With the entire world on a standstill amid quarantine period observed, two stalwarts of Indian cricket, MS Dhoni and Ravichandran Ashwin resorted to coaching their pupils through online platforms.
Both MS and Ashwin, former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and India teammates, have their academies. However, the Ranchi-born cricketer is not directly involved with the operations of the MS Dhoni Cricket Academy but provides valuable inputs to the mentors.
For the trainees, the academies are conducting Facebook sessions. Chief coach of MS Dhoni Cricket Academy, Satrajit Lahiri said, “We are clocking almost 10000 views across all platforms for every video,” according to TOI.
“We have an app called Cricketor, where we regularly upload demo drills. The trainees also need to upload their videos so that we can keep a tab on their activities. We give feedback accordingly,” added Lahiri.
The budding cricketers can practice batting and bowling by taking part in various drills. Another new addition to the online platform, Ludimos, has had a positive response, according to former CSK and Tamil Nadu batsman, Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan, who has taken up the coaching role at Ashwin’s academy.
“I have found that students are more aware of what is being said to them online. You can zone in on one aspect of a player’s game, for instance, a batsman’s head position, and really work towards correcting that,” Vidyut commented.
Same is the case with the Maharashtra Ranji team, which is extensively involved in Zoom and Google Classrooms, as confirmed by their assistant coach Niranjan Godbole.
“There are about 4-5 players in one session. We hold the call for 40-45 minutes where the kids do shadow training or practice bowling actions,” affirmed Godbole, who also is Pune’s PYC Hindu Gymkhana cricket coach.
