Fifty young cricketers complete two days of intense training sessions under star batsman Nicholas Pooran at the Kumar Rampat Cricket Academy in Point Lisas on Sunday.
Pooran, 27, recently returned home from his Indian Premier League (IPL) stint with Lucknow Super Giants, and used his time here to host the first Nicky P. Batting Academy at Rampat’s well-equipped, multi-purpose indoor facility.
On Saturday, the left-handed batsman held individual technical and tactical batting sessions with youngsters ranging from Under-13 to Under-17.
National cricket Kjorn Ottley also assisted Pooran in the nets while left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein delivered some motivational words, and welcomed questions, in interactive sessions with different groups of players.
Pooran is a product of Rampat’s academy and saw it fitting to give back to the sport, and TT future generation of cricketers, by hosting this in-depth batting clinic.
“I just felt like, someone who came through the age group, playing international cricket and in IPL now, it’s a really good time to give back to the youths of the country and the sport.
“Today is about learning the foundation of batting. I believe it’s all about having a proper defence, whether it’s T10, T20, 50 over or Test cricket, which I’ve never played, it’s all about having the first step, which is the basic fundamentals,” said Pooran.
The youngsters were also involved in oral sessions on nutrition and injury prevention since Pooran believes these are key elements which are sometimes misunderstood by budding cricketers.
Of the 50 secondary school cricketers present, Pooran said the majority of young batsmen showed good promise and the clinic hopes to set a good foundation for them going forward.
“The whole concept about it is just finding a way. When we’re young we think we need to bat in proper nets, turf and indoor facilities, but the reality is that not many of us have those facilities.
“If you look at the some of the boys here, they’re batting in small places. This could be your bedroom, living room, backyard or anywhere. That’s the concept we want to have; to keep finding ways to make it in life in any profession.
“When they leave here on Sunday, I believe that most of them would have the proper knowledge about what is a proper defence, and then transitioning from a defence in to a straight drive,” he added.
Pooran helped the groups fix their batting posture, stance, focus and actions while batting. He went into detailed explanation with each individual on how they could improve their batting game as he shared the nets with each batsman.
Academy owner Rampat said the clinic was Pooran’s idea and is a continuation of the batsman’s recent sponsorship of four rising batsmen at the academy.
[caption id="attachment_1019489" align="alignnone" width="678"] West Indies cricketer Nicholas Pooran (L) speaks with Kristoph Seeraj on Saturday during the first day of the Nicky P Batting Academy’s two-day workshop, at the Kumar Rampat Cricket Academy, Point Lisas. - Roger Jacob[/capti
