Budding Cricketers

The Men in Blue – Indian Cricket team is on the path of breaking cricket records and creating their dominance in the world of cricket. Each player of the Indian Cricket team inspires the budding cricketers across the cities and villages of India. These budding cricketers start their cricket journey from gully/street cricket and land up at local cricket academies to learn the basic and advanced skills of the game.

The Union Cricket Academy of Kalyan (UCA) is one such academy that trains school and college students who are passionate about cricket and wants to make a career in this game. Apart from cricket coaching, the academy conducts cricket tournaments in association with various partners for young players to showcase their readiness for the next level of the game.

Yesterday, I got an opportunity to watch one such match of U12 Salgaonkar League Tournament 2020 played between UCA U12 Team B and Thane Police School & Club (TPS) as my son, Bhargav is part of UCA U12 Team B. It was their first match after undergone training for 5-6 months from coach Akshay Pashte. There were three girls who were also part of Team B. I could see a lot of excitement, some fear and mental pressure in each player.

It was a 20 overs match. UCA U12 Team B won the toss and decide to bat first. The team had to struggle as they had lost the first two wickets in the first over. However, they managed to score 94 runs with 8 wickets down at end of the 19th over. One over was reduced due to some penalty. The Thane Police School & Club team was a well-prepared team. They started the innings with hitting 6 & 4s. TPS had a good batting line-up. They easily won the match in 11 overs.

I would like to summarise in a typical captain’s positive words, “The boys played well. In fact, the girls too played well. We lost the initial wickets which cost us heavily. In the end, the runs by Advait Thakare (15 runs) and Dhruvi Patel (14 runs) added 29 runs that helped the team to reach 94 runs. The bowling department was trying hard to take wickets but couldn’t deliver as per the expectations. But I’m sure that the learnings from this match will help the team bounce back in the upcoming matches .” 🙂

More than the match, I was happy to see the passion for cricket in these young players from the 8 to 12 age group. Each player from both teams was putting the best efforts. Their determination to compete and team effort was clearly visible throughout the match. For all Budding Cricketers, the journey is a long and competitive one but enjoyable. I hope each of them practices well and goes to the next level.

I tried to capture some best shots during the match. I hope you all like it.

Boys waiting for the match to start
UCA U12 Team-B just before the match begins
Pre-match practice – Bhargav Baikar bowls to Akshit Jagtap
Pre-match practice – Bhargav attempting a runout
It was sad to capture Bhargav’s dismissal in the first over 🙁
TPS wicketkeeper in a ready position to make a runout
Harsh Sasane hits for a square leg shot
Shreej Tarte (C) defends the ball
Akshit Jagtap defends the ball with ease
Ashutosh Shetty waiting for his turn while Bhargav changes the runs on the scoreboard
Om Aloni hits the ball with ease
Akshit Jagptal hits the ball, goes for the outside edge
Akshit Jagtap in a perfect ready position
Akshit Jagtap tries to hit hard
Om Aloni faces the ball
Advait Thakare hits four to the off side
Om Aloni hits the ball for cover drive
Advait Thakare goes for a straight drive
Advait Thakare in a perfect ready position
Dhruvi Patel hits the ball for 4
Team cheers after Druvi’s boundary. Shreej Tarte changes the runs on the scoreboard.
One more boundary from Dhruvi
Dhruvi defends and stays on…
Shriji Ahire gets ready to hit the ball after Advait’s dismissal
Shriji scores a run and gives strike to Dhruvi
Dhruvi hits her third boundary
Bhargav’s first ball goes for six to deep mid-wicket

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14 Comments

  1. Harish Singh

    I am a big cricket fan..I love to play

    really appreciate hard work done by kiddos .. excellent captures

    • Sachin Baikar

      Thanks for the appreciation 🙂 Harish.
      You too keep playing 👍👍👍

      • Sangeeta patil

        You have captured very beautiful moments while playing children I m appreciate for u sir

        • Sachin Baikar

          I’m glad you liked the pics. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your comments 🙂 Sangeeta

  2. Santosh Shetty

    Very well captured and in details. Thank you so much.

  3. The pics show the utter professional aspects of the kids. Good to see the girls hitting victories. For Bhargav…there is always the next match . I really like the bowling action of Bhargav on the pre-match practice pic. His action tells that even at this raw age he has matured well as a bowler.

    • Sachin Baikar

      Yes, you are right 🙂 Neeraj. All pics shows the professional aspects of the kids. Even, I was impressed with the way girls played. Also your observations on Bhargav is correct. He is picking up bowling skills but he good in batting as well. With more practice, he can improve further.

      Thanks for stopping by and sharing your comments as always 👍

  4. Prakash Ramachandran

    Click wise awesome. I am sure Bharghav will shine in upcoming matches. Really hope and pray all these players achieve their dreams one day 👍🏽

    • Sachin Baikar

      I’m glad you liked the pics 🙂 Prakash. Thanks for your good wishes for Bhargav and other players 👍

  5. Pramod Kadam

    I wonder, how you create a story out of these pics… its just a sheer talent you got to convert still pics into a fullfledge movie…

    Keep going..

    • Sachin Baikar

      Thanks for the appreciation 🙂 Pramod.

      While watching this match, I was very much impressed with these kids playing cricket in a professional way. Hence, I wrote a blog post on these ‘Budding Cricketers’ 🙂

  6. Thanks for the beautiful post and pics.

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