Dombivli’s Cricket Explained Academy inaugurates its plush new state of the art facility
On November 20, Cricket Explained Academy inaugurated its new facility at St Joseph’s High School in Dombivli. Former India cricketer Vinayak Mane and former Railways’ cricketer Raju Hathkhamkar graced the inauguration function with their esteemed presence. Vikrant Shinde, the owner of St. Joseph’s High School Dombivli and Hemant Pednekar, coach at Bhavan’s College were the chief guests for the inauguration function.
Hrishikesh Puranik started Cricket Explained Academy in 2017. He is an experienced and certified coach having completed ICC Level 1 coaching and Level A certification from Coaching Beyond in Hyderabad, an institute run by former coaching staff of India; Ravi Shastri, R Sridhar and Bharat Arun.
Since its inception, the academy has produced many good players. For instance, Akhil Venugopalan (Kent U15 County squad and among the top 50 players in the England U15 age group category), Kevin Prabhath (U13 Kent County squad), Aayush Ambekar (among the top 50 players in the Mumbai U16 age group and has played U16 Payyade Trophy this year), Vaibhavi Raja (Mumbai senior women’s team), and Sanjula Naik (Captain of Goa senior women’s team and part of India-D in Challenger Trophy in 2021-22). Besides, every year, several other players get picked in the MCA summer vacation camps in U14, U16 and U19 age groups.
At present, there are 60 players training in Cricket Explained Academy under six experienced, skilled, and certified coaches. Alongside boys, special emphasis is laid on girls’ coaching. The academy has three outdoor pitches with lights that allows players to train at night, one indoor astro turf, bowling machine, outdoor astro turf for fitness and other drills, and a 40-yard cricket ground.
In addition to these facilities, the players are entitled to two practice matches per week, participation in various tournaments across Mumbai, participation in MCA affiliated tournaments, two cricket tours in India per year for U14, U16 and U19 players.
Unlike most cricket academies, Cricket Explained Academy is open for all days of the year. Its state-of- the-art indoor facility doesn’t stop its players from training. Hrishikesh says, “Off-season is meant to be reinvention for each player as they get time to work on the game as we don’t have matches during monsoon. So that’s the time when you get to work on the technique, strategy, and even analyse videos from matches of previous season and how your game can be altered to improve for the next season.”
He adds, “I want to be that person for my students which I needed the most when I was younger. To be available and ensuring that I facilitate their needs whenever possible. I think I could’ve done more but that time I didn’t find a Mentor. I was coached by Vasant Tandel and he played his part and I am grateful for that. I believe I am playing both the roles now with my students and I am getting the results with them.”