Yashasvi Jaiswal, coach help Mumbai's groundsmen

MUMBAI: India's under-19 World Cup opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and his coach

Jwala Singh

have pitched in to help groundsmen of the city, who have become virtually out-of-work due to the Coronavirus-caused lockdown.


On Sunday, Jwala Singh posted pictures of him and Jaiswal distributing grocery packets to groundsmen of various maidans in Mumbai, on Facebook. "#Lockdown3. Time to help people who are backbone of cricket. All our groundsmen who work day and night to get us good pitches and grounds. I and yashasvi did this today to all grounds like the Azad maidan, Cross maidan , Matunga, Oval maidan,

Shivaji Park

, Police Gymkhana and the Air India Sports Club. A small contribution can help people to survive at tough time. Plz look around you and help the people those are in need.. may be this post can help others to think like this…A chain of human help can beat any challenge which is much needed at this tough time. #willbeatcorona19," he wrote, along with the pictures.

Meanwhile, former Mumbai left-arm spinner and current Mumbai under-19 coach Rajesh Pawar,

Mumbai Cricket Association

(MCA) Apex Council members Nadim Memon and Vihang Sarnaik too have distributed groceries to groundsmen at Dadkar Maidan in Matunga, Azad Maidan, Cross Maidan and Oval Maidan. Memon also helped these maalis financially, besides giving them cooking oil, wheat and other essentials that will last them for month.

Umpires, scorers continue to receive help too

A group of senior local umpires, headed by former Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) managing committee member and BCCI umpire Ganesh Iyer is continuing to provide financial assistance to needy local umpires and scorers in the lockdown period. The initiative, called 'Lending a Hand', has helped 32 more umpires and scorers with Rs 9,000 each, apart from a set of monthly provision required for a family. 16 match officials have been given Rs 7,500 each, while 14 match officials have been given Rs 5000 each.

"The payments have been made taking into account the need of the match official and after speaking to them individually," said Iyer. According to him, 'lending a hand' has spent Rs 4,78,000 towards this cause. "We thank all our contributors to this cause and acknowledge that without their benevolence and support we could not have done our bit for the needy match officials," Iyer said.