At 6:15 AM every weekday, before the local trains at Dadar Station reach their deafening crescendo, the distinctive thwack of leather meeting English willow echoes across the 28-acre expanse of Shivaji Park.

Here, seven matches occur simultaneously with outfielders dodging fielders from adjacent wickets. This sensory bedlam breeds an uncanny spatial awareness: you learn to hit along the carpet, because an aerial shot might injure a spectator on the perimeter stone wall.