Kolkata Knight Riders hosted the first-ever KKR Academy Camp at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, involving a daylong training session with young cricketers and women’s team of West Bengal on August 11.
Abhishek Nayar, the head of KKR Academy and assistant coach of Kolkata Knight Riders, and Omkar Salvi, the assistant bowling coach of KKR, jointly conducted the interactive session with 40 cricketers at the state-of-the-art indoor facility at Eden Gardens.
Nayar and Salvi were joined by Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh — two players of Kolkata Knight Riders who shared their experience and tips with the participants.
“We were very excited when the KKR management made the decision to hold a camp like this in Kolkata. KKR as a franchise has always taken pride in spotting young players, grooming them and helping them to attain success,” said Abhishek Nayar.
After the interactive session, winners of the 2022 Junior Knights Mayor’s Cup Tournament were felicitated by Debasish Kumar, mayor-in-council of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, and members of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB).
“It was good to see KKR holding the camp with junior cricketers. Forty cricketers — 20 boys and 20 girls — attended the camp today. Now that we are past the worst phase of the pandemic, we would urge KKR to hold more camps and for longer periods, which would be very helpful for these budding cricketers,” said CAB president Avishek Dalmiya, president while speaking about the initiative.
Nitish Rana, who has been representing KKR since 2018, said, “It was great to see the enthusiasm among the cricketers here. With facilities like these, I’m sure they have a bright future ahead of them.”