They set the pace
PAROMITA PAIN
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Gatorade Pacers is an ongoing fast-bowling talent hunt aimed at identifying potential pace bowlers. Chennai’s P.K. Dharma was one of the chosen final three.
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Budding talent: Potential fast bowlers.
Want to know about pace bowling? Ask P. K. Dharma. “It’s bowling at speed with accuracy,” he says. Dharma is a student of St. Bede’s A.I H.S.S. and he certainly would know. A recently declared Gatorade Pacer, Dharma is all set to go places.
Gatorade, the sports drink brand from PepsiCo, has recently launched a school programme called — ‘Gatorade Pacers’— an ongoing fast-bowling talent hunt aimed at identifying potential pace bowlers in the age group of 12-18 years. Held in partnership with the MRF, this initiative is all about finding Indian Cricket’s next pace-bowling sensation. This year, the programme reached out to 600 schools and 1350 participants in the four metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. Twenty bowlers from each city were selected.
Tough process
The selection process involved the use of a speed gun to measure the speed of the ball and other factors such as physical fitness and action. Of the 20 bowlers, two were selected from each city for the semi finals and a total of eight potential fast bowlers went through a rigid coaching session by MRF Chief Coach, T.A. Sekar and Reebok Master Trainer, Nisha Verma, followed by the final selection in Delhi. The three Gatorade Pacers — P. K. Dharma (Chennai), Abhishek Singh (Delhi) and Ravi Kant Sharma (Delhi) were finally announced and felicitated by Javagal Srinath in May 2007.
Dharma was initially nervous when the selections were on. “But once I finished playing, I was confident I would get selected,” he grins. Starting his career at the age of 10, Dharma has played for the state teams. For Dharma this was a new experience. These three winners underwent a two week training session under the aegis of acclaimed Australian pace bowler Dennis Lillee at MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai.
Though the fitness tests and assessment of bowling techniques were strict, Dharma managed to ace them. Now with a three year contract that includes training under the MRF Pace Foundation and playing matches representing Gatorade in different cities, he feels that his career couldn’t have got a better shot in the arm. A student of class XII, balancing cricket and studies is never a problem.
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