Nagpur, Jan 6
Prior to the mega auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL), all the franchises are busy in spotting the talent. Rajasthan Royals, which were the champion of the first edition of IPL, is not an exception to this.
With a view to search the talent, the franchise organised a five-day camp at is Talegaon high-performance centre under the watchful eyes of none other than former Sri Lankan skipper and RR cricket director Kumar Sangakkara.
Talking to Lokmat Times manager of Rajasthan Royals franchise Romi Bhinder who runs a state-of-the-art academy at Talegoan (90-km away from Nagpur) said, “ We have been conducting the talent search camp for last four years but for the first time 72 players from all over India attended the camp this year. Sangakkara was highly impressed over the available talent the facilities at the Talegaon academy.”
Romi said Sangakkara was happy that even after Covid threat, number of players attended the camp in a strict bio- bubble. “ Although Talegaon is a small place we didn't compromise with the safety of the players. We had created strict bio-bubble for them and daily RTPCR tests were mandatory for the players For god's grace the trials were completed smoothly”, he said. Bhinder also said the main thing about the trials that a number of talented Vidarbha players attended the camp. “ We have to select 14 Indian players at any cost during the mega auction. Let's see what will happen”, he said.
During the trials the stress was given on specific skill (bowling and batting) of the players and Sangakkara was assisted by former Indian first-class cricketer Zubin Bharucha, Siiddharth Lahiri and former Indian cricketer and coach Dishant Yagnik. Rajasthan Royal's Telegaon high-performance centre has 30 turf wickets, lush green outfield and some practice wickets apart from 30 rooms.
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Nice experience at RR's academy: Gurbani
Vidarbha pace spearhead Rajneesh Gurbani along with left-handed batsman Atharva Taide, explosive batter Jitesh Sharma, Apoorva Wankhede, Aditya Thakre also attended the trials. Speaking with Lokmat Times Gurbani said, “ The trials were nice and the facilities at Talegaon Academy were up to the mark. The wickets were good. I had a nice interaction with Zubin Bharucha sir who guided me where to improve more.”