Shastri & co. call a new initiative; names it 'Cricket Coaching and Beyond'

Ravi Shastri, former Indian head coach along with former players like Bharat Arun and Ramakrishnan Sridhar launched a new initiative on Thursday (4 March 2022) in Secunderabad at St John’s Academy. 

The state-of-the-art indoor facility including a spacious gym and four unique pitches with different characteristics will provide a coaching programme to empower grassroots-level coaches across the country. 

‘Cricket Coaching and Beyond’ will be next launched in Chennai at the Omega International School. 

Shastri, Arun, and Sridhar-all of them were part of the Indian cricket coaching staff from 2014-to 2021 and have been part of some of the milestones achieved by the team. 

Dr Kinjal Suratwala, who was previously at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, will draw up the coaching programme.

"All of it started during the first lockdown. When there is knowledge, experience and talent and that kind of magnitude around, we thought, when once we finish our term, we should give it back to the grassroots level. So we got into a conversation and Arun and Sridhar being as passionate as they are about coaching, came on board. And then came the question of where it should be? And that is when John Manoj came in, and we are here now," the former Team India coach said.

He continued, "We have seen the facilities around the world and the curriculum that certified coaches get overseas. So there will be exchange programmes with our set up and theirs. The reason for having a dedicated programme for coaches is to empower them to have a strong cricket culture. So in that programme, he gets the opportunity to go and coach at the grassroots. They will gain first-hand experience and if they pass the test, one leads to another."

Bharat Arun explained how they target to share the knowledge at nominal and affordable fees. "We roped in Suratwala for our coach education programme because of the experience he brings. We want to give the coaching programme at an affordable and nominal fee. 

“We need close to 5 million coaches in India, but we have only 3500 qualified coaches. We are having online tutorials too, which will make it easy to access," the former bowling coach added.