Andhra’s U-19 cricketers train at the Anantapur Sports Academy

Andhra Under-19 cricket team

The Andhra Cricket Association (ACA)’s U-19 team has started their 10-day training camp at Rural Development Trust’s Anantapur Sports Academy (ASA) on 20th September, 2015, for the upcoming South India One day tournament, to be held in Cochin from 3rd to 12th October 2015.

Apart from the defending champions Andhra Pradesh, other teams including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Hyderabad, Goa and Kerala will also be a part of the tournament. Each team will play five games in the league stage and the top two teams will compete in the final.

In the camp over the next week, ACAU-19 coach Mr. Nirmal Kumar will be focusing on every aspect including batting, bowling, and fielding, and is going to test out the bench strength for the upcoming tournament. While rotating the strike and playing improvised and lofted shots is his main focus in batting, it is variations that he is looking for in the bowling department.

He also made the boys practice hard in the fielding sessions, with definite attention to being aggressive and attacking on the field. From sliding fielding to taking lofted catches and yielding runouts, he made the boys go through every drill.

The team also participated in a session by psychologist Dr. Kinjal Suratwala, to understand and learn how to remain calm and relaxed before an important match like a knockout. He gave the entire team a presentation on the little things to remember just before getting out on the field.

His presentation mainly focused on mental and physical preparations that a player needs to go through before an all-important knockout match.

Dr. Kinjal Suratwala

When asked about his expectations from the camp, coach Nirmal Kumar said, ” I expect that after this training camp our boys will be ready to play in the conditions in Kerala. We have been practicing on wickets which we will be getting during matches. Also, I want the boys to be familiar with the climatic conditions of Kerala, which will not be very different from the local conditions”. Regarding the competitiveness of the tournament he said that “all teams are good but Andhra Pradesh as a team has picked up their performance in the last couple of seasons”.

An important part of the team is Girinath Reddy, an all-rounder from RDT’s Kadiri sub-center, who is now a part of the ACA State U-19 Academy. He according to his coach, will be an asset for the team.

Mr. Kumar also spoke positively about the quality of other players in the team saying that “they are second to none and are ready to play first class cricket. Two to three players also have a good chance to play for the India U-19 team in the near future.” He feels that one of the reasons why the defending champions are expected to do well in the tournament is because of its mix of youth and experience.