How cricket gained a toehold in football country

Kerala has benefited from a well-conceived grassroots programme and improved facilities in the districts. Youngsters are taking to the game, and the State’s junior teams are now among the best in the country

June 09, 2017 10:58 pm | Updated June 10, 2017 05:06 pm IST

The Wayanad Cricket Stadium

The Wayanad Cricket Stadium

The 10th edition of the IPL saw Basil Thampi emerge as the new pace sensation and Sanju Samson serve another reminder of his batting ability to the national selectors, but Kerala cricket is not merely about these two talented young men at the moment.

It is, in fact, more about players like Sijomon Joseph and Rohan S. Kunnummal, two names that will sound completely unfamiliar unless you followed India’s recent Youth Test series against England. Both played. As did Daryl Ferrario.

Indeed, three Kerala cricketers featured in the Indian XI in the first Youth Test at Nagpur in February. A few years ago, such a scenario would have been about as likely as India qualifying for the football World Cup.

The chances of Kerala beating Mumbai in any form of cricket would not have been high either. Yet, Kerala’s under-23 team achieved just that, that too in Mumbai last October, and by a whopping 273 runs.

For a football-mad State, which has struggled at all levels of cricket for decades and has had no infrastructure to speak of, it has been a remarkable journey.

It now boasts some of the best infrastructure for cricket in the country. It has quality grounds across the State; 10 have been constructed, while work is underway at three others. Some of these grounds, like the one at Krishnagiri (Wayanad) and Perinthalmanna, have grown in stature in no time.

The Kerala Cricket Association’s ambition of having a ground in each of the 14 districts does not sound a mere dream. And there are hundreds of budding cricketers using these excellent facilities, most attached to the residential academies run by the KCA.

The first academy came up in 2008. The then KCA secretary T.C. Mathew says he felt quality academies were something Kerala cricket badly needed if it wanted to make any progress.

“That was the time when the selection trials for under-14 or under-16 district teams attracted so few, except for the likes of Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam,” he says. “I felt the academies could change that scenario.”

They did much more. In 2013, Kerala emerged as the champion at the South Zone under-16 championship. Of the 15 boys in the team, 12 were from the academies.

The academies also regularly feed the teams in higher age-groups. Kerala has had consistent results in the under-19 and under-23 competitions over the last few years. “Besides, four players from the academies played in the Ranji Trophy last season,” points out Sasidharan Panicker, chief coach, KCA Academies.

The next step

The KCA now wants the senior cricketers to emulate their juniors, so to speak. For, Kerala has never failed to disappoint its fans in the Ranji Trophy in recent times. Not even once for well over a decade has it managed to progress beyond the preliminary stage.

The team had often been guilty of playing too defensively for the last two or three years, but with World Cup-winner Dav Whatmore taking over as the coach, the next season offers fresh hope. “We also aim to have more Kerala players in the IPL,” says S. Ramesh, who heads the KCA’s operation and developments.

He was also Kerala’s Ranji captain when the game had no money or infrastructure. “Those days, we could only envy our opponents like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Hyderabad,” says Ramesh. “Now many States want to emulate Kerala’s model of development. For the last several years, Kerala is among the States that spend the highest percentage of the fund it receives from the BCCI.”

About 1.2 lakh is spent annually on a trainee at the KCA academy. Over the last couple of years, though, some of the academies have been shut down. If there were 27 academies in 2013-14, there are only 12 now.

“That is because we want to focus on quality rather than quantity,” says Ramesh. “For that [reason], we have integrated some academies.”

Sources at the KCA, however, say that a shortage of funds was the primary reason. There is concern that the shutting down of district academies might mean a smaller pool to select the trainees from.

But the KCA hopes the rural academies it is setting up in all the districts – though they are not residential – will address that problem. Having done so much to develop the game, it must ensure no impetus is lost.

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‘The future looks bright’

Chandrakant Pandit is one of the most respected coaches in domestic cricket, a serial winner with a deep knowledge of putting together competitive teams.

In 2013, the former India wicketkeeper was appointed KCA’s Director of Cricket. He worked with Kerala’s senior and junior cricketers for a couple of years before returning home to coach Mumbai.

He says he was highly impressed with the system in Kerala for the game’s development. “To have an academy in every district was a bright idea,” he says. “It is also commendable that Kerala could come up with some excellent grounds.”

Pandit believes Kerala is now among the best in the country when it comes to facilities for cricket. “The future looks bright for Kerala cricket,” he says.

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