For every youngster playing sport, playing and performing for the country should be the first dream and objective, said former wicketkeeper of the Indian cricket team Syed Mujtaba Hussain Kirmani.
Inaugurating a sports shop, Lucky Sports, here on Thursday, he said the young minds should realise the pride of playing for the country. “Other formats can follow later,” he said.
In a chat with The Hindu after the inauguration, the former cricketer who was part of the team that won the Prudential World Cup in 1983, said, “Every team or individual, irrespective of the sport that he or she plays, will have a good and a lean phase. It is only a cycle and every individual or team will bounce back. And the current form of the Indian team should not be a big concern and it is only a matter of time before they come back strongly.”
But having said so, the former cricketer was a bit critical about the last England and Australia tour. “We do not have a very good overseas record, but our performance was never that bad. The last two tours were disastrous as the entire top order failed.”
Hinting on how to overcome such setbacks, he said, “The soil plays a major role. The pitches in England, South Africa and Australia are much bouncier and faster, because of the soil. In open forums across the country, I have been saying that the BCCI should import soil from England and Australia to prepare tracks in India and make the players practise on such pitches before embarking on tours to those countries. But it seems to fall on deaf ears.”
On the future of IPL, he bounced back on a lighter note to say, “We do not know about tomorrow – how can I say anything about IPL's future.” But on a serious note he said, “IPL is here to stay and it has more positives than negatives.”
Talking of sporting gear, Kirmani pointed out that there is a lot of difference between the gear used during his playing days and at present. “The pads and the gloves are much lighter, flexible and stronger, when compared to our days. When it comes to the bats - it is all ‘touch and go' at present. In our days we always had to put in an extra effort to see the ball reach the fence,” said he.
Hasan of Lucky sports informed The Hindu that the 2,500 sft showroom located at Dwarakanagar houses almost all types of sporting gear and fitness equipment, across different sports.
“We have not restricted to just one brand. Ours is a multi-brand sports showroom,” he said.
MLA Malla Vijaya Prasad, former MLA S.A. Rehman and YSR Congress Party's City Convenor Vamsi Krishna Srinivas were present.
