Noida: On the sidelines of a sprawling cricket academy, 14-year-old Mohammad Iqbal and Yunus, 15, spar over who’ll make it to the Indian national cricket team first.
“I’ll be there in five years,” Iqbal boasts, flexing his blue jersey. Yunus counters, “I’ll make it in just four. Let’s bet.”
They and hundreds of others like them are weaving dreams on a dry wicket. Their practice ground — an uneven patch of turf without any nets — can be sealed any day by the Gautam Buddh Nagar administration on the grounds of being unregistered with the sports department. It’s going to be an enormous exercise for the administration that now has over 200 academies to crack down on.
The academy located in Noida Sector 123 is one among hundreds of unregistered venues that have popped up across Noida and Greater Noida attracting teenagers dreaming to sport the India cap someday. With pay improving in domestic cricket and big money flowing in IPL, the pool of cricketers doing better financially has become big—and it is this pool these academies are promising an entry into. Except they lack storied coaches and basic infrastructure including nets, water connection, changing rooms, seating area, even a proper turf. And the administration is in a crackdown mood. They have received complaints from the parents who describe these academies as entities taking their money “without offering adequate services or caring about their child’s progress as a cricketer”. In the last one month, 28 such academies have received notices to either get themselves registered with the district administration or face shutdown.
“These cricket academies are jeopardising the future of aspiring cricketers. Most of these coaches are former players. They don’t have any coaching certification and are now making money by selling false dreams. Parents, lacking proper knowledge, are relying on them. It has become a new business model,” said Phool Chand Sharma, cricket coach at Wonders Cricket Academy, Noida—a registered set-up.
A flourishing corporate cricket culture, affordability, and swathes of farmlands in the region have encouraged the mushrooming of such academies. Most of these are leased-out farmlands in the flood plain areas that cannot be utilised for crop cultivation. It is these patches that are on the radar of former cricketers-turned-entrepreneurs.
Iqbal and Yunus joined the academy just two months ago and are paying a monthly fee of Rs 3,000 for two hours of daily practice. For local tournaments, they shell out an additional Rs 1,500. That’s not all. Because his academy is not equipped to be functional during monsoon, they shell out more to play at indoor stadiums in the city and keep their practice intact.
“These substandard academies are responding to the opportunity in the market. They are trying to fill up the gap and their coaches are making a living for themselves as well,” said Charu Sharma, former TV presenter and cricket analyst.
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Unaffiliated coaches, no facilities
In a Greater Noida West locality, narrow lanes lead to a sprawling open ground that functions as a cricket academy. However, there are no typical markers of an academy—no flashy signage or changing rooms, water facilities, seating area, or practice nets. It’s a bare-bones setup. On one end of the ground is a small room occupied by a caretaker.
The room, which has a small open kitchen and mattresses scattered on the grounds, doubles up as the changing room for players. In the distance, a slanted sign board attached to a tree reads, Super Hill Cricket Academy. Monty Singh, the coach who runs the academy, has played district-level cricket and charges players Rs 2,000 per month for training. He has some 12 young boys training under him.
Barely a kilometre away from Super Hill is another unregistered cricket academy. Young boys dressed in whites have lined up for a warm-up drill. Their coach is Anil Chandela, a former state cricketer who played for West Bengal’s under-22 team and was part of the Ranji camp.
Chandela is a part-time coach. In the morning, he is a gym instructor, by the day, a real estate agent. And by evening, a cricket coach.
These substandard academies are responding to the opportunity in the market. They are trying to fill up the gap and their coaches are making a living for themselves as well — Charu Sharma, former TV presenter and cricket analyst
Chandela’s brother, Atul, is running this academy after renting the farmland for Rs 15,000 per month from a farmer in Greater Noida West. Atul, who is an NCA-BCCI certified player, couldn’t secure a government job, so he decided to open the academy. However, this too is a casual set-up. Beer bottles were scattered along the sidelines of the playing area. Tattered green nets affixed to rusty poles in one corner; the ground is not manicured; the pitch a rough mould of dust; there are no markers for boundaries.
“My brother and I dedicated our lives to cricket. Now, how are we supposed to earn a living? We don’t have government jobs, so we teach these students and also charge corporates for playing cricket to help cover our expenses,” said Chandela, as he instructed the young boys to keep running.
Chandela said that he will teach children whatever he has learnt during his cricketing career and would try to help play at least the district level.
Each three-hour corporate cricket match earns them Rs 3,000. On weekends, in addition to corporate clients, men from high-rises also pay to play matches.
Outside Indus Valley School in Noida’s Sector 62A, a large board featuring a photo of former pacer Ashish Nehra and Narendra Singh Negi, Assistant Coach of Gujarat Titans, invites young players to join the Ashish Nehra Cricket Academy.
Inside the academy, green practice nets stand in neat rows with different pitches – concrete, matting and turf. There are separate changing rooms for girls and boys. A gym for a warm-up session and Ashish Nehra himself visits the academy every couple of months along with other IPL players to give a feel of real cricket to the practising students.
“We have 13 turf pitches, two cement pitches for monsoon or to improve fast bowling and an artificial pitch for beginners. We have BCCI-qualified level 1 and level 2 coaches, IPL coaches and even a BCCI-qualified curator,” said Negi, as he asked one of his players to remember David Miller’s recent one-hand catch in the T20I against India.
Every year, the academy trains around 150 budding cricketers, with each of the seven coaches managing a group of 25. Students pay Rs 5,000 per month, and they aren’t charged extra for participating in tournaments held with various teams on the premises. The academy started in 2015 and the coaches claim that in the last nine years, over two dozen kids have either played for state, Ranji or made IPL debuts.
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The crackdown
Sitting in her office in Greater Noida’s Surajpur, Deputy Sports Officer Anita Nagar reviewed the list of cricket academies. She then called to verify their addresses, posing as a mother interested in admitting her son. Once the address was confirmed, she alerted her team to raid the academy.
The district officials visit the academy, meet the coach, ask for registration papers, conduct an inspection, and hand over a notice to get the academy registered within three days or face shutdown. This is the approach being used by the Gautam Buddh Nagar administration, in collaboration with the district sports department, to crack down on what they call “illegal cricket academies” over the past month.
It all began with complaints from parents who felt their children had been practising for years without making it past district-level matches. A few parents complained about the infrastructure and how the academies were charging money even for the friendly matches. And that’s when the Gautam Buddh Nagar DM Manish Kumar called a meeting to plan a crackdown.
See, a balling machine will cost you almost Rs two lakh and who will put that money in if we can’t even have a proper changing room
— a coach at one of the unregistered cricket academies in Noida
“The academies have dug bore wells, don’t have proper infrastructure in place and are looting parents by saying that they will get their children to play in the UP state team,” said Anita Nagar.
Nagar said that despite the notice, not even a single academy has got itself registered with the sports department.
And the owners of these academies have their own reasons to not register. The biggest is their fear of facing regulation.
Nagar said once the academies register themselves, they will have to set up a minimum infrastructure. A cricket academy should have an NOC from the sports department, a valid water connection, coaches should be BCCI or NIS certified.
A coach running an unregistered academy near Noida Sector 123 said that they don’t have enough money for such infrastructural necessities.
“See, a balling machine will cost you almost Rs 2 lakh and who will put that money in if we can’t even have a proper changing room,” said the coach, who has played till the district level, while pointing at a tin-shed makeshift changing room.
Phool Chand Sharma, who has been a coach at Wonders Cricket Academy in Noida Sector 34 for the last 20 years, said it’s the Noida district administration that has neglected cricket and that’s how unregulated academies have cropped up across Noida and Greater Noida.
“Why has the district administration not organised even a single cricket match in the district till now? And now, they suddenly want academies to register. Why?” asked Charu Sharma. Sharma said that now the parents have started complaining about the chaos the academies are creating, the administration has woken up.
Kanhaiya Lal Tejwani, member of Gautam Buddh Nagar Cricket Development Authority (GBNCDA), which comes under the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association, encouraged such informal cricket academies. He said it is good to have academies because that will keep children healthy.
“These days parents don’t have time so they send their children to play somewhere. These academies cater to them because if they really want their children to play cricket, they would have sent them to better academies,” Tejwani told ThePrint over a phone call.
Phool Chand Sharma, who has been a coach at Wonders Cricket Academy in Noida sector 34 for the last 20 years, said it’s the Noida district administration that has neglected cricket and that’s how unregulated academies have cropped up across Noida and Greater Noida
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An expensive game
It was hard for Ajay, 20, to convince his parents to enroll him in an academy. His father is a headmaster at a government school. Ajay’s family wanted him to focus on his education instead. But the aspiring cricketer, a big Dhoni fan, dreamed of being part of the Indian team. So he joined a local academy in Greater Noida West. That was all he could afford.
In three years, the dream has somehow waned. Ajay, now a college student, said that his coaches at the academy aren’t even aware of when UPCA forms come. The UPCA rolls out trial forms, which the academies have the players fill out to apply for the trial matches.
“I pay them Rs 3,000 per month and in return, I get nothing. Because the coaches don’t inform us about the trials, matches. They don’t make us participate in matches with different clubs and academies,” said Ajay who goes to an academy in Greater Noida West.
Two years ago, when Ajay’s friend told him about the UPCA trials, he quickly registered himself but couldn’t progress beyond the zonal round.
“Only those cricketers who were from better academies and their coaches knew the higher-ups were taken for the next round,” said Ajay.
I pay them Rs 3,000 per month and in return, I get nothing. Because the coaches don’t inform us about the trials, matches. They don’t make us participate in matches with different clubs and academies
— Ajay, an aspiring cricketer who trains at an academy in Greater Noida West
His mother, Lata, said that the walls in Ajay’s room are covered with posters of Indian cricketers, and this is his only passion. Now, he plans to take personal training at Wonders Cricket Academy, which will cost him around Rs 50,000 annually. He has sold his bike to pay for the fee.
“I was told by my friends that if I train under a personal coach, my chances of making it to the state team will be higher. And because Wonders is a reputed academy, the players from this academy have an edge over others,” said Ajay.
Ajay is not the only one. This is the story of several aspiring cricketers across India.
Until last year, Mohammad Iqbal and Yunus were training at Wonders Cricket Academy. However, a year later, they had to drop out due to the financial strain it was putting on their families. As a result, they joined Raja Academy, which is now on the brink of closing. Iqbal wants to be a fast bowler and Yunus a batsman.
As they performed their stretching before starting the practice for the day, their coach Ravi called them. They ran towards him.
“Don’t you want to play in the state team?” Ravi asked. The duo nod in unison.
“You want to become Dhoni but don’t want to do the hard work?” He scolded them and asked them to practice throwing the ball. Ravi, 28, claimed to have played in the Uttar Pradesh under-22 squad. Now, he is running this academy.
It’s 3 o’clock in the afternoon and Yunus has shown up at the grounds. However, he will have to miss his batting practice today at this unregistered academy in Noida’s sector 123. A corporate has booked the ground for its employees.
Instead, the players chose to do some catching practice as the coach guided them on their posture.
(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)