Sachin to Launch His Own Cricket Academy Five Yrs After Retirement

The world’s leading run-scorer in both tests and ODIs has joined forces with Middlesex Cricket to launch an academy.

File photo of Sachin Tendulkar.

(Photo: Reuters)

Five years after retirement , Sachin Tendulkar will launch his own academy, with an aim to take the game of cricket beyond the traditional pockets of the world.

The world's leading run-scorer in both tests and one-day internationals has joined forces with Middlesex Cricket to launch an academy for budding male and female cricketers between the ages of nine and 14.

Tendulkar accumulated more than 34,000 runs and 100 centuries in a 24-year career that came to an end in 2013.

Merchant Taylor’s School in Northwood will host the Tendulkar Middlesex Global Academy’s first cricket camp from 6-9 August while Mumbai will host one in November.

"It will be in India, England and other parts of the world. It's not necessarily just the cricket playing nations," Tendulkar said by phone.

There are number of nations where there is interest in cricket but they do not have access to proper facilities. The vision is to spread cricket to as many countries as possible.

Sachin Tendulkar

Tendulkar said the fine print of the academy emerged during extensive discussions with Middlesex over the last 10 months and a final agreement was reached only when both were convinced.

Merchant Taylor’s School in Middlesex, England, will host the inaugural camp from 6-9 August.(Photo Courtesy: Merchant Taylor’s School)

The academy, which does not mention the word cricket in its name, will provide training through a curriculum developed by the coaches at the county and Tendulkar himself.

“The vision is not just to have cricket academies but along with cricket we want to promote other sports,” said the 45-year-old, who has been conferred with India’s highest civilian award ‘Bharat Ratna’ for his achievements in cricket.

“We want to build clubs all across the world. Clubs where you will have tennis courts, badminton courts, squash, table tennis, swimming pools, billiards... We want to promote sports across the world.