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Sportive is sportiest

Photo: Mohammed Yousuf

League winners Youngsters are emulating their IPL heroes

Sportive Cricket Club recently emerged joint winners in the B-1 division league championship. This was the fifth year that the team topped its league table, which is a commendable feat by any standards.

The team seems to be riding the crest of a wave. The fine showing was made possible mainly due to the outstanding performance put in by several talented players, like C. Abhiman, O.T. Dheeraj, Sandeep, Arvind Yadav, Nitesh, Viswak and Mohd Shaik.

The team’s chief coach, N. S. Ganesh, says his boys have done well because they have quickly learned to adapt to the new trends emerging in the sport. According to him, the trend was apparent even before the IPL tournament. The IPL just highlighted these trends and gave them permanency and a firm footing.

“The IPL tournament has had a significant effect on the minds and imagination of young players in Hyderabad,” he says. “It has opened their eyes to new possibilities, new methods and new techniques in the game and also enlarged the scope for utilising and showing their talent.”

“Youngsters are now trying to emulate their heroes whom they saw playing in the IPL. New strokes, such as the scoop over the fine leg fielder, or moving away from the stumps to force the ball past cover point, and several unorthodox shots are now a part of the repertoire of even young players,” he says.

“And the bowlers are tying to bowl short of a good length in order to make the ball come up to chest height. In fielding, the boys have learnt that a high level of fitness is a must. It has, in fact, become one of the most important aspects of the game now in all departments, not just in fielding. A player now needs to be far fitter than those who played the game 10 or 15 years ago.”

However, he stresses upon the fact that while new methods must be mastered, care has to be taken to see that the basics of batting, playing with a straight bat and playing along the line, are not neglected. Moreover, the Twenty-20 format requires a player to adapt quickly to the pitch and the existing conditions in the middle.

There is no time to study the situation. Therefore, the mental approach of the player also has to change.

The huge amount of money that has been pumped into the game and the quantum jump in players’ earnings have attracted even younger boys towards cricket.

But, now, even those boys who would have otherwise taken up other sports are making a beeline for the cricket field in the hope of becoming rich and famous in the near future.

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