MS Dhoni and R Ashwin already have their cricket academy in UAE.
Rohit Sharma is all set to open his cricket academy in Dubai around September. The academy will have former India coach John Wright who has also worked with Mumbai Indians. Apart from Wright, there will be some famous names in the coaching staff as well.
"CricKingdom Cricket Academy by Rohit Sharma" is a collaboration between a Singapore-based company, CricKingdom Global Private Limited, and Rach Sports, a sports management firm.
Rohit will keep visiting the academy at least once a year while Wright will visit every four months to keep track of progress.
Sharma, in a statement, said: ‘‘I am delighted that CricKingdom will be launching the academy in Dubai. We can promote cricket in the UAE through the tailored annual curriculum, an in-house mobile app for training, and global access to CricKingdom academies. The amazing Rach Sports team under the guidance of Ravi Kiran Rach and Girban Chakraborty with CricKingdom’s experience in running the best in class academy operations would definitely make this come true.’’
India cricketer Dhawal Kulkarni is a mentor with CricKingdom and he said: ‘‘Through CricKingdom, parents will have complete visibility on the progress of their ward - making it more transparent and impactful.’’
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Chetan Suryawanshi, a former captain of Singapore for 10 years and the CEO of CricKingdom, said: ‘‘CricKingdom is a platform that connects cricket, players, coaches, and students in an integrated ecosystem that drives seamless engagement, interaction, and transaction.’’
Gibran Chakraborty spoke to Gulf News and said they will try to start registration from July. ‘‘We are looking to keep the fees moderate at Dh 400 for two-weekend sessions and there will be no admission fees. However, in case of any exceptional talent, there will be a provision for ‘John Wright Scholarship’ which will be shortlisted by the New Zealander himself. He has a scholarship running after his name back in New Zealand," said Chakraborty.
The academies associated wth names like MS Dhoni and R Ashwin are still behind the local academies in Dubai to produce talented cricketers for the UAE cricket.
‘‘Yes, we are aware of that and will be on guard on the possible factors that could go wrong. We have outlined a long term vision for the academy with Rohit whereby, we would like to pit the advanced trainees into more of two-day matches of 90 overs each which will test their basic qualities - be a batsman or a bowler,’’ the Rach Sports official added.