Sourav Ganguly to coach Tripura Under-16 & Under-19 cricketers

Ganguly will coach the Tripura U-16 & U-19 sides in November

Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly will coach the youngsters of Tripura, The Indian Express reports. Tripura Cricket Association (TCA) secretary Sourav Dasgupta confirmed the news stating that Ganguly would coach the state’s Under-16 & Under-19 teams in November this year.

The 43-year-old is currently part of the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) advisory committee, along with former cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, that advise the board on cricket-related matters.

Ganguly, India's second most successful skipper in history, has revealed in the past that he would like to like coach the Indian national team in the future.

He seems to have the first step in that direction by confirming his intention to coach the youngsters in Tripura. Ganguly was speaking at a prize distribution ceremony of the TCA.

“I have been looking forward for such annual prize giving functions when I was playing cricket. This is a very important function and every cricketer waits for such an occasion,” Ganguly said before opening up on his coaching ambitions. “I will return here to train young cricketers.”

“I would come here (Agartala) soon to coach the Under-16 and Under-19 cricket teams of Tripura,” he added, as reported by Crictracker.com.

The TCA secretary Saurav Dasgupta confirmed the development & said: “Ganguly would come to Tripura in November to coach the Under-16 and Under-19 teams of the state. He would help the TCA to improve the talents of Tripura cricketers and cricket infrastructure as well.”

Ganguly lays emphasis on Test cricket along with better infrastructure & sporting pitches

One of the major responsibilities of the three-member advisory committee is to take steps to strengthen domestic cricket to make the players better prepared as they step up to international cricket and Ganguly stated that infrastructure and the nature of pitches had a huge role to play in the development of a young cricketer.

For cricket, infrastructure is important, but for cricketers it is more important how we use the existing infrastructure,” he said. “In cricket, most important is pitch. We have to pay attention to making good pitches.”

Ganguly also used the occasion to convey the importance of Test matches and asked the TCA to organise more tournaments consisting of three-day and five-day matches.

"Test cricket is the real cricket competition for the all round development of cricketers and cricket," he said, as reported by NDTV Sports.