35 young cricketers from 16 different Commonwealth countries train under Rahul Dravid at NCA
35 young cricketers from 16 different Commonwealth countries got to interact with Indian legend Rahul Dravid at the NCA in Bengaluru as a part of a one-month training camp. This camp was initiated by the Indian Government and the BCCi to encourage youngsters to play cricket in the right spirit.
The young cricketers could not believe their luck as they got to train under Rahul Dravid at the NCA academy. The youngsters were from different age groups and countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Kenya, Rwanda, etc. 20-year-old Shafina Mahesh, who is the captain of the Singapore Women's cricket team, spoke about her experience and her goals in future and was extremely pleased to meet Rahul Dravid.
"Just seeing him (Dravid) around here every day is inspiring. I want to be like MS Dhoni. I'm a wicketkeeper. Wicketkeeping is what I've been focusing on here at this camp too," Shafina told ESPN Cricinfo.
The training camp was also monitored by other NCA coaches including Apurva Desai, Kalpana Venkatachar, T Dilip and Ragini Malhotra. They too worked with the youngsters and gave them valuable advice on different kinds of skill sets that they possessed. This camp was very important for the players as the infrastructure for cricket in their home countries is not of the same quality and the kind of mentorship provided to them in this camp may not have been provided to them back home. Rahul Dravid also gave his comments on providing experience to some of the youngsters who were very inexperienced.
"The passion and enthusiasm have been terrific. It's not easy for some of these boys and girls. Some are 12 and 13, most of them are under 16 years, they're leaving their country and coming for the first time to spend a month here. They probably didn't even know what to expect. Initially, I thought they might struggle but they have the enthusiasm, passion and the desire to play the game," Dravid told ESPNcricinfo.
Dravid was also happy with the involvement of the other coaches and was pleased to have their assistance in this camp.
"They're always in the indoors , throwing a tennis ball or something. It's been heartening. All the coaches have mentioned that they're happy with the response they've got from these boys and girls, which is all you can expect," he said.
14-year-old Namibian batsman Alexander Volschenk was absolutely astonished by the quality of facilities that were provided at the camp. He also compared it to the facility back home and expressed his pleasure to be present at this camp.
"It's a new experience to train here and learn. In my country, we practice on concrete pitches and not on turf. So when we actually go and play in South Africa or somewhere else, we're not used to any of that. When we bowl, we end up bowling wides, and we bat inconsistently. But here it's not that way. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience," he added.
The camp ended on October 30th. But Malaysian quick bowler Dhanusri Muhunan wanted it to last a bit longer. But she is happy with the experience and is looking forward to more such experiences in the future.
"To be honest I want this camp to be longer. But I hope they have another camp like this so the ones who've missed out also get a chance," she said.
Dravid was very happy to have worked with so many youngsters. He only hopes that the children take more experience with them than what they had come here with and he also hopes that the burning desire to play cricket remains alive within them forever.
"I just want them to take back the love for the game. Different people will take different things. Some of them might have had great facilities here but go back to no facilities or matches, but we can't control that. What we can control is for them to get a taste of what's it like to play cricket with such facilities and some improvement in some skills - be it fitness or anything. We'd be happy if there's some improvement somewhere. And hopefully some real love for the game, some friendships and good memories," Dravid concluded.
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