Regal school from India on cricket tour
FROM the historic Indian fort of Gwailor to Durban, a group of young cricketers representing Scindia School arrived in the city this week for a 10-day cricket tour.
Once exclusively for princes from royal families, the school is more than 100 years old and ranks among India’s most prestigious boarding institutions.
After three games in Joburg, the team is now preparing for contests against the Durban Cricket Union, the Kwadukuza-based (Stanger) Illembe Academy, and umzinto Secondary on the South Coast.
The tour was arranged by Jeetendra Pandey who runs a sports management business, Rising Hope Sports Sansthan.
Pandey is no stranger to South Africa, having lived here and played club cricket for 11 years for teams such as Chatsworth Sporting.
“These sort of tours are highly beneficial to these schools as it gives them a chance to take in a new cricket culture,” Pandey said.
He added: “I know the landscape very well. South Africa has a lot to offer and these boys will go home with lots of knowledge and experience.”
The school’s director of sport, Naman Saraswat, says their players already feel connected to the country having watched the likes of AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla in action during the Indian Premier League.
“AB de Villiers is bigger in India than South Africa. Some of our boys might not know the names of all the Indian players but they know AB,” Saraswat said.
“For our school it is very important to have exposure to global culture and experience modern cricket practices. It develops their thinking and grows their skills.”
Having grown up playing on slow, sub-continent surfaces, the tour will give the boys from Scindia a chance to challenge themselves in vastly different conditions
The school’s coach, Vijay Prakash Sharma, said: “It will help them in their decision-making. They have to think about whether to play on the back or front foot quickly.”
He said they had been impressed by the local talent they faced so far and expected Durban youngsters to be very competitive.
“The talent in India is amazing, but we do not have the infrastructure that countries like South Africa and Australia have,” Sharma said.