Tendulkar to open academy in Pune

Pune: Throughout his illustrious career spanning two and a half decades, legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar hardly was found wanting, crediting his ‘unmatched consistency’ to right preparation along with prodigious talent.

Much of Tendulkar’s greatness comes from the fact that he consistently fulfilled lofty expectations of cricket frenzy nation- something he has extensively spoken about since he hung up his boots five years ago.

Floating the same idea, the batting great is set to launch his own academy in Mumbai and Pune and  wants to take the venture beyond cricket’s traditional pockets. 

The world’s leading run-scorer in both Tests and one-day internationals has joined forces with Middlesex Cricket to launch an academy for budding males and females sports talents between the ages of nine and 14.

Academy’s focus
While the primary focus would be on cricket, Tendulkar said he wants to help foster sporting culture. The academy, called ‘The Tendulkar Middlesex Global Academy’ (TMGA) will provide training through a curriculum developed by the coaches at the county and Tendulkar himself.

“The vision is not just to have cricket academies but along with cricket we want to promote other sports,” Tendulkar told Sakal Times in an interview. “Without doubt talented boys will get an opportunity to travel to England and train. There will be focus on the children coming from the less privileged society. We will try to provide them every assistance that they couldn’t afford,” Tendulkar stated.

Why Middlesex
Sachin said the fine print of the TMGA emerged during extensive discussions with Middlesex over the last 10 months and a final agreement was reached only when both were convinced. 

Asked what made him prefer the London-based county for a tie-up, Tendulkar said: “Whenever I have been in the UK during my playing days, I have trained a lot at the Middlesex Academy (headquartered at the Lord’s). So I had a fair idea about how they function. They came up with the idea last year.” Middlesex Cricket has produced players such as Andrew Strauss, Mike Gatting, Denis Compton, John Emburey and Mike Brearley.

London, Mumbai and Pune
Sachin said he planned to launch the academy in London and Mumbai, initially, but a special bond with Pune made his think of the city as a venue for the TMCA.