BCCI acting president supports Rahul Dravid’s initiative to have vocational training for youngsters

Rahul Dravid’s role in the emergence of youngsters such as Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill, Shivam Mavi and other India A cricketers is highly visible. The former India batsman had earlier recommended the BCCI to start vocational courses to train budding U-16 cricketers in order to help them have a secure future.

Now, BCCI acting president CK Khanna has also voiced his support for such a plan to help young Indian cricketers grow on and off the pitch at an early stage in their career. The senior official opined that skills training, social conduct and troubleshooting ability should be imparted to all upcoming players coming through Indian cricket's talent pool.

As per a report in TOI, Khanna has prepared a draft proposal wherein he has specified five points on which BCCI could help the U-16 cricketers who are progressing well in their respective zonal circuits.

"There has been a growing trend in the past decade that a lot of young cricketers are solely focussing on the game and are ignoring academics and other aspects of life. I believe that with the kind of set-up we have, we can help a lot of youngsters in developing social skills.

"There are times when youngsters could get swayed by insane money that they get in IPL and probably lose focus. They get surrounded by sycophants from a young age and start living in a bubble. At times, their social conduct or media handling is at best deplorable and it is not their fault at all. This is our duty to inculcate in them a sense of responsibility when they wear that BCCI logo on their shirts. Being polite, courteous with people, treating women with respect, what exactly counts as an 'inappropriate behaviour' should be made clear to them in black and white," the acting BCCI president wrote as per TOI reports.