The Imtiaz Ahmed Cricket Academy: A breeding ground for legends
Cricket in India is not just any other sport. It is an emotion which binds the nation.
Year after year, generation after generation, stalwarts in the sport emerge from different backgrounds and carve a niche for themselves. Through their spell-binding performances for their country, they come to occupy a special place in the hearts of the fans.
Behind their success, however, is a lot of toil on warm, barren days, spent playing rounds of matches at academies spread all across the city. One such academy, where thousands of kids hone their skills to near-perfection, is the Imtiaz Ahmed Cricket Academy situated near the St. Johns Hospital in Bengaluru.
Opened in 1987 in collaboration with former India cricketer and current KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel, the academy is run by Imtiaz Ahmed, a former Karnataka cricketer. It has been in operation for the last 30 years and has produced 30 international cricketers, including the likes of Rahul Dravid and Venkatesh Prasad.
"In 1987, I started the academy with Brijesh Patel. We had about 1000 boys till 1998. After that, we split. He got his own academy and I continue to nurture kids here," Ahmed told Sportskeeda in an interview.
"When I started off, I had played Ranji Trophy for Karnataka. But for the first five years, I never batted in the nets, though I was a part of the 30-man probables. Then I realised that there must academies for youngsters," he added.
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One of the features of the academy is the annual All India Pepsi Cup event, which sees academy teams from different parts of India assemble and play 20-over matches among themselves.
The kids are divided into eight groups, namely: Sub-Juniors, Under 10, Under 12-Group A, Under 12-Group B, Under 14- Group A, Under 14- Group B, Open Category – Group A and Open Category – Group B.
20-over matches between academies are scheduled all through the day, with kids in different age groups competing against one another. The objectives of age-group cricket are to develop competitiveness, the ability to play as a unit and critically, to have fun irrespective of the result.
An aspect that coaches look to identify when kids are in the developmental stage is whether they have any feature which separates them from the rest. However, not everyone is born with inborn talent. Speaking of those players, Ahmed said that genes and inherent talent are vital for the success of any budding talent.
"Firstly, the kid should have the genes. Then there is the inherent talent. You are born with the talent. Some are born with that, some you need to mould.
"I have a kid here. He played two matches – Under 10 and Under 12. I can see a big future in him. It comes from within. They are very quick to grasp, while there are some who are slow. I can see it in a young boy from the 22 yards and gauge from other boys," he said.
"Ravi Shastri batted at Number 11 in his Ranji Trophy debut for Mumbai. He worked very hard, came up the order and opened the batting.
"Similarly, we had a colleague in Baldwin's Under 14 – Sanjay Desai. I didn't have a wicket-keeper, so I asked him to stay back. I was the captain and I lured him to keep.
"He travelled for a trip to England with the Under 19 team and was associated in a 400-run partnership with Roger Binny in a Ranji Trophy match. He was a very poor batsman but worked very hard.
"In an Irani Cup game in Ahmedabad, he took 6 catches off BS Chandrashekhar. He worked very, very hard and opened the batting for Karnataka," he said.
The most established player who has worked on his skills at the academy is Dravid. Ahmed revealed how he identified that Dravid was a special talent and saw a big future in him.
"In 1992, he made 1 run at mid-off off the back foot. I told my colleague, he will go a long way. One run he made out of 44. Everything else was spot on.
"You need to have the basics right. This guy had it from the beginning, he had the natural talent from the start," he concluded.