Mumbai Cricket Association begins levelling all club grounds; Top cricketers Rahane, Shardul address youngsters at start of preparatory camp

The MCA Apex Council has prepared a specific budget for this and to start with their new initiative the association has chosen Matunga’s Dadkar ground. MCA secretary Ajinkya Naik witnessed that many young players were getting injured while fielding on uneven outfields and a decision was taken on remedying the coarse outfields.

MCA will provide additional support in the form of groundsmen and curators who will help in preparing the ground.

“The MCA has decided to level up Matunga’s Dadkar maidaan. Earlier the MCA used to bear the cost of providing mud to each club which will continue. However, this time the MCA has begun the initiative of leveling the entire ground and we will be starting from Matunga ground first. The reason to level the entire ground is that we have noticed many players get injured while playing. There have been cases in the past where players have twisted their ankle and they miss out on their cricket. So MCA has decided to give a decent ground and a decent outfield for upcoming players. The MCA will provide a curator and groundsmen for the same,” MCA secretary Ajinkya Naik said.

MCA provides a yearly monetary subsidy to each club and besides that they pay for mud used in preparing pitches on the ground each year.

Home of the champions

Meanwhile, three months before the Indian board’s domestic cricket calendar kicks off, MCA began their off-season preparatory camp giving it the theme of ‘Home of the Champions’.

MCA invited celebrated cricketers like Ajinkya Rahane, Shardul Thakur, Dhawal Kulkarni, Abhishek Nayar and Sarfaraz Khan to give a pep talk to more than 400 cricketers gathered at the MCA-BKC ground on Monday morning.

Mumbai captain Ajinkya Rahane, under whose guidance, Mumbai clinched their 42nd Ranji Trophy title, explained how hard work put in during the off-season translates to good performance during the season.

“It will inspire many youngsters to do well for Mumbai and carry the legacy forward and do well for Mumbai in all age groups (teams). Working on fitness and on your own game plan, because this is the time when you can actually focus on what areas you want to improve as an individual,” Rahane said when quizzed about what kind of work he would want the players to focus on.