Onus on KSCA to nurture fresh crop of U-14 players which will take guard this season
BENGALURU: The KSCA inter-club 14 tournament gets under way on Thursday with 40 teams vying for the title. While some of the emerging talent will be on show, the lack of continuity in the system and the closure of the KSCA Academy (for men) owing to Covid-19 is a concern.
The KSCA Academy was set up over two decades ago and Raghuram Bhat was the last chairman. No one has assumed overall charge after his exit in 2021. Recently, former India skipper and Karnataka coach Mamtha Maben took over the women's section of the academy.
With Karnataka cricket in a transitional period, the need to catch them young is more pertinent than ever before. Grooming young talent is nothing new to the state, but what it lacks now is a system which can nurture them.
Seasoned coach Sanath Kumar, one of the key men in identifying age-group talent in the late 1990s and 2000s, believes the success of a state team is often a reflection of the system in place.
"In cricket, numbers don't always paint the real picture, more so in age-group cricket. It is important for selectors to watch as many matches as possible. Some players may not score big runs, but they will have the game. At the U-14 level, some boys rack up the numbers because of their build, while some with good technique may not score too many runs because of their physique," explained Sanath.
A case in point, according to Sanath, is Ganesh Satish, a veteran of 101 first-class matches. "As a teenager Ganesh was tiny. At times he couldn't clear the 30-yard circle, but what caught our attention was that he knew how to plan his innings and played according to the bowler and situation. We followed up and with time, he came good."
In the past, the academy had the legendary GR Vishwanath and Roger Binny guiding the youngsters and Sanath stressed on the need to invest in teen talent.
"There is a lot of emerging talent from mofussil areas as well which needs to be groomed. This will not be possible without a robust system. After the U-14 league, the players will go back to playing for their clubs, schools or academies and some of the brightest sparks will be lost in transition."
Sanath, who has been instrumental in changing the fortunes of teams like Karnataka, Baroda, Assam and Andhra, pointed towards long-term investment in players.
"The players have to be brought into the system early so that they can be evaluated annually over a period of five years. Robin Uthappa, Stuart Binny and Deepak Chougle played together from the U-13 level. Then Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shreyas Gopal, KV Siddharth and J Suchith graduated from the U-15 to the senior team. This is a proven method which ensures a constant supply of senior team players, something which we lack these days," the 59-year-old said.
