Academies strive to keep pace

India8217;s new-ball attack in international cricket was nothing until Kapil Dev arrived as a leading strike bowler in the late 1970s. It was only after the Haryana Hurricane8217;s exploits did the Board of Control for Cricket in India BCCI realise that India could also produce fast bowlers to match their counterparts from other nations.

Inspired by Kapil8217;s success, many youngsters sought to become fast bowlers. Unfortunately, there was no infrastructure for proper training. MRF, a tyre company in South India, stepped in to establish the Pace Foundation in December 1987. Australian pace legend Dennis Lillee was made the chief coach while trainees were tutored by former Indian pacer T A Sekhar during Lillee8217;s absence.

Encouraged by the results of the MRF Pace Foundation seven fast bowlers from this Foundation have so far represented India, BCA-Mafatlal and BCCI-SAI established similar pace academies in the West and North Zones to unearth talent and train them. A brain-child of Madhav Rao Scindia, the former president of BCCI, SAI set up academies at Gwalior and Chandigarh in 1991. Dronacharya Award recipients Gurcharan Singh Tej Kaul later replaced him and Desh Prem Azad took charge of the respective academies.

The now-defunct BCA-Mafatlal bowling scheme was the brainchild of Makrand Waingankar, a Mumbai journalist who embarked upon a survey of Mumbai cricket. Frank Tyson took charge of the scheme with a total of 90 players. However, the scheme wound up after three years 1990-93, with Abey Kuruvilla being its best known product. 8220;The scheme is no longer in existence, but most of the players are still in touch with Tyson and seek his advice regularly,8221; says Waingankar.

While the Chennai-based MRF centre thrived on seemingly unlimited funds and wide international publicity it got through the presence of Lillee, the SAI academies suffered due to various reasons and had to be closed down in the middle of this year.

Many talented trainees emerged from these academies and even represented various states and zones but failed to serve the purpose for which they were set up.

What began on a grand scale with a lot of promise for the future, the SAI pace academies folded up unceremoniously. The reason given was 8220;lack of sufficient funds.8221;

But the manner in which the academies were run for the last 6-7 years, it was evident that no proper thought had been given for its survival. The BCCI8217;s role ended with helping select trainees for the academies. SAI, which had plunged itself into the ambitious project, lacked vision. If it thought that it would match MRF Pace Academy in any manner, it was mistaken. Because SAI neither had the funds nor the marketing ability. In the first year 1991 Rs 1 lakh was provided per trainee there were eight in each of the academies in the inaugural year, which later increased to 16. Finally, nearly Rs 50 to 60 lakh were suck in these projects with an annual budget of Rs 10-12 lakhs. The age-group syndrome also affected the credibility of these projects. There were 23 boys in the Gwalior Pace Academy at the time of its winding up in July this year, but only nine of them were given relieving letters as the rest had crossed the age of 19.

8220;Cricket is not on the priority list of SAI. It was a grave mistake for SAI to have taken up such a big project without proper planning,8221; a SAI official, seeking anonymity, said.

A technical reason for the academies not living up to expectations was the choice of their bases. Gwalior and Chandigarh are not the ideal venues where trainees, who were put up in hostels, get quality exposure. Even the coaches admitted that Delhi or Mumbai would have been better venues for such academies.

Another significant factor that hampered these academies was the climatic conditions of Gwalior and Chandigarh. Most of the trainees came from different parts of the country and could not overcome the extreme swings in weather. A glaring example is that of T Kumaran who left the academy after six months as he found the going very 8220;cold8221;.

IF lack of proper planning was the bane of the SAI academies, the MRF Foundation, which faced no financial constraints according to guesstimate, the budget runs into lakhs and even crores every year, had its problems too.Only seven out of its 46 trainees Srinath, Prasad and Debashish Mohanty among them could play for India so far. Sri Lanka have eight Test stars emerging from the Foundation stables. This speaks of adamant Indian coaches, their non-acceptance of new theories and resistance to foreign coaches. Zakir Hussain and Sanjay Pandey, who play for Railways and Tamil Nadu, respectively, have been spoken very highly of by Lillee.

Sekhar feels that the MRF Academy has achieved its goals. 8220;That we could give seven fast bowlers to India is something we can be proud of,8221; he says.