New TD Venkatram to help scout talent for Odisha

Jamshedpur: Veteran cricketer from the Steel city, Vurity Venkatram, has been appointed technical director of Odisha Cricket Academy (OCA).The two-year tenure of the BCCI Level ‘C’ coach, which will commence from May 1 involves scouting raw cricket talent from the 30 districts of Odisha, and prepare the bench strength of boys and girls for U-14, U-16, U-19 age teams.“I have a crystal-clear vision before me, produce a player who has the right talent, but, also carries deep human values and professional ethics,” Venkatram told TOI on Saturday.The former first class cricketer, (1975-76 to 1991-92), who has represented erstwhile Bihar in Ranji Trophy for six seasons, said Odisha has now been in the news for its sporting initiatives and has produced India internationals like Shiv Sunder Das and Debashish Mohanty. The state is a mine of cricketing talent that needs to be explored, said Venkatram. With 70 first-class matches and 217 wickets, including 13 five-wicket innings hauls and a 10-wicket figure, the former right-arm off break, said he would look forward to build a bench of the all-rounders for Odisha. “Contemporary cricket is highly competitive and for the prospective cricketers the future is going to be a notch higher when it comes to making the cut. Would-be players need to have multiple skills to contribute to the team,” said Venkatram, the man who has mentored the likes of Virat Singh and Varun Aaron for Jharkhand.