Delhi Capitals open their first Cricket Academy in Northeast

GUWAHATI: IPL franchise Delhi Capitals has joined hands with Icon Sports Academy to open their first DC Cricket Academy in the Northeast in Guwahati. The official announcement about the new Academy was made during a press conference in Guwahati on Friday.

The Icon Sports Academy, which is situated at Bonda locality of the city, was in touch with Delhi Capitals for the last few months to start a cricket academy with joint venture and it finally saw the light.

The announcement to start the academy was made in the presence of Sourav Ganguly, Director of Cricket, Delhi Capitals; Ricky Ponting, Head Coach, Delhi Capitals; Pravin Amre, Assistant Coach, Delhi Capitals; Shane Watson, Assistant Coach, Delhi Capitals and Jagrit Anand, Head of DC Cricket Academies.

The event was also attended by Syed Zakaria Zuffri, Head Coach, DC Icon Academies and Rajdeep Ojha, Vice President, Assam Cricket Association.

The DC Icon Sports Academy is the first cricket facility in Guwahati, which has an indoor training area. The academy also provides accommodation facilities and multiple turfs for several budding cricketers to hone their skills.

Speaking about the association with Icon Sports Academy, Sourav Ganguly, Director of Cricket said, “The region produced many sports icons in various disciplines but we are yet to get international cricketers. The Delhi Capitals Cricket Academy in Guwahati will give many young boys and girls an opportunity to train in good gear and pitches. I am certain that we will see cricketers from the northeastern region play for India with the support of the Delhi Capitals.”

Lauding the steps taken by Delhi Capitals and Icon Sports Academy Ricky Ponting, Head Coach, Delhi Capitals said, “Good initiatives to develop cricket at the grass root levels. The knowledge that local cricketers will earn in the academy will help them a lot to groom their career.”

Meanwhile, Syed Zuffri Zakaria spoke about the facilities in the training centre, “We have an ultra-modern indoor cricket facility at our Icon School premises in Guwahati. The training facility consists of four indoor Astroturf wickets along with a small ground for students to practice fielding.”

Jagrit Anand informed the media that the DC Academies are an initiative of the franchise to promote cricket at the grassroots across the country. The Delhi Capitals have successfully set up 14 centres in 6 states. As many as four players are part of different IPL franchises.

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