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Indian Cricketers' Association (ICA) chief Ashok Malhotra, along with three others, will be offering online tutorials in the Junior Cricket Championship, an initiative that aims to provide club-level exposure to boys aged 8 to 18 through a talent hunt.
The programme, which was launched on Tuesday online, is being steered by Seven3Sports, a sports company, and features former cricketers Chetan Sharma, Malhotra, and Surinder Khanna along with Dronacharya awardee coach Dr. Sanjay Bhardwaj as mentors.
"I am so pleased to be a part of this cause-driven platform as a mentor and eagerly looking forward to help young cricketers realize their dreams through JCC," Seven3Sports quoted Malhotra, also a former Indian cricketer and national selector, as saying.
"Children's safety is of utmost importance to us at JCC and we are re-defining the cricket with social distancing, sanitization and various safety measures for coaching, practice and live matches after the lockdown, besides engaging them online," Bhardwaj said.
The initiative aims to create 100 private clubs across the country for boys aged 8 to 18 across three age segments.
JCC plans to engage them on an integrated platform and promises to be the largest online cricketing community with a reach of over 66 cities across India, the company stated.
Speaking about the initiative, Chetan Sharma said: "Junior cricket is crucial to the successful future of cricket for any nation. I began my cricket career with the tour of West Indies representing the school. I believe we must give back to the game, which has given us so much love and success. I'm pleased to be associated with the new age JCC. I'm confident that JCC would be an excellent platform to realise our dreams of promoting cricket among the youth."
