The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Once a first-class nursery, Green Park’s sports hostel faces drought
SHROUDED BEHIND trees stands a twostoreyed building with grilled windows that one easily mistakes for a typical LIG (Lower Income Group) flat in West Delhi. This is Kanpur's famous Sports Hostel.
Situated behind the Green Park Stadium, it’s an institution that has churned out a number of noteworthy cricketers for Uttar Pradesh, both at Ranji and the international level. Comfortably seated on a cemented bench in front of this citadel is a man in his early 40s. Sipping milky chai from a paper cup, he is quietly observing a bunch of boys — all teenagers — at an intense practise session.
Sunil Kumar Singh is the Deputy Sports Officer, the man in charge of this hostel. Singh was a regular at the district level, having displayed his wares as an orthodox left-arm spinner in the early noughties. His career could not progress to Ranji cricket. Years later, he would return as a coach.
"I have been the head coach of this hostel for the past three years. This place has seen and nurtured some very talented cricketers like Suresh Raina and Mohammad Kaif," Singh says.
The Kanpur Sports Hostel is home to 25 boys — between the age group of 12 to 18 — all selected through trials conducted annually, as part of the Uttar Pradesh government's push to encourage youngsters to take up sport..
“These trials are conducted at the district level, followed by a camp for the next level of screening. Close to 500 boys turn up for trials across various districts and mandals. From there, the coaches and scouts chalk out the final merit list and select 25 boys,” he explains.
Apart from Kanpur, Lucknow has been the other centre for budding cricketers. If Kanpur boasts of the likes of Suresh Raina and Mohammad Kaif, Lucknow was where former India fast bowler RP Singh honed his skills. These two centres became feeder groups to the UPCA (Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association) supplying them with cricketers across age-groups and formats.
Buoyed by their success and the rising popularity, the state government set up three more centres five years ago —Meerut, Fathepur and Deoria. So how do these hostels function? Singh explains.
“Once a boy is selected, he has to pay Rs 2,500 annually for three years. He is provided lodging, cricketing gear and his diet chart is chalked out. In this period, if someone progresses to play at state level, he is asked to stay back for another year. At a stretch, a ward can stay in this hostel for seven years."
Till around 2007-08, these Kanpur and Lucknow hostels kept churning state-level cricketers. At one time in the late 90s, as many as 20 out of the 25 boys would make the cut. Then came the glut. Under Mohammad Kaif, Uttar Pradesh won the Ranji Trophy in 2005-06 season, and he along with Raina, broke into the Indian team well before the advent of the IPL. The Ranji high and the IPL brought with it the culture of academies.
“Lot of the former Ranji players set up such academies in Meerut and Faizabad, and these boys would appear for the state-level UPCA trials individually. A youngster in Meerut preferred to avail the facilities of the local academy at his place, rather than moving away from his family to a place like Kanpur or Lucknow. The state government's decision to expand our bases was fuelled by this,” he adds.
The mushrooming of such academies has fostered the emergence of players like Praveen Kumar, Bhuvneshwar and Kuldeep Yadav. While most stay put in their respective towns, others move out to Delhi to fuel their burgeoning cricketing ambitions.
“Delhi is just an overnight journey for most of them. That's another option they prefer these days.”
Tanmay Srivastava, the last from Kanpur Hostel's illustrious list to have graduated to first-class cricket, says the reason for the state of affairs at Kanpur Hostel is due to the rampant corruption during selections. The lefthanded batsman, who also made a brief appearance at the IPL, reckons names in the merit-lists are constantly tinkered due to constant pressure from the babus.
"What's the point of having these trials in the first place? You choose your list of 25, and then a babu will come and tear that list. He will then bring his own sifarish. How can you foster talent like this," Srivastava asks.
Having grown up in Lucknow, he spent seven years (from 2001-08) at the Kanpur Sports Hostel. He describes his stint here as "the best years in his life".
Srivastava did visit his alma mater last year, when he came with the Uttar Pradesh team to play a Ranji game.
"I was stunned to see the plight. Kisiko koi interest hi nahi hain. Not one in that lot has it in them to make it to first-class cricket," the 27-year-old adds.
Despite the obvious decadence, Singh is optimistic about the road ahead. He feels the three new centres will be able to attract talent from the state's hinterlands, and adds that it will be able to co-exist with the booming private academies. Time will tell if that happens though. As the sun sets behind the evening horizon, Singh and his boys quietly disappear into their fortress after yet another day's work.