Chennai Super Kings will be establishing the Super Kings Academies — cricket coaching centres for both boys and girls — which will be functional from April in Chennai and Salem. The Super Kings Academy will start with two centres and spread to other places over time, said a press release on Sunday.
Chennai Super Kings Will Be Establishing Super Kings Academy:
“We have been involved with cricket for five decades and believe this is an ideal way to give back to the sport. This will be the right opportunity for us to share our experience and help nurture the next generation of cricketers,” Chennai Super Kings CEO K S Viswanathan was quoted as saying in the release.
He further said, “With experienced coaches and best of facilities, the Super Kings Academy will not only provide top class coaching but also take a holistic approach in guiding boys and girls.”
Chennai Super Kings confirmed the initiative by stating that the academies will be functional from April this year. It also adds that the academies will have BCCI-certified coaches, besides learning and possessing training methodology from CSK, along with the franchise’s players and support staff.
Mike Hussey And L Balaji Supported The Great Initiative By Chennai Super Kings
Chennai Super Kings batting coach and former Australia batter Mike Hussey termed it a fantastic initiative.
“I think this gives opportunities to so many youngsters out there to get access to some great facilities, great coaching and then hopefully improve their game and come up the ranks and then one day, it would be awesome to see a number of players coming out of these academies playing for CSK in the IPL,” Hussey said.
On his part, CSK bowling coach L Balaji said it is a great initiative from the franchise.
“Budding cricketers from various parts of the country will definitely benefit. Over the years, CSK has conducted a lot of junior-level cricket tournaments (Junior Super Kings) with schools across the state. There have been a lot of cricketers who have been sent overseas for exposure,” he said.
“The Academy in Salem is going to help other districts which are nearby as well. In modern day cricket, your boundaries shouldn’t be restricted to major cities. India is a vast country with a lot of talent. I feel they deserve the exposure and that’s what CSK is trying to achieve with this (academy),” he added.
L Balaji feels that in the modern-day, the boundaries of a budding young cricketer should not be restricted to just the top cities. He reckons that a vast country like India has many cricketing talents. He affirmed that CSK Academy’s prime objective would be to expose these young cricketers to the cricketing module.
As per a report, the members of the MS Dhoni-led side will start preparing for the IPL 2022 season from March 2 in Surat. Chennai Super Kings are the defending champions from IPL 2021 with their fourth title win. The franchise has made the playoffs in every year they have played excluding IPL 2020.
Mike Hussey played for the CSK side from the inaugural edition to 2013 and then returned back to the side in 2015. He was the first centurion from the franchise in IPL history.