GIVING BACK TO THE GAME

Pujara super stroke: Gratis academy for Gen Next

by Gaurav Gupta • Published on

Watching Pujara bat in the nets and in the practice games itself is an education for the boys. © Getty

Cheteshwar Pujara is hitting the ball effortlessly. The sound of his bat meeting the cherry pierces the silence.As you are drawn into the experience, you can feel that the watching kids are also spellbound by the sequence unfolding before them.

Then, in an attempt to practice against the short ball, India's Test specialist asks the bowlers to bowl from almost half the 22-yard distance of the pitch. As his son evades one bouncer after another, Pujara's father Arvind, who doubles up as his coach, explains the logic behind the cut-off pitch. "It means that he's now training against bowling at the speed of 150 kmph. You don't need a bowling machine with this tactic," explains the senior Pujara.

Welcome to the Cheteshwar Pujara Academy. Located in Taragadi, a tiny hamlet 16 km off Rajkot on the highway to Jamnagar, the facility is spread across six acres. It trains 30 budding cricketers without charging a single rupee from them. Apart from teaching the game to the kids, the venue also provides Pujara an ideal ambience to train before big tours. Watching Pujara bat in the nets and in the practice games itself is an education for the boys. The added bonus is the coaching imparted by Arvind and brother Bipin -both former Ranji Trophy players for Saurashtra. "Growing up, I struggled to get good cricketing facilities," Cheteshwar tells TOI after sweating it out in the nets, far removed from the glitz of the IPL. "I don't want today's kids to suffer similarly . This is my idea of giving back to the game. I don't want to earn from this," he adds.

Sportspersons love to talk about 'giving back to the game,' but very few actually do. And you certainly wouldn't expect a current India cricketer, who's still way off from retirement, to actually do that. But then, Pujara is different."When I bought the land around four years back, it was all rocky terrain. We had to work hard to just level it first," he remembers, "There's a well too near the boundary, but that was left untouched, to keep the natural sanctity of the place intact," Pujara added.

"We take trainees from all over Gujarat, based purely on talent. Here, one can practice in peace away from the hustle and bustle of the city . The atmosphere here, as you can feel, is calm and serene. My dream is to produce an Indian player through this project," beams Pujara, as he watches the trainees holding their fitness drills.

The India No 3 in Tests wants to take this academy ground to a further level. "I want to make this place into a world-class academy . It's good enough to host Ranji Trophy games," he says. The ground boasts of lush green grass, and trees have been planted around it, despite a water shortage in this city . "We use sewage water for the ground," says Arvind. The ecofriendly ground uses solar panel to generate electricity . Amongst the many practice wickets here there is a cemented pitch too. "I trained `Chintu' on a cement pitch when he was a kid, because that helps improve concentration levels, as you've to play more deliveries than you can leave," says Arvind Pujara.

Today, Pujara earns Rs 2 cr per annum after being promoted to Grade ` A' among BCCI's centrally-contracted players. Not having a lucrative IPL contract, though, would make it slightly difficult for him to maintain an academy which doesn't exist for commercial purposes -a decent cricket ball alone costs at least Rs 200 these days.To develop this picturesque ground and the academy further, the Pujaras will certainly need sponsors at some stage. Perhaps, some genuine fan of the game will chip in then. For now, Pujara, like he does for India, is carrying this special `innings' of his life all on his shoulders alone.

© TNN

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