There is an incredible passion for cricket in India: Gary Kirsten

This man is someone we have all known for being the backbone of the Indian Cricket team and instrumental in improving the game of the current lot of stars. He has always been in the background, working tirelessly wherever he went. That is Gary Kirsten for you! The current batting coach for the Royal Challengers Bangalore recently opened his cricket academy in India.

In a candid interview with Unkrate, he went on to explain what it takes to be the best on the field.

Q. You have been known for encouraging a lot of new talent across your stints around the world. What do you think of young talent in India?  Is your academy going to be an extension of you? 

GK: There is an incredible passion for cricket in India and our team will make sure they give opportunities to all players to show off their skills. Hard work, dedication, caring and sharing knowledge will form the basis of what our team will strive to get across to all who attend.

Q. Cricket is no longer what it used to be earlier. Cricketers are playing more cricket than ever. How does one prepare for the long run keeping untimely injuries in mind?

GK: There is a huge amount of cricket being played which provides players an incredible opportunity to enhance and improve their games. Every player has their way of preparing, but ultimately following good routines and having a healthy lifestyle is a good start to staying injury free.

Q. Patience among the newer talent is missing today. How do you think your academy will prepare them for this journey? 

GK: Getting players to understand good training habits in all they do, goes a long way in making sure players are making good decisions at the right time.

Q. Will we see players from your academy competing in international tournaments or play for international teams? How will your academy function? 

GK: We will be running a number of programs that will cater for various needs of players across all age groups. As players start to understand how they can adjust their ways to the rigors of professional cricket, so they will start to see good results coming out.

Q. IPL is known to produce some wonderful cricketers over the years. RCB’s Sarfaraz Khan is a living example of this. How do you see him grow? Would you encourage him to be part of your academy to let him further improve his game? 

GK: Anyone can sign up and work with our team to enhance their games further and it would be wonderful to see talented players such as Sarfraz come down and work with us.

Q. Ashish Nehra recently mentioned that coaching isn’t coaching any longer. It is about man-management where you are more of mentors and share opinions with players. Your thoughts?

GK: Every coach has their way of doing things and there certainly isn’t one way to get consistent results. You never stop learning and all environments differ.

Q. Lastly, do you think we must have more of the likes of MRF pace academy to have world class bowlers like Zaheer Khan, Nehra & Bhuvaneshwar Kumar? 

GK: Providing opportunities for the vast amounts of talent around India are vital and we look forward to helping share the knowledge with everyone along the journey.