The preparatory camp for the Indian probables for the ICC Knock Out Tournament at Nairobi was recently held in Chennai. Heavy rain on the second day of the camp made the Indian cricket team’s coach Anshuman Gaekwad, place an SOS call to Bharat Reddy asking if the team could shift to the IIT-Chemplast ground.
L to R: TNCA Secretary Ashok Kumbhat, Bharat Reddy and Sunil Joshi with Vijay Sankar.
One thing led to another and after the first day’s net practice session, impressed by the wonderful facilities here, the team management decided to have all their further practice sessions at the ground.
It was a wonderful experience for us to host the Indian team which enjoyed practising at IIT Chemplast. Sachin Tendulkar was one who was extremely happy with the practice wickets. He felt that the wickets played very true, offering assistance to the bowler and also allowing the batsman to play his shots, “I wish I had seen this wonderful ground earlier, I would have had all the previous camps for the Indian team here”, exclaimed Gaekwad, the coach of the Indian team.
The Indian probables played two warm up games under the watchful eyes of the five national selectors. Chandu Borde, Madanlal, Ashok Malhotra, T A Sekar and Anil Deshpande. All the five selectors, Chandu Borde in particular, praised the facilities, and said that our ground was comparable to the best international grounds in the country. We had the privilege of hosting a number of dignitaries from the Indian cricket administration, BCCI President A C Muthiah, BCCI Secretary J Y Lele and former test cricketers S Venkatraghavan and Krish Srikkanth dropping in to watch the probables show their wares.
The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association has honoured us by giving us the privilege of hosting the Tamil Nadu vs Karnataka Ranji Trophy cricket match at our ground later this year.Speaking at an informal tea on the final day of the practice session at the IIT-Chemplast ground, R Natarajan, Director, IIT Madras, wished the team good luck and success on the Kenyan tour. Gaekwad was all praise for the excellent maintenance of the ground and thanked us for all the facilities offered to them during the practice sessions here.
R to L: Rahul Dravid, Bharat Reddy and Vijay Sankar at an informal get-together.