A whole new ball game

Dubai: Former India woman cricketer Kalpana Venkatacher has arrived in the UAE with a mission. She was recently roped in to coach the UAE under-19 women's cricket team preparing to participate in the ACC tournament to be held in Kuwait from February 1 to 10.

After watching the girls closely during the training sessions at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, the coach felt the girls were a talented bunch but was concerned about the lack of match practice.

"I have just started watching these girls train. They are very talented and have the willingness to learn. But these girls need a lot of match practice. They have to play a lot of matches and that is what will help them understand the game and match situations better," Kalpana told XPRESS.

"And for that we need to have a local league in place, which is not here. Only then can these girls get more exposure playing matches," she added.

Kalpana's name cropped up when the Asian Cricket Council's development officer and former India fast bowler Venkatesh Prasad suggested her name.

"The girls have responded well during the training sessions but they have to play matches on a regular basis. Back home, the girls' team in Karnataka [India] get to play a lot of matches before they head to a tournament," explained Kalpana, who has been working with the Karnataka women's under-19 team for over a year.

"I have come with a plan and have charted out a training programme for the girls. We are implementing them during the sessions and we hope that they can do well in Kuwait," said the 50-year-old who has played three Tests and eight ODIs for India during her seven years in International cricket.

"We have very little time now but we are trying to cover as many areas as possible. We are stressing heavily on fielding which is the most important thing," she added.

Kalpana did not commit about the team's chances in Kuwait and said: "I really don't have an idea how the opposition teams are and I really don't want to compare.

"But I have already started collecting information about other teams and working on this," added the former India cricketer, who also coached the under-19 India women's team on a tour to Pakistan and the south zone women's team.

Giving details of the development plans for women's cricket in the region, she said: "The most important thing this region has to focus on is having a large pool of players. If we have just 20 girls and we have to pick 16 every time it becomes difficult. So we need to spread the game among the locals and make a stronger pool."