, China. She won the bronze medal in the 10,000 meters (or 10 km) race at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the first individual track medal by an Indian woman athlete at the Commonwealth Games. She also won the silver medal in the 10,000-meter race at the 2010 Asian Games.  She started the following season with a 5,000/10,000 meters double at the 2011 National Games of India, setting Games records in both events. Tungar received the Arjuna Award in 2012 and the Suvarnaratna Award in 2015. In 2016, she won a Gold medal at the Guwahati South Asian Games.  She went on to participate in the 2016 Rio Olympics, though she wasn’t able to record a win and finished 120th in a batch of 150 runners. She was then employed by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). Kavita is fondly known as the 'Savarpada Express'.

Nikhil Pingle is a figure skater, born on 29 June 1999 in Nashik. He started skating at the age of 7. He started with recreational skating and transitioned into competitive speed skating for 4 years. His experiences with speed skating made way for artistic roller skating. It led him to pursue figure skating, where he has competed in several tournaments, including the 2017 Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan.

Anant Kanhere Maidan, formerly known as the Golf Club Ground, is a cricket ground in Nashik. The ground is named after Hutatma Anant Kanhere, a freedom fighter from Nasik. The ground has various sports facilities which include a jogging track, cricket stadium, and a sports complex. Between the dispute over the Nehru Stadium in Pune until the new stadium was constructed in Pune, this ground served as the home ground for the Maharashtra cricket team.

The ground has hosted matches of the Polly Umrigar Trophy, Vijay Merchant Trophy, CK Nayudu Trophy, and Cooch Behar Trophy since the 2003/04 season. The ground also hosted a match between Bangladesh and Maharashtra under-22s in September 2009. They included Bangladeshi stars like Rajin Saleh, Imrul Kayes, Suhrawadi Shuvo, etc. The ground also hosted the semi-final of the 2010/11 Ranji Trophy season between Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The match was drawn, but Rajasthan won by first first-innings lead. The ground is one of the few grounds in India that has registered two or triple centuries.

Nashik has a few other large stadiums, such as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Stadium in Uttam Nagar and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Cricket Ground in Rane Nagar. The Nashik Municipal Corporation has also planned on building an International Cricket Stadium sprawled over an area of 35 acres. The project is under the architect Dhananjay Pawar and will cost the Corporation around Rs. 180 crore. The stadium, after being built, would have a capacity of 25,000 and would be equipped with world-class facilities.