NAGPUR: Vidarbha colts coach
Usman Ghani has been appointed the spin coach for Central Zone Zonal Cricket Academy (CZZCA) Under-19 summer camp for the third time in a row. The 25-day CZZCA will get under way at Bhubaneshwar on April 23.
Vidarbha Under-19 physiotherapist Dr Nitin Khurana will also join the CZZCA, while trainer Yuvraj Singh Dasondi will be part of the North Zone ZCA camp. Dasondi will be the head of strength and conditioning in the camp to be held at Palam Ground in New Delhi. The trio was rewarded for the stupendous performance last season where Vidarbha won their maiden Cooch Behar title.
Besides, Wardha-based physiotherapist Dr Sumiit Messhram will look after the North East summer camps for associate boys at Nagaland.
Since he became a Level-3 coach, Ghani has been a regular in Zonal Cricket Academy summer camps conducted by the
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The 54-year-old has guided some talented players in his various stints with different Zonal Cricket Academies.
When Ghani was the chief coach of North Zone Under-16 ZCA, they won the Inter-Zonal trophy in 2009. The likes of Unmukt Chand, Manan Vohra and
Pawan Negi were part of that team. It was Ghani who convinced Unmukt’s parents to allow him to play cricket.
Ghani also guided the South Zone women to Inter-Zonal championship in 2010 and 2011. Several players of that team are now part of the Indian team. The likes of Veda Krushnmurthym, Shikha Pandey, Rajshri Gaekwad, Niranjana Nagarajan and Karuna Jain went on to play for the country.
“Usman has been very experienced coach. He knows how to handle boys of this age. Over the years, he has done a fantastic job with whatever responsibilities he was given. These camps are very important as you don’t want players’ natural game to be affected. You need coaches who can contribute to the growth of players without affecting their natural game. Usman is certainly good at this,” a BCCI source told TOI on condition of anonymity.
Since Vidarbha won the title, it also helped the likes of Khurana and Dasondi. “That is not the sole criteria but we do keep that in mind, after all it’s the performance that counts. Physiotherapists and trainers play big roles in the success of a team. It’s challenging to handle junior teams and keep them in a good shape for the whole season,” a source said.
Rajasthan coach Amit Asawa will be the batting coach, while ex-Rajasthan captain P Krishnakumar, who is also bowling coach of Chhattisgarh Ranji Trophy team, will be the fast bowling coach of CZZCA. Former Madhya Pradesh allrounder Abbas Ali will be the fielding coach during the camp.
Six Vidarbha boys will be part of the summer camp. Vidarbha skipper Atharva Taide, Nayan Chavan, Akash Kumar, Sushrut Baiswar, Rohit Dattatraya, Avesh Sheikh. Middle order batsman Yash Rathod, who has had a prolific season with the bat in
Cooch Behar Trophy
, got selected for the national camp and he was replaced by Avesh Sheikh for CZZCA camp.
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